July 7, 2003 Austin Junction

Got going at 7:00. Got to Mount Vernon and stopped for drinks. The captain entertained a couple women (with bikes on their roof rack) until he accused them of cheating by driving and not riding. Killed that conversation. They passed us a couple miles outside of town and didn't stop to offer us a lift. Got to John Day and stopped for more drinks and to go sandwiches for a later lunch. While we were outside sitting, a guy walked up and started talking to us. Turns out he was one of the motorcycle riders from yesterday. We never recognized him in his cilivian clothes. Next we got to Praire City. Finally we were surrounded by groupies. That's Kyla, Kelly, and Maggie. from left to right. Time for a climb. Dixie Pass. was a tough one. The captain waited so long for swabbie that he almost came down to see if swabbie was still alive. While we were sitting at the top, we heard some thunder and started seeing lightning. A quick 7 mile downhill brought us to the single building in Austin Junction: Post Office, General Store, Gas Station, and Restaurant. Our maps also said we could talk to the proprietor about camping in the back. What the maps didn't say was that this place was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Fortunately, the woman running the store was there and opened up to let us buy some stuff and told us we could camp in the back. Unfortunately, the back also turned out to be one big rock field. We found the best site we could and pitched the tent as it started to rain. We got the tent up and decided to have a little soup for supper. Cappy tied up a tent flap and cooked it under the small canopy. Dixie Pass. Note that the captain can find beer to buy even if the only store in the area is closed! After dinner we listened to the only thing available on radio: country music and the Gordon Liddy show.

Groupies Kyla, Kelly, and Maggie Dixie Pass another mile high Cooking in the rain

July 6, 2003 Dayville, Oregon

Got going at 7:30. First order of business: 7 miles of 6% grade to the top of Keyes Creek Pass. Fortunately, the next order of busines was 25 miles of downhill with almost no pedalling. We ran into some pretty interesting buttes(?). At this point, we decided to take a side trip to the John Day Fossil Beds Vistor Center. It was small but interesting and a welcome break from the day's heat. We got to watch an interesting movie about the formation of the beds and this part of the country in general. It was produced by a local high school (but had some professional help for example with the claymation) and was as good as you'd see on say a similar PBS program. You can see the strata a little better with this closeup. One of the things we learned was the John Day's claim to fame was to have fallen into his namesake river and to have had all his possesions, including his clothes, stolen by the Indians. After rejoining the route, we went through the rest of the canyon. and more fossil beds. 7 more miles and we were at Dayville. For once it was the captain, not swabbie, who begged to call it quits because of the heat. Chatted with three motorcycle riders while we cooled down in the shade with our drinks. We stopped at the local church. We were able to camp, use the showers and kitchen facilties all for free although we did contribute to a donations can. Turns out the refrigerator and stove had been purchased from bicyclist donations. We got a frozen pizza before we discovered they also had spaghetti etc for our use. We did down a few pancakes the church had left for bicyclists the next morning. The captain thinks all the food was just left over from some function. Swabbie wasn't so sure. There was a lot of syrup and margarine (alas no butter). Seems unlikely to have had a function with both pancakes and spaghetti. Also, the boys got there before any Sunday evening supper would have been over.

Buttes on the way to Jogn Day Pass John Day Fossil Bed Visitor Center John Day Fossil Bed Visitor Center Closeup More Fossil Beds Coming out of the canyon