Day 4, July 18: Sisters to Prineville Oregon, 37 miles with 1040 ft elevation gain.

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Today we left the bustling tourist town of Sisters, with its quaint shops and restaurants and the distinct smell of pine.  We thought that we were also leaving the beautiful Three Sisters mountains, however they seemed to be following along with us and we could still marvel at their stunning-ness many miles away!  






The day's ride was filled with grand vistas of ranch land and interesting geologic formations.  The road was quiet with a great surface for riding.  We eventually met up with Noah, who was installing fencing at an organic farm.  He explained the farm's crop and grazing rotation system for natural fertilizing.  He explained that they were attempting to contain the chickens with tall grass rather than fencing, however it seemed that the chickens had other ideas as they ran around the adjacent field and peered out at the road.  Noah blessed us with a group photo:


We stopped at the local Oliver Lemons grocery store for picnic provisions and made our way to Smith Rock State Park where we enjoyed some shade and great views.







 After a restorative rest and FRITOS!!, we hit the road again.  Several miles into the ride we hit the main road, only to be frustrated by the absence of road shoulder and speeding semis who crowded us off the road and into a decision to abort the rest of the ride for the day in favor of group safety.

Lesli, our trusty sag driver agreed to pick us up and haul us to our destination.  A local household agreed to let us wait in their driveway which afforded us a safe location and an unsolved mystery.  While waiting, a pick-up pulled in and asked whether we were the party who ordered the 3 Red Bull cans..........he proceeded to drop them at the house door but we couldn't help wonder about this delivery 10 miles away from any town!

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