Blogs from John Day, Oregon, United States, North America

Today was a day we have both been been looking forward to for many days. It was going to be a recovery day after the last two hard days. It was a downhill day from the start following the John Day River downstream from Prairie City to Dayville. It was a beautiful ride through the John Day valley. We passed huge ranches filled with lush grazing grasslands. Although we were told we would most likely see some wildlife, we saw none. The traffic was very light so that was a big plus! I did pull a complete bonehead mistake today! It is silly in retrospect, but sure had me going for a bit. Right from the start today, I just didn’t have it. It was supposed to be downhill but every pedalstroke was an effort. Sometimes ... read more

This is my first travel blog, though this is most certainly not my first traveling experience. I grew up in Michigan, and have visited Ohio, West Virginia, North and South Carolina, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Oregon, California, and Key West. Key West was my last mom-cation destination. Maybe I should explain the term mom-cation. Of course, if you are a single mother....or single parent period, you may already have a pretty good idea what this is. For those who are not, it is a period of time dedicated to the self in order to regroup, relax, and reaffirm that we are doing our best. Stress is a killer, and it is my firm belief as a stress management specialist each and everyone of us need to put as much emphasis on ... read more

August 2-3, 2010: One of the things I did manage to get packed into the van was a paperback I suspect I picked up at a yardsale -- Pacific NorthWest: Travel Smart Trip Planner. Flipping through it in our motel room in Hood River, I saw that it dealt mainly with coastal trips, but it did have a chapter called “A Perfect Day in John Day Country”. It gave an itinerary for visiting the several fossil sites of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. “Now that's something different,” I thought. Apparently in the wake of the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, evolution advocates from Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and the University of California raced expeditions to the desert of Oregon and ended up shipping hundreds of crates of astonishing fossils, ... read more