Day 2: Clear Lake to Prineville

Today's Mileage: 85 miles
Total Mileage so far: 148 miles

I started off the day in an unlikely fashion; I woke to the sound of one of those pain-in-the-a** campers from last night wretching his guts out in the bathroom. I smiled and rolled over, snoozing for another few minutes before I began to get my things together.

Breakfast was a special affair, as I was cooking up my Huevos Rancheros that Evie gave me as a going away present. With breakfast out of the way I packed up my things and took a little spin around the lake. It was a bittersweet experience, as the lake was splendid but the flies were overwhelming. I honestly have never seen so many, they were just thick clouds in the morning sun.

Yesterday's planning paid off, as I left the campground and dropped down at top speed towards Warm Springs. After a speedy descent, I cruised for a while until I began to decent into a spectacular gorge. The road wound and twisted, and the views were spectacular. It was getting a little hot, as I had dropped quite a bit in elevation since the morning. When i got to the bottom of this gorge, I got to the town of Warm Springs, which was situated right at the bottom of it. The only problem was that I had to get back out now...

The climb back out was grueling, not really for the steepness, but the heat. I was sweating like crazy for miles until I finally got out, and then I cursed Warm Springs for ever deceiving me like it did. Onward I rode.

I came upon Madras, a little town that was blazing hot at this time of the day. I made my way to a burrito joint, where I had an awesome veggie burrito and about a billion cups of ice water. The lady behind the counter was really sick of me asking for refills over and over, so I finally just went and refilled it in the bathroom sink. Whatever, I was thirsty out in the desert.

The National Grasslands that I rode through next were still pretty warm, and it was weird being surrounded by just acres and acres of dried up and sun-bleached grass as far as the eye could see. I guess I am a little spoiled by Portland, where it rains like 10 months a year. Need to thicken up the skin a bit if I am gonna ride out into the desert, eh?

Coming down from the grasslands was amazing. I swear, the last 8 or so miles into Prineville were all fast downhill, the day had cooled off, and I was exhausted but happy. I had already made up my mind to stay at any motel in Prineville, as I was still a little irritated about the lack of showers at the campgrounds last night. I found the Econolodge, paid the man, and went to my room.

Prineville is a cool little town. I wish I had gotten a chance to go to the museum right across the street, as well as the coffeehouse around the corner, but it is a small town and everything closes up really early. I ate some pizza from a place next to the motel, went back to my room, and passed out hard.