We were out of Mitchell shortly after 1:30AM, super tired from a crappy afternoon/evening of sleep, but well-fueled both from a high-calorie dinner the night before, along with a cup of motel coffee and some PB/Nutella tortilla rollups. (Oh man…I can’t wait to eat real food again when we get home.) We started the blinky lights and turned on the hub dynamo lights and immediately were descending a couple of miles to warm up the legs before a 13-mile climb up and over Ochoco Pass. Despite our fatigue, we actually killed it up that climb. We chatted the whole way up, pulling over when the occasional car or semi would pass by in the wee, dark hours of the morning; more often, the vehicles would see our lights from nearly a mile away and pass us by driving completely in the other lane, much more safely than during the day. We had about 2/3 of a full moon but the land was noticeably less lit than it had been the last couple of nights we rode. Because we were working physically while going up the hill and generating body heat, we didn’t really notice how cold it had gotten between having left 2300’ elevation and 54 degrees in Mitchell and arriving at 4700’ elevation and probably the upper 30’s at the top of Ochoco Pass. We put on our GoreTex wind blocking pants and hats for the descent (we were already wearing the matching jackets on the climb) and headed down, excited to reach warmer temperatures further down the road when we got lower. But as we dropped it didn't get warmer, it got colder. I had neglected to put on my gloves both that morning when we started and at the top of the cold Ochoco Pass because I thought I wouldn’t need them, and neither of us had put on a third or fourth base layer under our jackets so we only had one merino wool shirt and then the GoreTex jacket on top. On the way down we had to go slow to not get increase the wind chill factor, and I was trying to alternate hands on the handlebar (the other shoved into my pocket or held behind my back, out of the wind, to warm it up) which wasn’t particularly safe. V joked at one point in the first mile or two that we should stop and wrap ourselves up in our sleeping bags and we laughed. Another mile or so down the road, it wasn’t funny anymore. We were suddenly seriously cold…for me, it was not like “we’re gonna die of hypothermia”, more like “I'm seriously uncomfortable, and getting worse, and my hands are so cold I can’t feel the handlebars and could crash”. V’s sleeping bag idea was sounding more like a legit possibility. And then, in the middle of NOWHERE, I saw lights and a building!!! A hotel? A restaurant? No, it's a church camp! Maybe they are up early and have coffee going!! At 430 a.m. that was a long shot but we hoped for it as we rolled through the parking lot toward the front door. We arrived and quickly saw it was just a registration building in which they’d left the lights on…no one was inside that we could see and the whole campus was asleep. But, the building had a vestibule outside the main office; you walked through a door that opened into a small room about 5’ x 7’ that had nothing but a desk in it and there was a (I'm assuming locked) punch-coded door to the office beyond. I tried the vestibule handle and the vestibule was open! We hurried inside and shut the door and though not heated, it was MUCH warmer than outside. Outside it felt like it had to be 33-35 degrees; inside we were still cold but able to warm up somewhat and I guess it was probably 45-50 degrees. We stood for a bit, then sat and leaned our backs against the office door, huddling together and keeping Maui close on V’s lap for warmth. It wasn’t enough. So I went out and got out my sleeping bag (V turned out to be prescient) and brought it in and wrapped it around us and the dog. I fell asleep sitting in that position a few times for a couple of minutes but V couldn’t because her back was aching from sitting like that. It was still dark outside (as we were deep in an old growth forest), despite us having seen the sunlight faintly lighting up the horizon a bit earlier. And then John came walking into the vestibule, waking me up, and gave us a look that I interpreted as some combination of annoyed and curious. He certainly wasn’t what I had kind of assumed a church camp owner who found us there might be: immediately concerned for our well-being and offering his help to get us warm and comfortable. I didn’t wait for him to ask anything as he just kind of looked at us, I just started telling him what a blessing it was that we’d found his vestibule open because we were freezing outside and weren't able to get warm until we came inside and shivered for a while under our sleeping bag while huddling in a sitting position. I told him how we’d come onto the property having seen lights on and wondering if it was a hotel or restaurant and someone was up making coffee. I thanked him profusely for being there. And...he didn’t kick us out, and he did (kind of hesitatingly, it felt) then say that he was brewing some coffee up in the dining hall and we could come up and have a cup if we wanted. He then left, and we packed the sleeping bag back into its dry bag and then walked up the stairs to the dining hall behind the office. It was a cavernous, empty room, deserted because it was still couple of hours before any church camp attendees would arrive for breakfast. John saw us come in and showed us where the coffee pot was but stood by while we poured, prepared, and drank it. We had brought our clothing bags so he showed us the bathrooms where we could add some clothing layers. While V was changing, he stood with me and at one point said “well I’d better get to work”. I felt the implication was “you’ve had your coffee, you’re warming up, now you gotta leave”. I hurried and finished my coffee, went to put on more clothing when Vanesa returned, and then we all kind of made some awkward small talk for a few minutes. He volunteered that he might be able to find an unoccupied cabin where we could take showers to warm up (we declined as we didn’t need showers, we were just thankful for coffee and a warm room for a bit). And with that, we left. Though it never really felt comfortable with John, and we didn't really feel like 100% welcome guests, we are grateful for him and the kindness he did show us before we felt it was time to go. Outside riding once again, with the sun having recently risen but not yet giving us any warmth in this dense wilderness, it was a long, cold downhill to Prineville...but we were no longer freezing dangerously, and we had a nice tailwind for a while after we exited the Ochoco National Forest and rode alongside pretty Ochoco Lake which helped us along and reduced the chill. It was getting to be the hour of people working (what’s THAT like?) so traffic began to pick up about the time the road narrowed for the last few