Day 4 Kah-nee-ta to Prineville, Oregon 60 Miles

Last night after dinner we took a group photo shot with our America By Bikes jerseys, which are all American red, white and blue.  I am going to see about getting a copy to post, but don't have one yet.

On to today, we got a later start today due to less mileage and moderate climbing.  The temperature started out in the mid 60's with the forecast to be in the low to mid 80's.  We left the casino and got to go down the big hill that we had to climb yesterday and it was great to coast down to the road.  After taking a left turn there was a golf course right by the road and I thought of our weekly group and made a tee time for August 10th for our group if they can make it.  Moving on down the road I spotted a snake and after passing it by I turned around to see what kind it was.  It turned out to be a small garter snake so I did take a picture but it did not show up well.  Then we moved and started the climb out of the canyon we dropped down yesterday and I spotted another snake and this time I could see that is was a rattler, so I took a picture and it should be below this posting. We had a steady climb and once again we could see Mt. Hood in the background.  After topping out we got to descend in to the town of Warm Springs, Oregon.  Due to it going to be hot our support van was getting gas as the Shell station, so I pulled in got rid of morning coffee and topped my water bottles off.  We then got to the Des chutes river and crossed it and there were people floating the river in a boat fly fishing.  It really looked inviting but I had another schedule to meet so that thought of fishing and wading in the inviting clear cool water was only a vision as I started another 5 mile climb out of another canyon.  This climb was not all that bad with a constant 5% with an occasional 6-7% for short spurts.  Due to the heat and lack of places for many water stops as only 1 was on the route for today, our luggage truck was about half way up the hill in a pull out with water for us.  I once again topped off my bottles as when I do allot of climbing I like to stay hydrated.  After topping out on the plateau, the beauty of the country side was awesome and it reminded me of Montana and my good friend Holly.  So when I got the opportunity to stop at the national grassland sign, I called her and said that I was thinking about her knowing she also likes the Mt's and I wanted to say hi.  Up till this point I was riding by myself and enjoying the beauty and fresh air and taking a leisurely ride in the wide open spaces.  We then turned off the main road on rural roads which are kink of lime the Farm to Market roads (FM) that we have in Texas.  These roads took us by fields of carrots that were being grown for seed.  After leaving these fields we started down a nice downhill under a railroad trestle and into the town of Madras, Oregon.  Our rest stop today was in a park with nice shade trees and green grass.  I once again topped off the bottles and ate some snacks. banana's pretzels, cookies, peanuts, and more cookies.  You really burn allot of calories and need to keep replenishing the supply when it is available. I don't want to waste away to nothing.  HA. HA.HA.  Got to keep you humour in all situations.

After the rest stop we had another 1000' of climbing and 30 miles to go before we got to our home away from home today. I hooked up with Howard, Bob and Beth and we moved on down the road.  The roads weren't very steep and we had a slight tailwind and moved on down the road.  After topping out we had a great 30 MPH downhill 6 miles into the town of Prineville, Ore on new asphalt and boy was it great.

After arriving at the motel for today, there were 3 riders getting ready to go and eat so they waited until we checked in and we hopped back on our bikes and went and got lunch and ice cream at the local Taste Freeze that was opened in 1952. 

Today was once again an awesome day to be out in the wide open spaces of God's creation and I gave many thanks for all the beauty and being able to have the enjoy it with others.

Tomorrow we will have our first day over 100 miles and the forecast is for more warm temperatures.  Need to get a good nights sleep and see what new and exciting challenges await the new day.