Day 8 - The Longest Ride So Far (June 9th, 2024)

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City to City: Sisters - Mitchell
Miles: 95
Miles Total: 441
Flats: 0

Elevation of a mountain we climbed




Mountains in the background



A detour that added a mile to our route


Stopping for a break


Paul and Caroline fed us breakfast, which was delicious: pancakes with homemade strawberry syrup and cottage cheese as a side. The entire time Paul and Caroline hosted us, they were generous and hospitable. They regularly had people in and out of their home, were easy to get along with, and were genuinely interesting and kind people. We left later than planned. Thank you cards needed to be written; by the time we left, it was past 9 a.m.  
    We started with the goal of going forty-five miles in the morning to meet up with another warm shower family for lunch.  Most of the morning part of the ride went downhill, making it easy to accomplish that goal.  We had a delightful conversation with the family, learned a few things about what was going on in Oregon, and shared each other's stories.  When asking the family's opinion on where to stay, they said Ochoco was a good place to camp, but if you wanted to go further to Mitchell, it would be an easy push.  So we left and pushed ourselves to go to Mitchell.   With a mountain to climb and it being in the eighties, we drank a lot of water and ate a lot along the way.  At the top of Ochoco, we each went at our own pace down the mountain, Henry around 37 mph, my dad around 25, and I around 33.  We met at Mitchell's hostel, hoping to meet other cyclists.  (A hostel is usually a place to stay for cyclists, sometimes hikers, who want to hike long distances.   Sometimes, staying costs, and sometimes, it's free.)  But after the downhill, everyone was going much slower than before the mountain; we were tired, and it was past five in the evening.  Mitchell was so small, with a population of only two hundred.  There was only one small grocery store that we went to.  We cooked dinner, and five minutes before the grocery store closed, I went back, bought a half gallon of ice cream, and all three of us ate it all with no problem.   We tried working on the blog that night, but the computer was slow and didn't have good service, so we gave up and went to bed.  

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