miles into Prineville and the narrow road got a bit sketchy so I was glad when we finally rolled into town shortly after 8 AM, looking for a cafe for some much-needed breakfast and coffee. We let Maui run around in the lush, green grass at the city park for a bit (right by the police station) and then we wandered further downtown until we spotted Dad’s Place where we found a delicious brekky, with an excellent server and MANY patrons who asked us all about our trip and had repeated wishes for us that the trip would continue safely and enjoyably. This restaurant was like an oasis in the desert - good/hot food, kind/quick service, lots of friendliness and genuine compassion/care from random strangers - when we really needed it. We left with our physical and emotional batteries fully charged. When we exited the restaurant it was no longer cold. The sun was fully up and we were stripping clothing layers and putting on sunscreen for the late morning and early afternoon protection as we rode the final 20-30 miles from Prineville to our destination of Redmond. There was a lovely new way out of Prineville, different than the horrible busy highway I was routed on in 2010; this new road had little traffic, a consistent gentle downhill, a good tailwind, and mesa/mountain views for 14 glorious miles before it suddenly became THE THE ROAD FROM HELL FOR FIVE MILES. It was suddenly a narrow, curvy road chock full of countless, fast-moving cement trucks, of which 75% did not give us adequate safe space even on blind curves. Then it also forced us up a short and very steep climb over a mesa where we had to dismount multiple times and stand in the gravel at the side of the road while the big trucks passed because it suddenly felt not just annoying. but UNSAFE, like we were going to either get hit or get run off the road! I think I now officially dislike all sand/gravel/concrete/rock truck drivers; for some reason it feels like they hate bicyclists more than other drivers. We finally made it the five miles into Redmond but then road construction crews laying down hot, wet chipseal asphalt forced us to have to suddenly turn and go several blocks to the west because the hot, wet tar and small, sharp gravel bits would be a nightmare for bike tires, risking possible flats (melting or puncturing?) or tires caked in sticky and difficult-to-remove rock and tar. We saw it and sharply turned just in time to avoid that chipseal, thankfully, as the flaggers guiding us through didn't say a word about it. We came in the back way to the back parking lot of the Sleep Inn hotel through a housing subdivision, found a shade tree and grass between some parking spaces, and commenced Googling and calling hotels for rooms availability and rates. I have zero idea why the unimpressive town of Redmond, Oregon has such EXPENSIVE lodging!! The Sleep Inn was $244!!!! The Super 8 was 220!!! There were a couple around $180 that were booked. The cheapest one was in the low $100's but based on pictures we found online, even we bike tourists wouldn't make the call to stay there (and that's saying a lot when you consider some of the places we've slept during this trip). We’ve been staying in towns like this for $60 to $150 for nearly 3 months now. Then, randomly, a dude on the other side of the fence in the nearest house across the alley from where we were standing popped his head up over his fence and started asking us questions about what we were doing; we told him we were Trans Am bicyclists calling around trying (unsuccessfully as of yet) to find affordable lodging in town, and ironically it turns out his son did a Trans Am back in something like the year 2000. He wished us good luck finding an affordable place and quickly disappeared, leaving us to continue our business, but then he just as suddenly came back 10’ later as I was LITERALLY online on my phone entering our information into the website to book a room at the expensive Sleep Inn (and silently fuming about the cost). But, right before I pressed the button to confirm the booking, he suddenly invited us sleep in his AIR-CONDITIONED garage!!! He said we could come come check it out and decide if we were interested, which we did, and we were. It was fantastic in that garage. MORE kindness from random strangers, at a moment when it was so needed!!! He brought out cots with inflatable air mattresses, let us inside to take quick showers in the shower built in the laundry room just off of the garage, and let us use the bathroom. It was 1230 and he and his wife had to leave for a doctors’s appointment and some errands and wouldn’t be home until 5-530pm so he locked the door to the inside of the house but let us stay all afternoon in the garage so we could get our daytime sleep so we’d be rested to ride at night. He kindly offered to get some kebabs to throw on the barbecue and have us in for dinner with him and his wife at 6pm, but that was after we planned to go to sleep so we politely declined. When they were gone we walked to Walmart and got some food for snacks now, dinner later, breakfast the next morning, and bike snacking tomorrow: a can of black beans, chocolate “complete meal” plant-based drinks with lots of nutrients (think "soy Ensure"), Starbucks iced frappucinos, cheese slices and cubes, Nutella, Triscuits, cream cheese, chocolate cookies, and bananas. AND they had a garage fridge we could use to keep our food cold!! We came back, ate, stored the food, and then surprisingly were able to crash and get some sleep despite it being 93 degrees and sunny outside their amazing garage. We never heard the thoughtful and generous Mel and Eileen Mills return from their errands, as they must have driven into the driveway and entered their house super quietly, but when we got up to use the restroom sometime in the evening hours, as they’d promised they had unlocked the door to the house to give us access to the bathroom. We slept wonderfully and when the alarm went off at 230, we woke well-rested and ready to ride, and REALLY EXCITED to be first riding to Sisters and then up and over our beloved McKenzie Pass!! BIG thanks to Mel and Eileen for saving us $250 and sharing their comfortable garage and home with us. Unfortunately we did not get a picture with them as when Vanesa requested one before they left on their errands Mel politely declined and said we could do it later. But we never saw them again (so we took a picture of us with the caricature drawing of them they had framed and hung on their garage wall!). We quietly packed, ate, and exited the house and were on the road to Sisters at 4 AM. Google Maps (we’re using it this morning rather than our RideWithGPS Trans Am map because we went off-route on the Trans Am when we came a few extra miles south to sleep in Redmond last night) said it was 21 miles and “mostly flat" from the Mills' house to Sisters...