Day 58: Mitchell to Prineville

Total mileage: 55ish

Our ride wasnt long today, but it took us up a massive climb out of Mitchell. Whew! It was long and pretty darn steep for this part of the world.  All along the way were burned out sections of forest.

Fire damage every few feet

Halfway up the pass

As we rode down the other side, the forests became groves of occasionally massive ponderosa pines. Logging has been a huge industry in this area, so its rare to see particularly large trees. Currently the groves of pines we saw are managed as part of the Ochoco National Forest. 

Prineville greeted us with all the luxuries that a town of thousands has to offer. We were starving when we got in, so we went to lunch at a sandwich place in town. We both got 1/2 lb burgers, which it turns out is rather a lot of food. I wish I had documented the size of the burgers by photo, but I guess you'll just have to imagine it. Of course, we had 0 problems finishing our food!

Our hosts that night advertised themselves on Warmshowers as biodynamic farmers with a yoga studio that cyclists could sleep in. We were intrigued. We had had some confusing email exchanges telling us that we could use their kitchen but that we would have to buy their vegetables if we wanted food, so we weren't sure what to expect. We had gotten in early, so we killed time at the Prineville public library before heading over.

When we arrived (right before it began to pour), we found an incredibly peaceful house with CSA shares set up for pickup in the front room. The walls were decorated with all sorts of interesting/beautiful photos/paintings. Our host welcomed us in, showed us upstairs to the yoga studio, and left us alone to shower. 

Once we got situated, we crept downstairs to ask for some veggies for our dinner. Much to our surprise, our host sat us down and offered us beer instead! We chatted with her for a while and began to relax. In the end, they ended up cooking us dinner and taking us to see their farm a couple of miles away. All in all, a very unexpected turn of events. Our mattresses in the yoga studio were very comfy, so we slept well that night.