Day 5: Mt Vernon to Austin Junction

I'm writing this post on my phone, laying in my tent in a Ponderosa Pine forest behind the only building in Austin Junction, the same place I took a day off with the crew in 2003 and where I made Iris a heart out of grass. I'll post this when I get internet later.

Last night I camped alone at the hiker biker camp, and had a fun afternoon of solitude. Rob, Jim, and Tim stayed at the hostel in town that I didn't find, and Bob went on to John Day 8 miles farther down the road and stayed in a hotel.

It was a cold morning, but warmed fast and I overtook Tim on the way to John Day. There I stopped to restock food and ran in to Rob at the grocery store. The three of us swapped stories and I headed on. I said a likely final good bye to Rob who was not riding as far today and then leaving the route to find a new bike without full suspension. Tim was taking a day off in John Day and then riding 85 miles to Baker City, so I likely will see him tomorrow.

Today was a planned short day for me, so after a long steep pass overlooking the Strawberry Mountains and a covered wagon, my first flat tire at the top (rim strip failure), and a 7 mile 18 minute-ish downhill, I rolled in to Austin Junction around mile 40 at 2pmish. It was good I got my flat at the top of the pass and not riding up or,  worse, on the way down. Bikema is good to me!

Jim was already there talking to some tandem riders who were heading the other way from Virginia. They were around my age, one had quit his job as an aerospace engineer to do the ride on his wife had quit her job as a tutor. They were moving to Boulder after the ride and she was going to law school. Crazy. They won't have money problems. Yay for quitting a job to bike tour, I did that last time. It feels great (if your job sucks).

Bob rode up a bit later, and he, Jim, and I are camped behind the only building in AJ. We aren't allowed to cook here for forest fire reasons, so we enjoyed a nice dinner at the resteraunt/store. Tomorrow we all go to Baker City about 50 miles and two passes away. Tim may join us there. We don't have plans to camp together, but we'll see what happens. They are good company and genuinely good people. Day 5 and all's well.

ILYI