Week 8

Hello friends, Nick reporting. We are now officially on the last 2 weeks of our trip. After doing some map-math we are slightly ahead of schedule, which allows us to take a few shorter days and enjoy the scenery. I'm glad we raced through the less interesting parts of the Dakotas so that we can now really enjoy the Northwest.

Day 53: We left Lewiston, ID and crossed the river into Clarkston, WA. The scenery became immediately more arid, which will be a predominant theme until we reach the lush evergreen forests closer to the coast. We followed the Snake River and then began what turns out to be our fourth major pass. The amazing smells continued, with slopes covered in lupine, camas flowers, and sage.

Arid mountains along the Snake River

Climb out of Lewiston/Clarkston

Over the pass we coasted downhill for about 10 mi to Pomeroy, WA, a very small agricultural town, putting us 35 mi on the day. As rain and wind began to roll in, we decided to call it a day, and camped for free at the city fairgrounds. We ate last night's leftovers, a burrito from a taco truck, in a gazebo and cooked dinner there again at night. Besides that it was sitting in a tent for nearly 18 hrs as the rain never let up until the next morning. We had picked up some used books in Lewiston so lots of good reading!


Day 54: The rain yielded to pristine blue skies and we were off. The downside was a very windy day, mostly a headwind mixed with some scary crosswinds. We stopped at a drive-thru espresso hut, they are everywhere out here, for a double shot. It helped us cut through the wind for about 30 min, then our artificial fortitude was gone and had to rely on our legs again.

As it turns out from here to the coast the wind always blows from the west, and for the next 200 mi until outside of Portland, it blows hard!

Good examples:
1. Wind farms everywhere
2. We still haven't seen a fellow west-bound cyclist, although we've now seen 20+ east-bounders
3. One solo east-bounder said to us, "you guys are (effing) crazy, no offense, but you guys really are (effing) crazy."

So anyway the wind was blowing really hard, which makes those uphills climbs a little rougher, but we pushed on riding, through super green wheat fields. We arrived and devoured some grub in Dayton, WA around 3pm, then relaxed in the city park for an hour before finishing off the day 6 mi further (45 for the day) at Lewis and Clark Trail State Park, camping by a small stream with nearby fly fishermen.

A part of the propellor for the wind turbine - these things are huge!

A wheatfield, or Microsoft Windows?

Day 55: Still a stiff breeze, but a little more manageable and sunny and warm. We rode through rolling back roads amidst wheat fields and arrived in Walla Walla, WA after 25 mi. We planned on going twice as far today, but the town was so interesting we decided to stop for the day and check it out. It is famous for it's wine and sweet onions. We lounged, explored the quaint downtown and had a few glasses of wine and microbrews in the evening. Overall a pretty cool town and great day, although a little pricy and upscale, lots of polos and sweaters tied over the shoulder types. I'm starting to look a little gruff with this beard experiment (a success I say, Molly thinks not so much), so we were getting a few double takes.

Cool wheatfield patterns

Rolling green hills

Day 56: The wind has calmed and it's become hot, 90 degrees plus. We got up early and were on the road by 8am to beat some of the heat. The scenery has gotten increasingly barren and desert-like. The different landscapes we have ridden through is certainly a highlight. No shade anywhere so we had a quick peanut butter bagel lunch near the traintracks upon reaching the Columbia river, which is huge! Continued on, with an occasional truck passing full of walla walla onions, the sweet smells were refreshing. We also caught our first glimses of snow covered Mt Hood and Mt St Helens, which get a little larger and clearer each day. We arrived after 60 mi to Umatilla, OR where we camped in a RV park by the dam and relaxed with Eli, who is bicycling from Portland to Helena. He shared some local freshly picked cherries which were delicious. Thanks man.

Early morning ride by the old traintracks

Snack break!

