Smith Rock State Park, OR to Mitchell, OR: It rains in the desert?
The scenery was great but the ground was hard. I didn’t get much sleep, and the sleep I did get wasn’t very good. The morning brought rain and because I wanted to get on the road soon I didn’t have a chance to dry anything out. I headed out of Terrebonne, OR toward Redmond, OR to jump on a spur that would have taken me right to Prineville, OR but ended up missing the turn so I went all the way down to Redmond. Then I got a flat right outside of Prineville. I did have one cyclist ask me if I needed any help or tools but no one else stopped or anything like that. It is amazing to me that on a very busy road like that no one would have even slowed down to ask if everything was alright.
I got into town and devoured some lunch at a grocery store deli and on my way out chatted a bit with some of the locals. One guy warned me about the “hill” between there and Mitchell, my destination. I studied the map for a better route but I found nothing. The climb ended up being easier than some I’d already done. I thought about camping at the top, but the site was 17 a night, on the top of a hill, with a thunderstorm brewing. I decided to see what Mitchell held for me.
I was secretly hoping for a nice hotel with a pool and a hot tub when I started down the hill toward Mitchell. And the rain on the way down really enforced this wish in my mind. Now this is a case where maps designed for this kind of tour would have come in handy. Mitchell turned out to be a town of about 50 people, if you counted the animals too. I got lucky though because there was a hotel and it offered hostel beds for $15. So lucky me I got to stay in a bed* and under a roof. I wasn’t able to dry out any of my stuff, but at least I was dry.
The best part of the day was meeting Keith who was doing a modified ACA Trans-am on a recumbent. I was finally able to talk to someone about the issues I was having and be able to relate to someone in the same situation. Also I ate a GIANT cheeseburger with fries at the diner next to the hotel. It was awesome.
*Bed is used very loosely. What I slept on was closer to a military cot. It was a steel frame bunk bed with a spring net holding up a very thin and old mattress. It might have been smaller than a single bed….
