Thank you Oregon for a dry day!

Our first day in Oregon without rain during some part of the day!!  Woohoo!!

Covered bridge over the McKinzie River

As predicted it was a long day in the saddle, but thankfully with no rain or bad weather it went well.  The route for the day was 96 miles from Eugene to Sisters, OR over McKinzie Pass.  Beth and I rode the tandem the first 60 miles to the turn off to McKinzie Pass and then I finished up solo over the pass, almost 4000' of climbing to get to the summit.  Then a 16 mile decent into Sisters.  (Here is the track)

It was a nice ride along the McKinzie river for the first 60 miles, so not too bad.  We could both definitely feel that ride from yesterday in our legs (and other places) and my climb up to the pass was pretty slow.

What an interesting area when you get close to the pass.  It is a large caldera with miles of lava flow.  At the pass someone had built an "observatory" out of the lava rock.

I'm not sure why they haven't opened the road over McKinzie Pass to cars yet. The road was clear and dry all the way across.  It's too bad that Beth and Nicolas had to drive around and miss the neat scenery.... and I had to ride unsupported.  I carried extra clothes with me and I needed them when I got to the top.

McKinzie Pass caledera

Tomorrow is another challenging day with a big up-hill finish. We only plan to go 70 miles and camp in forest service park since the facilities will be few and far between tomorrow, probably no updates for a couple of days.  Beth and Nicholas took the opportunity to stock up on groceries while I was riding over the pass, so we are set for a couple of days. Here is the route plan for tomorrow.