Crook County RV Park in Prineville, OR

Today was Chris’ last 100+ mile day, so he was up early to get going. August was too, but thankfully went back to sleep and ended up staying asleep pretty late. I did not mind the extra rest!

Since it was closer to lunchtime than breakfast, we stopped at the Snaffle Bit Dinner House for a bite to eat on the way out of town. I figured why not, and ordered a steak and baked potato. They were good, but actually the house salad I got was the highlight. Iceberg lettuce, carrots, peas, cheese, and croutons with ranch dressing. I’m not sure what made it so special, but it was delicious.

We saw this sign in the window of a small business. I love to see towns embracing bicycling as something normal that everyone should be able to do as part of their daily life, safely and without stigmas.

After a full lunch we headed out of town, looking forward to seeing the John Day Fossil Beds that would help break up our long drive. By the way, John Day was a 19th century fur trader. Much of this area is named after him. In the 1800s it was discovered that the area was rich with fossils dating up to 45 million years old.

Probably of most interest to me is that while many of the fossils found here are regular old mammals and flowers still around today, at one point the climate here was subtropical. So there were fossils of exotic rhinoceroses, palm trees, and avocado trees. August and I enjoyed strolling around the exhibits at the visitor center. I can’t say that he was enraptured by the displays, but there was a miniature Australian Shepherd sitting outside waiting for its owner, and that made it all worth it for him.

I have to admit that I don’t get that excited about seeing old partial bones of squirrels and such. I guess I have Jurassic Park-level expectations when it comes to this kind of thing. There is a working paleontology lab here that visitors have a window to see into however, which is pretty neat.

Perhaps the best reason to visit the fossil beds if you aren’t that into the fossils themselves is the magnificent coloring of the strata in the hillsides here. Below is Sheep Rock, very close to the visitor center.

We moved on and towards Prineville, our destination for the night. It was a long day for Chris, around 12 hours, and we were all ready to eat and crash. We picked up some pizza at the fine establishment of Pizza Hut on our way into town, and then came to the RV park here at the fairgrounds. There was a horse race going on at the fairgrounds tonight, so we had the pleasure of listening to the announcer’s booming voice late into the night.

Just as I was settling in with my Kindle for a few minutes of quiet reading while Chris played with Auggie outside, there was an eager tap at the window. I looked out to see Chris’ wide eyes peering at me. “You have to come out here! Now!” Of course, I was expecting to see Burt Reynolds in a limousine at this point. Not quite, but still good. We finally found our RV’s identical twin!

Ye olde 1998 Coachmen Leprechaun. The trip is now complete.