Day 59

Last night water fell from the sky. This stuff called rain is something we haven't seen in several weeks. Then at 1am, we awoke to a horrific sound, one similar to that of a high school fire alarm. Apparently when someone walked down the hallway at night, a security alarm was triggered. For many long minutes, the small gymnasium was filled with the piercing noise, until it ran out. Then at the 5:45 wake-up, the sound repeated itself until a school staff member came and disarmed the alarm. We chowed down on oatmeal for breakfast, then brought our bikes out of the Paulina School. Paulina is an unincorporated community of 136 people, and the tiniest place we've stayed in. They treated us very well and we enjoyed the stay. We dedicated the ride today to a rider's aunt who passed away from cancer.The first part of the 90-mile ride was a lot of descending. We ended up at a little place called Post. Although it had no cross street, there was a general store. We got food and snacks there, then moved onto a long climb to a summit. Descending, we found ourselves returned to civilization in Prineville. Tastee Treet was the lunch joint of choice, having burgers, fries, and, most importantly, milkshakes.Then, as we rode through mountainous foresty desert to Bend, storms were brewing in the distance. At that point, tube-pocalypse 2.0 occurred, with nearly half the team getting flats. Still we carried on, with one group stopping to find shelter from the ominous thunder and lightning. A nice couple let this group into their home and kindly let them wait out the storm.We arrived at First United Methodist Church, which has showers! Bend is a cool city, and it's actually (intentionally or not) the place where our route bends, going south rather than west from here onward.