Day 6 Get Your Kicks on Route 26

This was our third day of riding East on US Highway 26. Today was a short 45 mile uphill ride to Prairie City, Oregon. We were in the John Day River valley which was full of hay, cattle and a few horses.

I wonder if the farmers ever stop and think about how pretty it is?

Meet Tyler who is an online teacher and writer. He hails from Bellingham, Washington. He mostly camps and stays in a hotel one night a week. Tyler travels with a laptop, notebooks, pens, and dress clothes. He still works because he has to pay his rent. Once he arrives at Boise, Idaho he will decide whether he will go north or south.

He is riding a Kona bicycle. Note the number of bags on his bicycle. Finally someone has more stuff than Chad. You’ll see his helmet strapped securely on the rear of his bicycle. He doesn’t use it in the mountains because he “doesn’t go fast”. I’m not certain about down hills. Chad says that Tyler is signaling his chill.

In 1887 John Day, Oregon had the third largest Chinatown in the United States. The small town had over 1,000 Chinese immigrants. Ing Hay (herbal medicine doctor) and Lung On (merchant) were both from Guangdong Province. They formed a partnership and practiced herbal medicine, sold dry goods, and translated for the Chinese community. They opened the store in 1887 and the business ended when Hay passed away in 1952. The herbs and oils inside the store remain untouched from that date.

I didn’t get to visit the Kam Wah Chung & Co. store because you had to have a guided tour and I didn’t want to wait. The museum was very interesting.

Stats

• Dayville to Prairie City, Oregon
• Distance: 44.7 miles (72 km)
• Climbing: 1688 feet (515 m)
• Temperature: 56 – 72°F (13 – 22°C)

Evil Plants, Part 2

About 4 miles from Dayville Joe got a flat tire. When he opened his tool kit he found he didn’t have tire levers. We were all a couple of miles ahead of him and he didn’t want to call us back. So he looked around and found some makeshift tire levers.

The nails worked! He replaced his tube and was on his way shortly. The cause of the flat was a goat head sticker (devil’s weed) We noticed goat head sticker plants on our way to dinner last night. The plants grow very close to the ground and can even grow in well manicured lawns. They are the curse of the devil and the bane of cyclists everywhere. Here is a photo of a sticker that punctured a tube along with a valve cap.

Joe wasn’t the only one with a flat tire.

John Day

Yesterday we passed by the John Day Fossil Beds and stayed overnight in Dayville. Today we followed the John Day River and passed through a town named John Day.

John day was a hunter/trapper from Virginia. He was on an expedition that made it to Astoria, Oregon and then later returned to St. Louis. The mouth of the John Day river is on the Columbia river near Astoria. He never visited the area where the towns are located.

Sundry

Chad’s rear wheel has traveled 130 miles with out loosening a spoke.

Having lived in Decatur Illinois for 20+ years and living with Chicago politics I understand where these people are coming from.

Worlds largest ice tongs?

They didn’t get the message that we are riding our bicycles. You got to be kidding me – our room is at the top of those stairs?