Thursday, June 23, 2016

Prineville prelude to John Day

Brief update today. Short ride of 60 miles with 3,000' of climbing. Sounded easy but I think I'm just getting tuckered out. Glorious weather: sunny, cool breezes mostly tail winds, temps in mid 70's. We brought the good weather with us. It's pouring in Portland and supposed to hit the 90's here by the weekend but we'll be long gone by then. Early dinner tonight as we ride 117 or 118 miles to John Day, Oregon tomorrow. Directions are pretty straightforward. Take a left out of hotel, ride 117-118 miles and hotel is on the right.

Not a lot of pictures today. The High Desert wasn't showing a lot of new sights as yesterday did. Did have great view at 4:45 AM from my room in Warm Springs (Kah-Nee-Ta). The Resort used to be a Casino.

Got into Prineville around 1:00 which afforded a trip to DQ for Smoothie and Bacon Burger before dinner. I also managed a needed trip to the laundromat next door. Showed Martin, the German software developer how to work the machines.

While waiting for clothes to spin dry, I had a great conversation with Betty. She's a 77 year old lifelong local. Gave a lot of color detail on how the town has changed over the years - losing three department stores, the Cadillac and Chevy dealerships only to see "Antique Stores" (junk shops she calls them) fill the spaces - that and nail salons - the story everywhere, yes? She did tell me both FaceBook and Apple are building large data farms nearby. There will be 150 electricians working on the project for up to 5 years, but they have to import the labor. And housing is tight so they don't know where these workers will live. She was wonderful talk to.

Dinner conversation tonight was also great around our table of four. We each had travel stories of either Thailand, Kilimanjaro, Brazil, or  China. Also hit on nuclear plant decommissions, living through Mt St Helens eruption and laughing about people we know with "Alligator arms" when the check came.

Probably short blog tomorrow.
View from my balcony in Warm Springs Reservation 5:00 AM

 Near top of 4 mile "hill" halfway to Prineville
Ditto. (Bottom 2 photos courtesy of Matt.)

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