04 August 2012

Prairie City to Mitchell OR 87 miles (TransAm 3,901)

It’s Day 80 of the TransBallard. If Gina was Phileas Fogg, she would have rounded the globe by now. Instead, she is just a few days out from completing her crossing of the entire nation, first east by airplane and then back west by bicycle. This is entirely fitting for our little Gina, who can never sit still for very long, with very long being defined as a movie longer than 90 minutes or a bar stool longer than 2 hours. In that regard it might seem nonsensical that she can sit on a bicycle saddle for 6 or 7 hours a day, but I can guarantee you that if that saddle were stationary, she would be up and off of it within minutes. The beauty of cycling across the country is that her bum can sit still for hours on end while the scenery around her changes. Like a baby in a bouncy seat, Gina is happiest on the go.

With an 87 mile ride, today was nothing but go go go, taking in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument along the way and the Painted Hills after a dinner that was, and I quote, “terrible and all fried food.” What better way to wash it down than the case of wine Jake brought with him from the Napa Valley? We knew we liked this Jake guy.