Day 84: Dayville, OR

We had an awesome conversation with Father Rob on Sunday night... we all really enjoyed his company and hospitality. As if Baker City hadn't done enough for us, we met the Kings for breakfast the next morning and felt like we were on the inside - they opened up the Inland Cafe for us a half hour early. Highly recommend the place next time you're in Baker City.

We thanked the Kings profusely for a wonderful meal and great company and headed off into the rain. Actually, Johnny and Jonathan headed off into the rain and Daveyray and I headed back to Mad Matilda's Coffee Shop because it was too cold. We met 150 people in the next hour, I can't list them all. Tom who ran bike tours along the Oregon Trail (guess what we talked about?), a nice gal who used to work at Metro Run and Walk in Falls Church who was ON the bike tour, along with her DAD and her FRIEND and another dude on the bike tour. Then lots of other people came and hung out, then some dude who ran some hotline in Baker City, then the coffee shop lady came and hung out with us. You get the idea. The rain died down to a freezing deluge and we took off for Dixie Summit. It took us all stinking day. Three passes (which means LOTS of climbing) and on and off freezing rain. The Johnny and Jonathan stopped at a cafe and waited out a hailstorm and ate blackberry cobbler. We know this because they left a message with the guy at the cafe that went something like this - "We waited out the hailstorm and ate all the cobbler. We have the emergency food if we need it. See you at the campground!" Oh the adventures. Daveyray and I watched The Great Outdoors with John Candy at the cafe, and Daveyray ate my elk burger. That's right, we're still a little off the beaten path. We waited until it got real dark and then started climbing Dixie Pass. So smart. Some lady pulled over and said "Want me to follow you?" and we said "YES!" and so she put on her hazard lights and followed us all the way to the campground. We walked around and I honked my bike horn until the guys got out of their tents and started hollering. I couldn't believe it, but there were actually other people at the campground. It was a cold wet disgusting Monday night.

Day 84 (today if you're paying attention) was a downhill ride to Prairie Dog Town (I think it's Prairie City, but Prairie Dog Town is much more bloggable) and we ate the whole bakery there. Jonathan went on ahead, the rest of us mowed through cups of coffee and cinammon rolls and read the paper. It was vunderbar.

On to Dayville! It was supposed to be all downhill, but it wasn't. At least the weather cleared up. The ride was actually quite pleasant and we arrived in Dayville during the day. Ha! We nailed down burgers at TX Lounge (who names these places?) and promised to come back for ALL YOU CAN EAT TACO NIGHT (spoke in deep voice with mighty reverb). We are staying at the Presbyterian HOTEL here in Dayville. It's a hostel for bikers and a little ridiculous. Shower, laundry, full kitchen, two TVs, two VCRs, easy access to ALL YOU CAN EAT TACO LOUNGE... the works. We're sleeping right in front of the pulpit tonight. I hope nobody gives a sleep sermon.

ALL YOU CAN EAT TACO NIGHT was exactly what it sounds like, and the only thing to do in Dayville at ... night.

We're off to sleep, then on to Ochoco Pass in the morning which apparently has the steepest downhill they can legally make in Oregon! We'll see when we get there...