Day 89, Redmond to Vida, Oregon.

The road to McKenzie Pass.

Entering the forest at the bottom of the climb.

Lisa pointed out how this mountain looks like a female breast. I agree.

Mt. Washington. Over 7,000 feet tall.

Ted, ready to roll. He looks just like one of them biker guys.

The stairway to the observatory on top of McKenzie Pass.

A view of the three sisters.

The Three Sisters.

The river basin leading up to the pass.

Another shot of The Three Sisters.

We crossed this road block on our way to the pass.

At first, I thought all these reign deer was a bunch of antlers piled up.

Pretty wild looking, aren't they?

Reflections through the trees.

Another reflection, this time with Lisa in it.

An Oregon ranch by the side of the road.

The mid evil looking observatory at the top of McKenzie Pass.

This is another shot of the observatory.

Mt. Jefferson at over 10,000 feet tall.

Mt. Jefferson again.

An ultra wide angle shot of Mt. Washington and it's neighbor.

The Hotel we stayed at in Redmond.

Going down the switch backs down the other side.

Entering the town of Sisters.

Leaving Redmond

The thick forest of the great north west.

Descending with the gang.

Chipmunks are so cute. Everybody should have one.


Day 89, Redmond to Vida, Oregon. “The Transformation”. 88,14 miles. Total= 4,290.26 miles.

Saturday, August 8, 2009. Our Suite at the American Comfort Suites was a well deserved treat indeed. Although pricey, the rooms were huge. We even had a couch big enough to sleep on, a lazy boy rocking chair, large flat screen TV, and all the comforts of home.

We left Redmond at our usual start time, and made our way through the heart of town. Redmond is a really neat town. It looks like a pedestrian mall, with shops lining the street on either side. I wish we could have spent a rest day here. After stocking up on snacks for the day, we headed down the road to the town of Sisters, 20 miles away. We stopped there for breakfast where we found out that the road would be closed due to work being done. We did not want to go the alternate route which would have added another 20 or so miles to today’s planned 80 plus miles of riding. We decided to take a chance and go for it. Leaving Sisters, we began the long 15 mile climb to the top of McKenzie Pass. It would be a 3,000 plus feet of climbing. There were numerous road bikers going up and coming down. The road has been closed for some time now, and the road bikers like to take advantage of the traffic free conditions. On the way up, we traveled through sparsely populated forest, with semi desert like under brush filling in the canopy floor. The further we climbed, the greener and thicker the forest got. Soon, the pine trees were monopolizing the terrain. We were now in the Pacific north West. The Oregon I had imagined from all the pictures I’ve seen in the past. The Redwood, Ponderosa, and Douglas Fur trees were as large as I’ve ever seen. As we gained altitude, we could see the snow capped peaks of near by mountains peeping through the trees. About half way up, we ran into a road block. There was an opening on the side where pedestrians and bikers could pass through, so we did. It took several hours of climbing, but we finally made it to the top, only to be told by a road guard that we had to turn back. Lisa told the guy we weren’t going back, and that we would wait till they were done working and then go. The guy looked at her and said, “There’s a bunch of other guys waiting to go over also”. So we went over and joined them.

I decided to walk one of the hiking trails and take some pictures, since we had some time to kill. The terrain reminded me of the Big Island’s lava fields. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I was there instead. About an hour later, I heard Lisa calling. When I got there, the gang was getting their bikes ready to go. The working foreman wanted to make it perfectly clear that we were not allowed to go, but would not try to stop us. We then all decided to go as a group.

The ride down the other side was a real treat. 13 miles of uninterrupted descending though the most pristine forest in the world. We descended over 3,000 feet, and made up valuable lost time. A few miles down the road, we rejoined highway 126, the original route we were on. We stopped at a little store to grab something to eat., then proceeded to our destination in Vita. It was a lot further than we had expected, but the ride was almost all down hill, so it wasn’t such a big deal. We followed the McKenzie River as it wound it’s way toward the Pacific.

At 7:45 in the evening, we finally pulled into Vida, grabbed something to eat, and found the Riverside Motel where we are spending the night. Well I guess that does it for now. Thank you again for staying with us. Aloha, Ted.