John Day to Mitchell, OR (Tuesday) - Mitchell to Prineville, OR (Wednesday)

Yesterday was going to be a long day and the forecast was for hot weather. We left early and headed back onto HWY 26. It was relatively flat and we moved along quickly. About mile 31.4, we breezed through the little town of Dayville, which looked like a town out of the past. Everything in this area was named for John Day who was a trapper in the early 1800's. He got sick and his party left him behind with one man that nursed him back to health. Then the Indians found them and let them live but took everything they had including their clothes. Finally John Day and friend were found by an early wagon train. So he really never came to John Day or Dayville exactly, but even the stream is named the John Day River!

Anne and I stopped to take a detour to the John Day fossil beds and visitor center. It was a four miles round trip detour. Since we didn't know if we would ever be in this area again, we didn't want to miss it. We stopped at the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center. Thomas Condon was a minister and fossil enthusiast who became the first state geologist of Oregon. He believed that science and the Bible went hand in hand in proving things correct. Others from our group also took the detour which was well worth the stop. However, when we left the center, the outside temperature had begun to really heat up. We also had to start climbing again.

We stopped to see the "shoe tree", an almost dead Popular where everyone that has passed by has thrown a pair of shoes. One of the ladies in our group had us sign a pair of shoes which she added to the tree's collection. We continued climbing until we reached Keyes Creek Summit - 4,357'. The grade was 1-3% but the heat made the climb a bit more difficult. Our sag driver, Karen, did a great job of finding all of us and getting water to us. The descent into Mitchell was steep, 6-7%, but luckily the truck traffic was light. We climbed 2389' on our way to Mitchell yesterday. Mitchell was a very tiny town, maybe 170 people. We stayed at three different places. I was in the Oregon Hotel, an old 1930's place with big bedrooms and a shared bathroom down the hall, no air conditioning. As evening came on it did cool down enough to sleep with a fan and the place was very comfortable. Dinner was up at the other hotel - chicken pot pie, a big salad, and strawberry/peach shortcake. stats: 74.51 miles, 5hrs 18min., fastest speed 26.9, avg. 14. (My computer is slightly off from the people with garmins )

Today we headed back onto HWY26 again. We had a shorter day but it was going to be hot again. We started out with a 1-2% climb and at mile 9.6 we started the 4-7% climb to the Ochoco Pass -4,720'. This seemed like the toughest climb to date because most of it was near the 7% grade. We were back in the pine forests and got to the top before the heat increased. Once over the Pass, it was a 1-2% descent into Prineville with a quick stop at the Ochoco Lake County Park. The lake was very low and Anne and I noticed the fire signs with the fire warnings were for extreme danger, everything was very dry. We are at the Stafford Inn in Prineville, population 10,000, our biggest place to stay in a long time. Stats: 48.47 miles, 3hrs 44min., fastest 30.8, avg.13.