Day 53-...and he's bad,bad Leroy Brown

Forgot to put in Saturdays mileage: 88.
He said: todays title isn't referring to me, it's the tune that was stuck in my head all day. started out with rain, a headwind , three peaks to climb,and a song going through my head over and over. after the first pass the rain stopped and the weather continued to get better until by the end of the day it was sunny, 80 and beautiful,and Sharon and i had figured out the majority of the words so i only had to whistle part of the time.. the scenery was kind of indescript most of the day as we were riding through several national forests and for the most part were surrounded by pine trees. there are just so many federal recreation areas here. in this area alone there are 860 miles of groomed snowmobile trails. it seems hard to believe we are almost done. relatively speaking the rides this week will be shorter than what i have been doing to get to the schedule we want to hit now. as i ride i try to compile lists of favorite sights, best place we stayed, best pm,am etc, but for the life of me i can't get everything in order. reminds me of a joke we were reading at supper tonight. 90 miles
She said: Ww agreed I would meet Paul this am along the route as there were no stops along the way for him to pick up any water, etc for 30 miles. I got to the 30 mile mark and no Paul -I knew he didn't average over 20 mph, not up 2 big passes. How did I miss him? I turned around and found him after going back about 7 miles-what are the odds of a pit stop just as I was going by? Gave him some water, met back at the 30 mile mark and had a bite to eat, and figured out as many words to Leroy Brown as we could. On my way to John Day, where Paul was going to meet me at the library, I saw this giant Conestoga Wagon at a view point/Historical Marker. Well, I had to stop. I sat in the drivers seat with a perfect view of the road, waited for Paul, and got some work done. It was a riot. The view from there was beautiful too, a wide open valley with the Strawberry Mountains in the background. We are staying in Mount Vernon, OR tonite-still in hunting territory. The next 25 miles or so have warnings on the road "Wildlife migration area". It means watch out for big animals crossing the road-I will be staying alert-I almost hit an enormous elk this morning!

The Strawberry Mountains coming into view after riding through National Forests most of the morning.

The valley with the mountains in the background.

Maybe we'll ride this home.