June 21, 2018
Dayville – Bates Campground
102 km (63 miles)
1011 m (3317 feet) elevation
4:44 moving time
861 km (536 miles) total

We woke up at 6 AM and it was pouring so we slept a bit longer. Had pancakes and sausages in the church canteen and said goodbye to Gregory.

Rode through more cowboy-land which was very pretty.

Met Brann at the Silver Spur in Mt. Vernon which is one of the places most of the TansAm racers stop at. Very funny and interesting guy who is doing the TransAm for the third time on a bike and has also walked the route once. His first two TransAm bike tours were on 1976 and 1977. Had our second breakfast at the Silver Spur which turned out to be very fortunate for us.

Met Brann again an in John Day and were planning on visiting the Kam Wah Chung museum but it was closed. Did go to see the old Chinese house which was built in 1890 and later abandoned by the owner. The town just recently turned it into a museum.

Next town was Prairie City which is a very small but cute town. Talked to some locals for a while who mentioned the Icelandic national soccer team. Met Brann again and had cold drinks at the only place in town that was open. Also met a young cycling couple which we briefly talked to.

Rode over Dixie Pass 1608 m (5277 feet), planning to have dinner at Austin Junction before camping. When we got there the sign, to our dismay, said ‘closed’. So we would need to go without dinner. The only food we had was a Cliffbar and some trail mix.

Set up our tent at a beautiful campground where we could charge our phones. Met the camp host and his wife who obviously had enjoyed a few beers earlier that afternoon 🙂

There were no showers so we had to improvise using a water hose with cold water behind the restroom. Fortunately there were few people at the camp.

Brann and the young couple – Ryan and Ali – joined us and we had a great time talking well into the evening. They are bike touring and will end up in NY. They have a great YouTube channel: Youtube.com/duzertv where they document their journey.

Ryan and Ali were kind enough to give us a tortilla with peanut butter and jelly and some chips which was great since we were running low on energy. They also gave us some weird non-alcoholic drink which we used to say cheers for mid-summer!

Got nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes. Great day overall and slept well in the tent.