Coast2Coast Day 8: Mitchell to Prairie City, OR through John Day Valley

“Journey Back Through Time” is the tagline for this scenic byway. The John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in the John Day Valley features plant and animal fossils that date back 10,000 years. Since we just recently saw “Jurassic World: Dominion” at McMenamins Old St. Francis Theater in Bend, Oregon, Cathy asked whether I was afraid dinosaurs would attack all along the way. That hadn’t occurred to me but I did notice how swollen the river was—those waters were raging with all the recent rains.

After a wet finishing to Day 7, we found Tiger Town Brewing in Mitchell, OR—a quaint place with great food and an interesting slogan: “Buy Our Beer or we’ll punch you in the face”. Because of the cold, wet, weather and lack of hotel accommodations in town, we decided to spend a cozy night in the van watching Adam Sandler’s Netflix special as we tested out the in-van theater system (a tiny portable Kodak projector and a portable screen). I woke up anxious to get off to a quick/early start while there was no precipitation. 

Met Doug and Nick who are riding self-supported, one to Kansas and the other to Virginia outside of Virginia Tech.  Shortly after summiting Keyes Creek Pass Melissa and I enjoyed a wicked downhill with a strong tailwind. We met Cathy in Dayville where we lunched our left-over breakfast burritos reheated on the Coleman camp stove. We are getting good at improvising! Many thanks to the friendly proprietor of Dayville Merchantile est. 1896 for the complementary coffee that kept us fueled and warm on this chilly day (temperatures in the low 40s with a biting damp wind). 

At the Historic Hotel Prairie we met John and Denise from Portland, who came down to Prairie City for the sunshine (LOL!). We also met Keith and Suzanne from Redmond, OR who are riding a bike loop around Strawberry Mountain. We spent time visiting with a couple from Sweden, Daniel and Veronica. Daniel is a teacher of 3-5 year olds so he and Melissa (elementary school PE teacher) compared teaching experiences and shared stories. Veronica and Daniel shipped their bike to the US and have planned a path starting in Portland and ending in New York. We talked over beers, taught Daniel some card games, and asked him whether he likes Swedish Fish—he had not heard of them until arriving in the United States and laughed about the “Swedish” stuff people keep asking him about.

During today’s ride Melissa started experiencing some trouble with her back wheel hub, so when we arrived at Hotel Prairie, she spent some time on their back patio changing the wheel, installing new brake pads and making adjustments to the back derailleur. The bike was still making some funny noises so the plan is for Cathy to take it to a Baker City bike shop to get it back in tune. Tomorrow Melissa (on Cathy’s borrowed bike), me, and our new Swedish pal Daniel will ride over the 3 passes between Prairie City and Baker City while Veronica and Cathy take Mel’s bike to the shop. Veronica needed a day off from riding and was happy with the plan to ride along and meet up with Daniel in Baker City.

Thank you to all who are following along on these adventures. I welcome any and all comments and encouragement. Cheers! —Phil