Back to the real John Day

Saturday, 7 AM, Portland Sheraton at the airport, boarding a bus with 30 other hardy Cycle O folks, heading to John Day, Oregon, our first tenting stop before Day 1 of our ride.  Along the mighty Columbia, right!  That was what was in my head because I had not really looked closely at a map before departure.  Nope.  Only the John Day State Campground is along Hwy 84, the road I traveled regularly from Walla Walla to Portland in the early 1990s..  The real John Day, Oregon, is 200 miles east and inland, gateway to Malheur National Forest and 487,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land.  When our CO guide said we would have to change bus drivers in Pendelton because the trip was too long for him to drive from Portland to John Day and back, I had a sneaky feeling, I had the wrong John Day. 

When things don't go as planned, that is when the adventure begins..Those who know me, know that is my travel mantra and the corollary, it is best not to plan too much, I might miss an adventure. I knew I was in safe hands even if I only had a vague clue about where I was going for seven days into the wilder parts of Oregon.  Oh, and Hwy 395 does not bisect the state.  It is in the eastern quarter of the state, travels north and south and is a major artery.  Riding Cycle Oregon is a close lesson in Oregon geography, pedal stroke by pedal stroke... slices of geographic and human time, some frozen in place and deteriorating and abandoned, others scarred by forest fires, others with rust, chartruse and orange washes of desert grasses.

From Pendelton to John Day, the clouds became whiter. I imagined them to be escapees from the cotton ball factory.  Whispy and puffy and misshapen, floating to a better place where they do not have to conform but can reform and float along over unpopulated vistas.

Cycle Oregon has given me so much to write about.  I took today off as did many others. There was an optional ride of 42 miles that was originally 50 miles but had to be shortened for a cattle drive.  It was a layover day which means we did not have to pack up our tents this morning.  Tomorrow Day 5, a light day, only 40 miles, and a new camp in Crane, Oregon... then day 6, another new camp, as we head back toward John Day, a hefty 73 miles back with a 1400 foot elevation gain into the magnificent Malheur National Forest, and, ending on Day 7 with a short 56 mile day down into the valley of John Day, when I take a bus at 4:00 back to Portland.

Cycle Oregon gave us topo maps and elevation guides for each day, so I now do know where John Day is.