Ochoco Pass to Sisters, OR 73 miles

Such a beautiful morning. A very quiet peaceful night. It was not exceedingly cold, about 50 or 55. The descent was not as steep as I would have predicted. This was just as well, because you could pedal to keep yourself at between 19 and 21 and keep your knees and core warm.
We passed Ochoco Lake at about the 23 mile mark without an open grocery or cafe and had to keep going to Prineville for the most uninspired second breakfast in a while.
The AC adendum suggested an alternate route out of Prineville that supposedly had improved shoulders. Obviously, since we did not take the route on the map, we have nothing to compare it to, but the should varied in width from 4 feet to 1 foot and the surface varied from smooth to worse than a recent chip seal (that's where they lay down tar and then throw gravel down on top, tamp it down a lot and let the cars finish the job). The temperature was about 90, but we were not pushing too hard; mostly either downhill or flat.
In Redmond, i wanted a salad, but noooo. Instead we stopped in front of DQ to look at the maps. I bet you know how that turned out.
Bill took the opportunity to call Janelle and make sure everything was copasthetic.
He also tild me that drafting takes a toll on front person. I can't tell when to believe him. So I refused to draft off of him.
It seemed like this side of the pass should be less arid than the other side, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
We stopped to look at cars for Bill to use as his transportation home; I think he would have to spend about a year on one of these just to get it useable. Maybe he should just ride back, it would be faster.


We had our first glimpses of Three Sisters, Jefferson, Washington and Bachelor. Here is Jefferson:


It is amazing how much snow is still on these mountains. It makes them more impressive than the Rockies.
Just shy of Sisters we could see a storm developing and I was almost wishing to get wet, but it got there and left before we did.
Sisters is "tastefully touristy". We had gotten hints about where to eat, so first we left a note with a friend of Bill's and went to Angeline's. This was the first time during this trip that I have been to a restaurant and been stymied by the menu. There were so many vegetarian choices it was difficult to choose.
Kim, the family friend, showed up there to say hello and invited us to stay with her and her husband Kevin. We took a quick sojourn to a bike shop (Blazing Saddles), but they had neither a tire nor a tube for me. BMX is probably not huge here. Then Kevin strapped our bikes into his pickup, which was all prepared for two bikes, because they put theirs in it all the time.
We got to take actual showers and wash our clothes in a washing machine!
Kim and Kevin took us to a pub for dinner and we crashed upon our return to their home.
Remember the name of the tour? An Affirmation of Human Goodness!