Day 7, Prineville-38 miles

My stay with the Steve, Karen and Stephanie Howery in Sisters last night provided me with the opportunity to visit with a family that is both close and endearing. Steve and Karen are tandem cyclists and they ride a seriously impressive bike. Their daughter Stephanie works as a teacher and lives with them also.

View from the Howery's living room!

This has not been the best of years thus far for the Howery family but they are no less warming with their gestures of generosity and hospitality then had they won the lottery. They have a strong faith that shows and are the people everyone wants as neighbors. I was fortunate to stay with them.

The ride into Prineville the next day was short and sweet. I took it real easy and stopped halfway in the town of Redmond to hog the WiFi at Starbucks for two hours. After a visit to Subway, I dilly dallied the last few miles and arrived in Prineville. The first thing I saw riding into town was a guns and ammo store which was sitting right next to a Doomsday Prepper shop. I do believe the culture is different in the high desert region of Oregon then along the coast.

I went to the address where I was staying for the night and was greeted by Kim Kostelecky. She and her husband Dennis actively hosts cross country cyclists and Kim graciously allows her enormous Yoga Studio to be used as a sleeping dorm. Kim is a yoga instructor, a retired school principal and in her youth as a student at George Washington University she just missed making the 1972 Olympic swim team by a mere 2-one thousandth of a second!

I think you need to turn your end around

Dennis is a retired school administrator and continues to work in the same field with a charter school in town. He and Kim also have a parcel on the edge of town where they have sheep, cows, chickens and a greenhouse. They stay busy! They let me tag along and help on the farm during the early evening hours which entailed putting up an electrical fence to keep the sheep in and I harvested eggs. As you can see we had that fence thing all figured out.

Its tough work on the range

Dennis and Kim's son Elliott and his girlfriend Beth came over later for a lamb chop dinner. Elliott is a wilderness firefighter and Beth a teacher. I enjoyed their company and the wonderful hospitality they showed me. I had to hit the sack eventually because the next days ride was a brutal one and I needed some rest. Great folks who live a wonderful and enriching lifestyle. I'm a country boy now!