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Wutheringbikes Home -- TransAm Bike Ride
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Tuesday 17th August 2004
From
the County Campground, Prairie City, through to Dayville, Presbyterian Church
- a massive journey of, well, 41 miles. We returned our empty beer bottles
(6 bottles amongst 4 people - a big beer party clearly) to the store, as
you get a refund on them in Oregon. The newspaper has statistics making
clear that most people don't do this, and that recycling is pretty static
in Oregon - not growing much at all. Certainly the reaction of the store
owner did seem a little surprised. Do they recycle them, return them, or...
throw them in the trash? We can only speculate. Nice to have 30 cents back
though. It was raining, but looked like brightening up. Steve did the Sumpter
Valley Railroad museum, which houses a nice collection of memorabilia, some
railroad related, some just relating to the area. The railroad from here
to Sumpter was really something - climbing three times over the 4000 foot
contour. The big local family who had done well were represented - and an
odd but stimulating collection of curious objects - including lots of gold
mine pictures from happy days when gold was to be found in quantities in
the local hills. We eventually cycled down to John Day - named after a local
farmer and general entrepreneur. Even the river here is named "John Day".
An excessively large lunch kept us in the park for some time (we were hoping
to swim but the pool was densely packed with writhing small children), and
it was pretty late when we finally made it to Dayville. The Presbyterian
church offers hospitality to bikers, so we took them up on their offer.
It is an amazingly generous offer - including showers, use of a kitchen
and computer (where I am now) and space to sleep. I like this sort of Christian
witness! Thanks Dayville Presbyterians! We heard that Didi and Jake are
racing towards Mitchell - another 40 - 50 miles away. Anyhow, that was tomorrow
for us. I typed "So I'm signing off, sleepy with pasta, tea (this is
an alcohol free church) and typing!". A good place to be. The photo
shows a piece of stained glass that is in the church hall - as you can see,
a bicycle is going to church. Well, with this sort of hospitality maybe
people would think there was something worth turning up at church for! Jesus
would ride a bike if he were going from A to B today! |
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Wutheringbikes Home -- TransAm Bike Ride
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