Atlantic to Pacific Cycling Journey 2011: Day 56 Mitchell to Redmond

Thursday, July 15, 2011

Miles 69.92 Total 3925.16 miles Daily Avg. 70.09 milesAvg. Speed 14.8 Max Speed 29.2 Alt Climbed 2976 ft

Following breakfast at the Bridge Creek Cafe, in Mitchell we left town and had a quick descent of 700 ft before starting a long climb of 2,300 ft to the top of Ochoco Pass, 4720 ft, a full ½ mile vertically higher than we when we started the climb . The 8 mile descent and the flat ride into Redmond for the final 35 miles made for another terrific day of cycling. Blue skies, warm temperatures with a cool breeze made for a terrific day.

We are in Redmond for the evening sharing the Greenway Motel with the other cheapskates in the area. After laundry and an oil change for the Toyota we hit the town. There is a RV Expo at the fairgrounds this weekend which has attracted thousands of RV’s from around the country. Now we know where all the RV’s, which have been trying to run us off the road for the past few days were headed. The RV drivers are dangerous, usually older, retired, never driven anything larger than a minivan, now with Myrtle sitting next to them hollering not to hit the crazy guy on the bike.

Joey and I drove out to the RV Expo, where thousands or RV’s were parked in the parking lots and fields surrounding the fairgrounds. With all the vehicles we expected to see people everywhere. Yet there were very few people around. We realized it was 4:30, about the time of the early bird specials or everyone was inside their RV watching their 40 inch TV’s. All in all not a real social group, we did not witness any large parties.

We made our own happy hour visit to the Diego"s Spirt Kitchen where we enjoyed our best meal of the trip, shrimp ceviche and fish tacos at happy hour prices. Later in the evening we visited 7^th Brewery, a local microbrewery where we enjoyed a cold beer and pizza. A great day as we get close to the finish of this adventure.