July 12, 2014 (Days 12-15)

As I sit here in the Clarion Inn in Ontario OR, with Idaho in sight, I finally have a little chance to catch up with my entries. It has been tough to figure out how much time to devote to recording this trip, and how much to be out living it.

Day 12: Dayville to Mt. Vernon (23 Miles)

An easy day! Not even a marathon! These shorter days are almost harder since I put no mental preparation into them. I expect 23 to feel like 4 and of course it doesn't. We arrived in Mt. Vernon at about 11:30 to the Bike Inn, the guest house of someone friendly to the TransAm bike route cause. After returning from lunch at the Silver Spur and weathering a temporary downpour, we returned to find 7 new guests who would be spending the night with us, 5 of which were part of a travelling by bicycle religious group. Three more joined-so we slept outside without a tent. It was a late night due to conversation about religion and education. 

Day 13: Mt. Vernon to Prairie City (21 Miles)

We left our new friends for Prairie City a little later than most mornings. We walked through John Day about 8 miles in to savor all that the town had to offer. Stopped at a store to fulfill my pregnancy cravings for carrots. Ended in Prairie City about noonish and found camp at an RV park along a small creek. Prairie City offered several dining options not seen in the past week-Mexican Food!! I had several hours to write (played major catch up in this journal) and rest up for the Monster that would be tomorrow. From borrowed cyclist maps we knew there'd be a 5200' peak to be climbed first thing in the morning.

Day 14: Prairie City to Unity Reservoir Turnoff (36 Miles)

Because of the mental prep today seemed a bit easier. I've found when about to go through a mountain day I have this mentality that I have to climb a mountain AND go 36 miles. It always turns into a bonus that the climb contributes 6+ miles to the journey's total. After the TransAm turnoff at Highway 7, I figured climbing would be done as we'd skim to the the south of the Blue Mountains. Highway 26 made a mockery of this by throwing the 5,100' Blue Mountain Pass in our way. Without fancy biking maps anymore, these climbs are certain to be surprises in the coming weeks.

Coming down from the second climb, Sam's parents caught us at milepost 204. I figured our destination to be at 208 only to be informed that it was actually 210. We got there and earned some rest! Jim and Joyce took us to lunch in Unity and drove us 60+ miles down our route to the hotel in Ontario where I'm writing now. After a week with no beds to hotel room was a welcomed sight. LeBron also announced his return to Cleveland. 


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Day 15-Rest Day Ontario (7/12/2014)

Today was relatively uneventful with several errands made in preparation for the coming week. I almost wish we could have run today just to get Oregon done sooner, but six days running is plenty. I wanted to make sure we never crossed into Idaho-that will be on foot in three days from now. My legs feel pretty fantastic on the whole with a couple of troubling signs. One, there is some tightness behind my right knee that feels it could pop pretty soon. Second, my left foot gets random sharp pains that feel kind of similar to my stress fracture last year. The stress fracture was from running too many days in a row-I've gotten a lot smarter now and take a day off every week! (just ignore the fact I put up 180 miles this week) Now we've got 4 30+ mile days in a row before our next rest day at Greta's in Eagle, ID. Idaho will be better planned there but I'm leaning towards hugging the Snake RIver lifeline rather than venturing into the (shorter) Highway 20 desert. Just gotta get to Idaho Falls then through Jackson to join our biker friends again.