Lunch on the mighty Columbia River. Keeping a lookout for rattlesnakes

Rocks, sand and brown shrubbery

Cooling them tired dogs

Sunset on the Columbia

Day 57: Today the forecast called for extra hot around 95 with no shade or clouds (I bet Lewis and Clark wish they had a smartphone). We were on the road by 6 AM to try and stay cool. It's real desert now with hardly any trees or grass in site, just rock, sand, and sage. Just as the heat and sun were making us(me) tired and cranky were arrived to our destination of Roosevelt, WA 50 miles on the day. We camped for free by the river at a local park. We shared the park with about 30 Hispanic farm workers and about 30 kite-boarders and wind-surfers, but there is plenty of space for everyone. Turns out this nice little windy nook is one of the premier spots for riding the wind and waves in all of the west. And... tomorrow is calling for a doozy of a day - constant winds out of the west around 30-35 mph, gusting to over 50 mph. Needless to say tomorrow will be a rest day for us, lest we get on our bikes and get blown back eastward. But our watersport friends are in a tizzy and pulling in by the truckload. What's bad news to us is great news to others. C'est la vie. And we'll be in for a treat watching them surf all day.

Sunrise photoshoot courtesy of Eli

Enjoying an early morning ride

Our first glimpse of Mt Hood

Day 58: Today can best be described as a veg day. We relaxed in both the sun and shade, repeated about 30 times "Wow it sure is windy" and watched almost 50 wind-surfers and kite-boarders throughout the day. Some of wind-surfers were getting 20 ft of air and doing a full flip - sail, board, and all.

Molly is showing us how hard the wind is blowing. It was nearly impossible to even walk

Action shot!

Surfers coming in and going out

Surfs up dudes

Water toys everywhere

Day 59: We hit the road by 6 AM again, as the wind is generally more mild in the early morning hours. For the first 2 hours the wind was quite calm, and didnt really pick up until our last 2 hours. We climbed a few more big hills, before stopping at Stonehenge, in Maryhill, WA. This full size replica, reproduced as Stonehenge originally stood, was the first World War I monument on US soil. We then rode down a near vertical drop down to Maryhill State Park, riding through orchards of cherries, peaches and apricots. We stopped by a few stands to pick up some apricots and peaches, and although cherries were very plentiful, we have eaten about 2 lbs of cherries over the past 5 days, so we passed on those. After 38 mi we camped in the State Park, which was very relaxing. We had a minor scare when our iPhones, which were charging in the bathroom, disappeared. We hunted down the park-ranger, who had our phones, a maintenance staff person thought we had left them there and didn't want them to get stolen. Lesson learned. Went to bed by 9 while it was still very light out, we were tired from getting up at 4:00.

Mt Hood is getting bigger

Took a wrong turn and ended up in Southwest England

Looking down on Maryhill's fruit orchards and the upcoming Columbia Gorge

Day 60: Wow, day 60? Seriously? We continued on crossing back over the Columbia River into Oregon, this time for good. Mt Hood is looking like a monster now. We had to ride on the interstate today, I-84 for about 11 mi, for the first time on our entire trip. It was a little stressful with traffic whizzing by at 80 mph and lots of glass and debris on the shoulder, but the shoulder was huge and overall wasn't so bad. We had ridden on passes over interstates at various parts of the journey, and we would comment on the people getting to their destinations so quickly. Sometimes we were even a little bit jealous, but at this stage we are so happy we have taken the slow road.

It was a short day, about 25 mi to The Dalles, OR (interesting name). We got a cheap hotel, for there is a pressing need for laundry and showers, and also to stop into the library to update this here blog. And drink some beer.

Do you remember that part of the game?

We have one week to go as we enter The Final Countdown. Molly's dad, an avid cyclist himself, is driving up from from San Francisco and will be riding with us the last 2 days, and my Dad and brother Brett are currently on a road trip heading this way, with many of our possessions in tow. They will be meeting us at our final destination in Seaside, OR. And we have 3 great college friends living in Portland, Brittany, Wes, and Chris, who will we likely see both on our first pass through Portland heading west, and again after the trip has finished. We are lucky to have such awesome family and friends, and we can't imagine a better way to finish!

The Final Countdown!