After a shave and a haircut at the Spoke’n Hostel we headed for the climb out of Mitchell at 9:00. Pat said it was 7 miles and 1700 ft from Mitchell to the summit of Keyes Creek Pass. I thought to myself, “Oh! That’s nothing compared to McKenzie Pass.” And off we went, tackling that teeny hill with bravado. But after about 5 miles of that hill in the blazing sun my bravado completely melted and I happily walked nearly a mile of it. I figured I didn’t need to prove anything to anybody and I was just plain tired. And actually, walking felt very nicely today. I held my head up, smiled, and enjoyed the scenery. Because the truth is, I’m not sure why but today’s climb was harder than McKenzie. Maybe it was because this was our 10th day of biking (6th day in a row; thus our first full week). And maybe it was because of the endless heat (we ran through all our water just before reaching Dayville, where we’ve stopped for the night). And maybe it was because of the constant headwind that beat us backwards. And maybe it was because all three of our bikes were in desperate need of a tuneup. After many breaks and a bit of walking, Rocky and I reached the summit just after 11:00 (2 hours later). Forrest had arrived there 35 mins earlier and was practicing his karate katas 🙂
Pat told us that we’d have it pretty easy after the summit all the way into Dayville (31 more miles)–and he was right. Despite the aforementioned complications (especially the heat and the bikes needing to be looked at), the ride was relatively downhill and level until just shy of Dayville. In fact, it was an absolutely beautiful ride. The landscape, the rocky hills, and the ever present river, were all so picturesque and wonderful. If I wasn’t so covetous of the downhill, I would’ve stopped for a lot more pictures than I did.
At one point we thought we might press on to Mt. Vernon; but we decided against it. As I said, we neeeded a break from the heat. But besides that, we knew there was both a bike shop and a church in Dayville–and we needed both. Our bikes needed looking at and tomorrow is our rest day so we wanted to find a place to go to church. As it turns out, the town church has been hosting cyclists on the TranAm since 1976. So, like yesterday, we’re sleeping in another church. We’ve got a shower, full kitchen, laundry, wifi, and the whole fellowship hall to ourselves–that is until tomorrow morning when it’ll be used for a Sunday School class.
Our host here is Rose, a lady who lives in a house just behind the church. She greeted us, welcomed us in, and showed us around. I thanked her and asked her if we could stay two nights since tomorrow was our rest day. She said, “Absolutely!” and proceeded to invite us to church. I told her we had every intention to attend church tomorrow. Then she said, “Well, you picked a good Sunday to visit because tomorrow is potluck Sunday.” Looks like we’ll have good fellowship and free food to boot. Thank you Lord.
We dropped our panniers and headed down to the Dayville Mercantile Store where I heard there was an excellent bike mechanic and a full service bike shop. Simon greeted us and invited us right into his humble bike garage adjacent to the Mercantile Store which he just bought 3 years ago. As it turns out, he’d gotten tired of living in the city of Portland and decided to move to Dayville. Knowing that Dayville is on the TransAm, and being a Master Bike Mechanic, he decided to add a bike repair shop to the Mercantile Store. Wise move Simon. He put our bikes up in the stand and made several adjustments on each of them that I’m very confident will make for a better ride and happier riders come Monday. My rear brake disc was bent and rubbing and my rear derailleur hanger was bent, giving me a problem shifting. Rocky had a twisted chain link (How in the world did that happen!?). And Forrest’s right bar-end shifter was ready to fall out. When all was said and done, we were very pleased with Simon’s expertise, attention to detail, and friendly service. Thank you Simon!
We’re settling in for the night and look forward to a day of rest. I pray the Lord will bless the man coming to preach at this church tomorrow and will send him with a word for us. I should get a chance to blog tomorrow night and I’ll let you know how it goes. And I pray that wherever you’re going to church tomorrow the good Lord will bless you too. Thank you for all your prayers and for keeping up with us.
Until next time… 🙂
I’m really impressed that you made the top of Keyes Creek Summit in only two hours. You probably noticed sections of the old road which switch-backed up the same grade until a few years ago. The new highway is straighter, although at the same time much steeper. It looks like Forrest went for a dip in one of my favorite places, Picture Gorge.
You were probably unaware that Mitchell was one of the last places in Oregon where the men openly wore gun belts (complete with six shooters).
The towns of Dayville, Mt. Vernon, John Day, and Prairie City are some of the places my sons and I ventured to in our bowhunting quest for Elk. The mountains, both north and south are special places to us.
Who is that man!! Wow !! Lookin good brother!! The scenery looks awesome brother! The word here is the Lord is guiding you exactly where you need to be ! Sounds like everything is provided just when you need it !! Enjoy your Lords day Much love the Davis’