After breakfast we packed our gear on the bikes and headed outside to start our trek to our BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campsite. Called to talk to home before leaving, not knowing whether we would have service where we were going. After talking on the phone and then to each other Dave and I made an executive decision.
Here goes: We are half way through our loop, according to the map versus mileage. Highway 395 runs through Long Creek , north to south. Just so happens that 395 also passes through John Day (refer to my "Day 1" post if you don't know about John Day). It also just so happens that John Day is 39 miles away. Hmmmm. Bye bye BLM campsite that has no facilities. By now its 11:00ish and we head south versus the planned direction of west. Garmin didnt know what to think. I could just imagine it screaming at me, "Not again. I tried to stop you yesterday but NO Mike you wouldn't listen!" Anyway, I reset my Garmin to head for John Day. Only 39 miles, right? Just so happens that the first 4.67 miles, which Garmin happily shares with me, is uphill. An hour later we were at the top. Then the appetizing reward, a 3 mile descent.
If you zoom in on this photo, you can see Daves yellow vest on the descent (I know you can't zoom in, but thanks for trying). We had stopped at the top of the climb to rest and I had stuck my iPhone inside the strap of my sleeping bag so that it wouldn't fall to the ground while I ate a Clif gel. I almost took off without putting it back in my pocket. That would not have been a good thing. For the next seven or so miles we rolled through pretty country scattered with old broken down barns. We climbed up a short little hill and saw a beautiful sign:
This sign puts the fear into truckers, but was pure beauty to us. We talked to an elderly couple who had just come up the hill. The man said it was a descent all the way into Mt. Vernon. That was 16 miles away. YeeeHaw. It felt great going downhill at 30+ mph. I had these thoughts in the back of my brain. Hopefully these bearings dont get hot, I don't pop a spoke, get a flat.... I am going 30 down a hill and somehow my bags didn't get any lighter after 3 days of camping (its a physics thing I guess) plus my body weight. You do the math. Anyway it was a fun descent. Unfortunately, we didnt go 30 mph for 16 miles, but it was a generally downhill course. We pulled into the Mart/gas station in Mt. Vernon. I was craving two things for the past 20 miles. A Pepsi and an Its-It. I got half of my cravings: Pepsi and Crunch ice cream bar.
We found out that it was 90 degrees. Well that explained a lot!! No wonder I was hot. We sat on the bench talked with a local gentleman that was understandable 50% of the time. We couldn't tell if he was willing to give us a ride in his pick-up back to John Day or not. I doubt either one of us would take up his offer even if he made one.
Final stretch. The last 8 miles were uneventful except for the bro hugs and crying between the two of us for surviving our adventure. Just kidding. Actually we were giddy with the knowledge that we were not going to be sleeping on thermarests and eating out of a bag that night. While climbing up the hill earlier in the day, I received a text from my wife. It was a picture of our reservation at a Holiday Inn Express in Bend. She proves it to me daily how much smarter than me she is and knows what I need more than I do. If left up to me I would have slogged on and drove home all night. Thanks, Babe.
Back at our car we were greeted by Micah who was one of the park people who sent us on our way two days prior. As we rolled into the parking lot, he walked out of the visitors center as excited as we were to be back. "Did ya have a nice trip?"
We arrived in Bend around 8:00 showered and went out to eat at Olive Garden. Ahhhh, a queen size bed again tonight. No tent, thermarest or porta-potty.
Ciao
Sounds like you had a great trip!
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