Day 4 and 5 Warm Springs to John Day

Day 4 - Thursday, June 21, 2012

Three women photographed on the reservation in 1902

On the third night we made it to the Warm Spring Tribes  Indian Reservation. We stayed at a " resort" within the reservation in the middle of the high open desert. At one time it was a casino, recently closed, the only remnant, no TV's in any rooms, a long time Vegas trick to keep the guests on the floor. There is a new bigger casino in the small town miles away. The resort was very large and seemed somewhat full, our 60 plus blending inconspicuously. The main attraction was now somewhat ambiguous. The climate afforded us a quick dry to our soggy clothes we had been toting around for days. We had a so so dinner, buffet Italian, and they ran out of food. After dinner some guy  asked what kind of firewater they had, and that caused a transient stir.

The man that checked us in was an Indian from the local tribe. He was tall, handsome and attractively wearing his pride without a hint of bitterness. He gave me the low down on the important historical events. The Warm Spring and Wasco Indians had ownership of 20,000 square miles in this area of Oregon for 10,000 years.  In the treaty of 1855  they "exchanged " this for basic health care, education, other worthless shit, and a land reduction to 1000 square miles. A third tribe, the Pauites, were relocated to the reservation. The three tribes did manage to retain fishing rights to most of the lands they originally owned. They are still experts in root digging - a wild celery is the main crop

Chuck going over cattle grate leaving the reservation

River on the reservation

Mount Jefferson in front of me on the way to reservation

Conquering a pass

One surprise bonus to this trip was the last minute addition of Bob Willis, a former physics professor at Mercer and long time riding buddy. He heard we were doing this trip and headed to Astoria from his current location in New Mexico. He signed up for the first 8 day segment. Above, he is standing in a mustard field just outside of our destination last night in Prineville, Oregon. We were told the white flowers were mayonnaise, but I am not too very sure of that.
Click below for details
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/191697900

Day 5 - Friday June 22, 2012
Today we had an epic ride. Here in Southwest Oregon, towns large enough to hotel 60 people are few and far between. How far?  How about 117 miles. So it was up at 4:30 AM, big breakfast at 5:15 and on the road at 6:00 AM. We had 2 climbs totaling 5000 feet in the first 65 miles and then a rather flat ride through two spectacular canyons. Weather prediction was for thunderstorms in the afternoon, so the plan was to stay moving instead of our usual posing for photos, messing around at the sag stops and missing turns. There were only two turns today, the left out of the hotel and the left into the hotel 116 miles later on Route 26. I missed the second one and rode an extra 3 miles.

Just before the second climb

One  of many West Oregon rock formations

Chuck and New York Richard in the Canyon

To view click below then click Link, note almost 7000 calories burned!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/191697892