74 miles / 4475 total
We were feeling so good today that we decided to take a 10 mile detour to see the John Day fossil beds. Wasn't particularly interested in the fossils but the Blue Basin was amazing. Not sure if it comes out on n the photos but the entire valley was a turquoise colour. After that was a 26 mile uphill, ouch. Still, it wasn't steep and we just kept going.
One of the reasons we took the detour to the fossil beds was because we knew the painted hills were too far off trail to visit. So it was an awesome surprise to arrive at the hostel and find out that they couldn't bare too see cyclists come so close and miss them so each evening they drove everyone out there and back. They were gorgeous.
Our hosts car was a tiny beat up thing that Jim had to fold himself into. She drove like a rally driver and nothing on the car worked properly. I have never laughed so much during a car journey! Couldn't close the manual windows so I got blasted in the back of the car, the muffler fell off so our fix was rope under the car and me and Jim holding an end each.
I think the Spoke'n hostel is my fave accom of the whole trip. It wasn't even suppose to be open this year but after they let the TransAm racers stay, word got out of how awesome it is and they had to open. Thanks so much to Jalet and her team, they got everything right, showers, free ice cream, seeing the painted hills, charging stations on bunk beds, your own light on your bed, free breakfast. Loved it.