Prairie City to Sumpter

Day 13. 45 miles. 3 consecutive passes is exhausting.

It rained, sleeted and snowed on me today; when I wasn't sweating, I was freezing. There was no happy medium.

I met a few new ladies finally, and first female's I've seen out here. There's McKinley, a young gal from Nashville, and Kim, a lawyer from Texas. I found a road id bracelet at the John Day Fossil Beds and as it turns out, Kim was THE Kim it belonged to. Hooray! She was very happy it turned back up. And I'm happy to have some female company.

Well, I had to say adios to Ross and Bob; they were awesome travel buddies and took me in like a little sister. So I was sad when our routes split ways, but that is the nature of long distance traveling. People ebb and flow. I sure hope our paths cross again some day, they are just wonderfully generous dudes.
After crossing Dixie Pass in the wind and snow, I was ready to call it a day. The cold stole so much of my energy, but I still had 2 more passes after I left the guys; I needed to at least get to Sumpter.

The next 2 passes were not too bad, but I did count the miles until I reached the top. I was thrilled to fly down the third because I was just ready to be done biking for the day.

As I turned down the road towards town, I turned into a nasty head wind that took everythikg in me to push out the last 3 miles. I was in wind all day; I fought to stay upright in cross winds on exposed descents. Yes, I white-knuckled the hell out of my handle bars!

Today, I fell for the first time ever on my bike, and of course a girl was watching through a store window. As I slowed down in the gravel parking lot, I unclipped my left foot and in cartoon slow mo, I toppled over on my right side. The people in the store were all smiling at me when I walked in. Ha!

Looking forward to tomorrow's adventures with new friends. First thing I want to do when I get to Baker City: drink a beer. Priorities.