Mitchell to John Day

This day started with an early morning climb during which the boys were kind enough to break the wind for us. After reaching the top of the pass we had about a 30 mile descent which was nice, but it was also disconcerting, because we were all mulling over the inevitable uphill climb to come.

Just before Dayville we took a 2 mile detour to check out the John Day Fossil beds. Rounding the turn to the visitors center we got a great view of Sheep's Head rock and some nice looking rock formations. After a great informational video we met up with the boys again (they had fallen a bit behind due to a tire repair) and left the visitor's center to head to Dayville.

We had a nice lunch when we arrived in town and we also met a woman who had recently put her house up on the transcontinental bike route. She mentioned there was a man a couple weeks ahead of us who was online dating as he traveled across the country. When he stayed with her he was going into town to have dinner with a local paleontologist who worked in the nearby fossil beds.

We thought about staying at her house, but then decided to go all the way to John Day. After some contemplation and realizing there was nowhere to camp in John Day, we decided to check out a local baptist church and see if we could stay in their church yard. We wandered in and found a pamphlet and called the pastor's number. The pastor's wife answered and she was incredibly gracious and offered us her second floor to sleep on and full use of her shower and bathroom. After her husband got home, and we had all settled down, we got to talking. We found out that they used to drive trucks together and have seen large amounts of the US. The pastor had actually just started to work part time as a fuel truck driver so he could spend more time at the church. We were very lucky to get to stay in such a welcoming home. After our 74 mile ride that day we all slept very well.