days 4 and 5

So.... we're back in Bend again, here's a quick recap of how we got there:

On the 18th after heading back to my house in Bend for the night we spent a relaxing evening getting clean and re-organized after our first couple days of real riding. The next morning, we all mobilized around 8 am and drove back to the point where we left off in Sisters. We were joined by both my parents and brother, Anthony, as well as a Corso family friend, Cal Mukumoto. From Sisters we made a decently quick 40 mile ride to Prineville. On this side of the Cascades, the climate shifts from temperate, rainy, dense forest, to juniper-studded hills, wide grassy farmland and rocky mesas and canyons. We were chased by a rain cloud for a few miles, but for the rest of our ride the weather held.
In Prineville my parents generously paid for a campsite at an RV park/campground, where they had stashed a car full of food and treats! The rest of the day became very rainy but we spent most of it under a fully-equiped pavillion, sitting around a fire pit and grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. Around 8 my parents packed up and left, and we retired for the night in a tiny, rustic cabin that we were provided for no additional fee! There were even 5 sleeping spots.

The morning of the 20th we decided to take things leisurely, and had a nice sleep-in. After unanimously choosing to forego our showers, we packed up and headed back into the center of Prinville to a breakfast place recommended to us by the RV park hostess. We had to battle an extreme father's-day crowd, but Brother's family diner ultimately treated us well, and we all devoured trucker-style breakfasts.
After breakfast, on our slow, fat way out of town we swung by a Rays for the day's food and then continued our journey toward the Ochoco mountains of eastern Oregon.

Unforunately, after about only 10 miles of cycling, we experienced our first pile-up! From the back of the paceline, I watched Tamara pull off into a very wide shoulder as she made the move from the front to the back of the paceline. She had done such a good job leading that Claire held out a hand for a quick high-five... unfortunately, in the process of acknowledging this gesture, Tamara's bike made an odd swerve. She caught the swerve but ended up nicking Dan's pannier and then taking a tumble. I broke in time to not go over the top, but I didn't help the situation by falling on top of Tamara with my bike. Luckily Tamara was just fine - shaken up but only a little scratched.
She also chose a very convenient location to take a spill, since we found ourselves next to a parking lot, bathrooms and trash cans. We patched Tamara up and were about to keep rolling when we realized that her wheel had essentially "tacoed" (or "waffled"....lucia... :) and was bent thoroughly beyond our repair. Knowing there was no bike shop in Prineville, and the next closest was in John Day, over 100 miles away, we realized that we needed the abundant bike shops of Bend to solve our problems. In another unreal turn of luck, we were approched in our parking lot by a couple from Bend, who was actually planning on returning home with their boat and RV at that exact time. They loaded our bikes and bags in their boat and we rode back into bend in an RV with the couple, their high-school aged daughter, and an adorable old golden-retriever named Kirby. It turns out they even live only blocks from my house! We gave them our blog address, so if you're reading this post, thank you SO MUCH!!! You guys saved our butts today.
Home yet again, we just finished finding Tamara a new wheel (Thanks Sunnyside!!) and are relaxing until tomorrow morning when we will be driven again, by my exceptionally tolerant parents, back to the location where we stopped riding today.
We're currently watching Harry Potter 6 and waiting to pick up some Thai take-out! Rough life.

Happy father's day to all and we're looking forward to some sunnier days ahead.