Day 6 started early eating 3 breakfasts…. Oatmeal, bowl of cereal, and then toast with jelly and another bit of cereal.  Also lots of coffee…. Had a big day of riding ahead of me including a long climb out of Mitchell.  The climbs over mountain passes here aren’t easy because they are long but that makes them more manageable.  It’s not like the big hills we have NW of Cedarville that I like to ride.  Those are like getting punched in the face with a short coast.  These are a long slow burn and I keep finding myself looking for one more low gear.   I never do find it, so it all becomes about determination and keeping the legs going!  At times 4.5 mph is all I’ve got but it’s forward progress so totally ok because the downs involve coasting for miles and miles – and the views are spectacular both up and down.   This is why biking is better than driving.  YES it’s work and you get tired and sore, but I am spending hours looking at God’s amazing creation, hearing the birds, the wind, listening to the water in the nearby streams.  So much better than a few quick glances via a car window…but I digress….

Next we hit some of the most beautiful canyons on our descent I have ever seen. I can’t describe them so I won’t try.  I shot video and when I get back I’ll put those clips online.

Had lunch at the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center that is a NPS museum of all the mammals found in fossils in the John Day Fossil Beds Park that is nearby. Cool fossils of plants and petrified trees too. Finally, it was warm enough to get into short sleeves and shorts for the afternoon ride. Roads were good and then got another flat tire a few miles outside the town of John Day. Grrr. I have realized that my tires are just not going to work, even though they were recommended for the trip. The roads are clear and smooth but it seems like any little thing punctures. The tire self sealed and we headed into town to a camp site. Before we checked in at the campground we looked at maps and options in prep for the next day and realized we had a VERY long next day coming. 3 mountain passes and over 80 miles. It was also forecast to be below freezing again. No one thought it was a good idea to have a cold camping night before such a big day. So we split a motel room, grabbed dinner and got to bed early. It had been a 75 mile day.