Day 2: McKenzie Bridge to Redmond

76 miles
5148 feet of elevation gain

Today was the longest I've ever ridden in my life. Not only that, but we went of the Santiam pass. The origional plan was to go over the Old McKenzie Highway, which we thought would be closed to cars but open to bikes at this point. It was open, but only half-way so since we needed to get over inorder to continue on to Wyoming, that really wasn't an option ;) The Santiam pass was not fun. The hill climb wouldn't have been so bad except we were hit with so much traffic. Constant, non-stop traffic. Yuck. I seriously think every other vehicle to go past us was a moterhome or trailer or camper. This is a bit hypocritical of me, since I'm staying in one, but I really hate those huge road hoggers. They made for a seriously stressful ride. Oh well, we made it and we had a really nice tailwind from Sisters to Redmond so we were going along about 20+ mph. That was great.

Dad and I at the summit after 30 miles of climbing.

So I guess there is a first time for everything. We wanted to park tonight at this beautiful little park we passed right outside of Redmond, but they didn't allow camping, so instead we are in a Walmart parking lot. Who would have figured? Not me.

Houston (1 of Jim's dogs)- His eyes really look like that