Day 4 The End of the Trans Am 2022

A wonderful evening was spent at the Spoke-n-Hostel in Mitchell.  It was a full house with another bicylist from BC and two women hikers from Eugene.  We talked a lot of cycling and about the eastern Oregon landscape. The women got caught in snow in the Strawberry mountains and came down to the hostel.

This morning we got coffee at the hostel and breakfast next door at the cafe.  We left in the rain. Weather made all day a challenge.  We had 16 miles of climbing to the summit all in the rain and as the temp went down from 41 to 33.  The downhill was not bad as it was not steep. We could pedal to keep our legs warm.  Hands and feet were all in a partial or whole state of frozen.

The last leg into Prineville was flat and fast.  We got a hot lunch at the Cafe Pioneer in Prineville and now are at our Warmshowers host. A hot shower has unfrozen me. We will spend the evening with Anne and Marcel and their 3 daughters.

Tim Ice reporting-  Warm Showers hosts normally provide lawn space for camping and use of a bathroom with warm shower.  Our hosts have a compact house (three bedrooms, one bath) but, anticipating our bedraggled state, managed to tuck us into an outbuilding with small shop and sauna.  We layed out our sleeping bags on the sauna benches.  

After showers and Marcel arriving home from his job as a smoke jumper, we were treated to dinner from their garden and an evening of Irish jigs and folk songs by Marcel and the daughters.

Day 3 The end of Trans Am 2023

After yesterday, today was going to be easier. Which it was but the addition of rain, a little hail and colder temps made it memorable.  We left from John Day at 7:20 and only went 8 miles for breakfast at the  Silver Spur in Mt. Vernon.  I had enough coffee for everyone. Breakfast was great. The temp was only 41 when we headed out to Dayville only 20 miles down the road. 

                     

Unfortunately Twisted Treasures restaurant that features gun-packing cook and waitress was not open.  The Dayville Cafe came through with pie.  We ordered sandwiches to go and also got a candy bar at the Dayville Merchantile.

Thus began our one climb of the day. The elevation gain was 2736 over 35 miles of slightly uphill and more uphill.  The rain and hail came periodically.  We put our rain jackets and took our rain jackets many times.  The temperature at the top was 45.  Luckily a 7-mile smooth downhill made our day on a great note.  We are snug inside at the Mitchell Spoke-n-hostel.  I have had two cups of hot tea to warm up.   Tim is eyeing ice cream in the freezer and Eric is wandering the whole place that is full of books, maps, pictures and bunk beds.  We are doing great now.

Day 2 of the End of our Trans Am ride

Baker City to John Day 80 miles with 5000+ feet of Climbing.

We had great breakfast burritos at The Pig restaurant at 6:30 am.  We met our host, Brian, back at the hostel.  He and his wife bought the building 2019.  He came from New York city to Baker city in 2007 and has never left.  He and his wife are both artists. They are trying to make a go the school as an arts center and bike/ski hostel.  He was a great host.

We left Baker at 7:45 and headed south out of town toward the Elkhorn mountains.  We had a climb out that was not steep but long.  Near Sumpter we stopped to see the Sumpter Valley Historic Steam engine railroad sight.  It wasn't open but we wandered around a very large area.  We climbed into a caboose car.  See our pictures.  The area was full old equipment used in sawmills and logging as well as railroads.  Eric and Tim were in heaven!

We climbed two more passes that were over 5000 feet. We thought we would eat lunch in Austin Junction which listed a restaurant. But it was not open Tues-Thursday. We made do with ramen and canned chicken. Literally we had a food desert for 72 miles all the way to Prarie City.

We had Dixie Pass after Austin Junction which was our highest climb at 5230. Yesterday I was going to be the ultimate tourer.  By the time we were climbing Dixie Pass I was in "just hanging on" mode.  I no longer have hopes of being the ultimate tourer.  I just have to ride and make it to the next stop!

The view coming down Dixie Pass of the prarie was incredible. In Prarie City we all got the food we had been missing. Tim had ice cream; Eric has an iced coffee. I went for peanut butter pretzels and an apple.  We went another 15 miles to John Day and now we are headed to dinner.

Tim wanted me to mention what good roads we had all day and decent shoulders to ride on. It was a great day.

Day 1 of the end! Trans Am 2022 finish in Sept. of 2023

Eric and I are finally finishing our trip. Due to logistics and time constraints we had to start in La Grande, OR and will finish in Florence, OR 8 days later.  

Our friend Tim Ice is also along for the finish and his wife Priscilla was nice enough to drive us to La Grande this morning.  We had a great send off breakfast there at the Long Branch cafe and bar. From a road nearby we unloaded bikes and loaded gear.  At approximately noon we headed out 

I have been so excited about going back on the road 

for this trip.  I am determined to be an ultimate bike tourer.  In the first hour I took more pictures than ever and I can tell you more about it than any hour on our previous trip! We saw donkeys, goats, sheep, horses, chickens, lots of cows and hawks. We stopped at big willow that had a picnic table and old water pump. It worked perfectly. We checked out a quinoa field. Fruit was irresistible- peaches, plums and apples were easy to pick from trees on the side of the road. The day was a perfect 75 degrees all day.

Our favorite stop was Union, OR. In addition to a Carnegie Library there was an old brick hotel. Behind the hotel we noticed that George Harrison had parked his rolls royce. It had been repainted white.  It was in perfect condition and it was in good company along with a new corvette, a 1968 corvette, and a BMW.  Amazing in a town of 1,000 people approx.  The park had a perfect gazebo for our food stop.

Baker City has a great bike hostel called Churchill that is an old school. It is also is an arts center and event center.  With showers and beds, we are most happy.  We had great mexican food at El Erradero which was packed on a Monday night.  Off to bed we go now.