Day 12: To Prairie City

July 1, 2006

I got on the road at 8:20 AM after sweeping the floor and writing an entry in the guest book. The last cyclist stayed at the church 5 days earlier. The road east from Dayville stays in the John Day river valley, but the valley is wide and the river is only occasionally visible from the highway. There is a huge amount of irrigated pasture and many small diversion canals for irrigation.

The hillsides are almost finished changing from green to brown.

I ate lunch in Mt. Vernon (2871 feet elevation), then continued east another 8 miles to the town of John Day (3083 feet elevation). I spent a couple hours in John Day visiting the Kam Wah Chung historic site, getting groceries, and calling my wife. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon with the temperature in the 80's. I finally got away from John Day at 3:30 PM.

First good view of the Strawberry mountains.

Kam Wah Chung historic site in the town of John Day.

My destination is Prairie City 13 miles east of John Day.

Getting closer to the Strawberry mountains.

I arrived at Prairie City (3539 feet elevation) at 5 PM. It's a small town but has a surprisingly large downtown business district. Quite touristy, with an impressive view of the 10,000 foot Strawberry mountains to the south.

I camped at the Depot RV Park 1/2 mile south of downtown. It's a big city park along a creek with a historic train depot in the middle of the park. It has nice grassy lawns for camping. They charged me $6 to camp plus $1.75 for a shower. I set up the tent 50 feet from the creek where the sound of the creek drowns out most of the noise from the surrounding town.

My tent outside the train depot museum at Prairie City.

Today I hoped to get up to Dixie Summit, but time slipped away and I didn't feel up to the 1700 foot climb so late in the day. So I relaxed in Prairie City, cleaned and oiled my chain. The day started sunny but clouds built up in the afternoon. High temperature in the low 90's.

Much of the road from Dayville to Prairie City is chipseal. The traffic lanes are worn smooth but the shoulder is rough with loose rocks. Definitely slower than smooth asphalt. Just east of John Day two motorists honked at me in a malicious way. First time on this trip, I think.

Distance: 48.1 mi. (77 km)

Climbing: 1453 ft. (440 m)

Average Speed: 8.5 mph (13.6 km/h)

Maximum Speed: 23.8 mph (38.1 km/h)

Today's ride: 48 miles (77 km)
Total: 494 miles (795 km)

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