Day 55-Cascades Come Into View

He said:another beautiful day. had about a 16 mile ride to ochoco pass with the last 7 miles a pretty good climb. met Sharon at the top where she made me a pb&j,and it was down to Prineville, the county seat, about 32 miles away. the area had seemed pretty dry and as i approached Prineville i passed Ochoco lake. the waterfront properties , including docks and catwalks out to them were high and dry and about 50 yards from the water. maybe it was low tide.once again we were in a wide fertile valley,big farms, and increasing populations. where we had been going through towns with populations in the hundreds, we were now in prineville,pop. 10,000 or so. we had stayed in Mitchell the night before and the population was 108. they had a k-12 school system with a total of 68 students. we had lunch, Sharon stayed working at the county library and i took off for Redmond and our final destination of the day, Sisters. from as far back as Kansas we had been warned about Texas tacks, a type of thorn on the side of the road that are not very good for tires. i found one leaving Prineville. pulled it out and was able to make it to Sisters with a little air added about 5 miles from Sisters. Approaching Redmond, a metropolis of 25,000, i got my first glimpse of the Cascades( at least on this trip) some big peaks heading north and south,which split the states of oregon and washington into eastern and western parts of the state with very different climates etc. we will be riding over McKenzie pass tomorrow through the Cascades. Fixed the tire tonight and should be ready to go. 88 miles
She said: Another nice day on the road. Met Paul at the Ochoco Pass for the photo op, and to give him some food and Gatorade. We rode through one of the National Forests and then into more farmland. Leaving Redmond I got my first glimpse of the Cascades and Paul's last hurdle to the west coast. It's hard to believe he went over so many mountain passes and through so many mountain ranges and we are looking at the last one. WOW! We are in Sisters tonite-the population here is just over 1000 (big by some of our standards). It is very much a "tourist destination" as the eastern gateway to the Cascades. Lots of gift shops, small art galleries, etc all along the main street. Big day tomorrow over McKenzie Pass and into Eugene. Besides Williamsburg VA, Eugene is the only place on this trip that Paul and I have been to before. It has been one new experience after another...all fun and interesting.

Just outside the Business Loop of Mitchell.

At the summit of O-choke-O pass.

What a butte!

The cloud covered Cascades.

Beautiful evening sky in downtown Sisters