Up and over Keys Creek Pass under threatening skies that hung around all day but offered no rain. Spent most of the day looking agog at the towering bluffs and snow-caped mountains that surrounded me. The route followed the John Day River, which is close to spilling its banks due to the snow melt and unusual rain. After riding through Picture Gorge I stopped to read a sign about it. It’s named for the 8,000-year-old pictographs found there, not the amazing canyon created by the river. At the sign I struck up a conversation with an 82-year-old man on his way to Alaska. His wife died in October from lung cancer and his children convinced him to take his long-desired trip. So, he bought a new Ford F-150 and a used slide-in cabin. “Oh, I’ve been to Alaska before but that was when I was in the Coast Guard on an ice breaker. Never did get ashore so I’m going to now,” he said. Got into John Day and Dee had laid out our evening noshes—cheese, crackers, wine and beer. Wonderful having her along.
Tra la, tra la.
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