Randy thought he might ride with me to the meeting location (about half a mile) to say hi to Sarah. I got a text from him early today that said he was hurting and staying in bed to rest.
Sarah showed up right on time and we headed off down the road. She was pretty determined and I was rested a bit so we were doing pretty well on the climb (about 14 miles).
Eventually it got steeper and we were doing quite a but of work (at least I was, she seems immune to the hills).
On the way up the hill we had the ideas to try to arrange a shuttle for Randy. Ferit and his sister would be meeting us tonight after hanging out in Ashland for the day. Perhaps they could bring Randy and he could have a day off and catch up to us. We sent some text and phone messages to set it up while we still had service. Randy had worked so hard to catch up, it was tough to leave him behind.
We would find out later in the day that they had made contact but Randy decided to stay in Ashland and head out tomorrow on a schedule of shorter days. It makes sense for him as he only has to get to Portland for his music festival in early July. He sure did add to the fun of the trip.
The rest of the day was pretty straightforward and repetitive. Climb a hill, go down a hill, pedal for a while, look at the trees, repeat and repeat and repeat.
Right up there with 'Cold Drink' as my favorite road sign
The trees along the road were nice but there were no long views so it looked the same much of the day. Our original intention was to stay in a town called Prospect at a bicycle campground. A call to the location informed us that it was in fact a ranch and they were not hosting anyone currently due to some construction. Hmmm...I guess we are pedaling a bit further to a USFS campground.
Looked nice...all eight hours of it.
As we passed one closed USFS campground after another, we started to wonder if our target site would be open. A closed campground is not a big deal for the bikes but it is a problem for the car that would be meeting us.
We met Ferit and his sister on the road outside Prospect. They had some fun taking pictures while we pedaled towards the end of what would be our longest pedaling day of the trip.
We stopped in town to check the maps and I made a cold drink run to the store. Our camping option was still five miles down the road and another mile down a dirt road from there. The car headed out to find a site and we pedaled on.
Eventually we got there and finished what had become a slightly more than 8 hours of saddle time and a bit more than 80 miles. So much for being rested after Ashland.
I set up camp and took a brief nap. The others started making dinner. Ferrit's sister is a great cook and we ate really well. With a full stomach I was more tired than ever. After helping with the washing up after dinner I was quickly off to my tent to read until I fell asleep (not too long).
Tomorrow the road will be 100% uphill to Crater Lake. After today we still have about 30 miles to get there.
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