Horse Heaven Hills, WA
Alana in Horse Heaven Hills, WA
Tired and dehydrated at the Gas station in Umitilla, OR
Camping in Pendleton, OR
Hello from Pendleton, a little town in northeastern Oregon!
We're taking a rest day in town today before tackling Blue Mountain - a climb from 1085ft to 4193ft over a distance of 20 miles. Our bodies and bikes decided that they needed a little TLC before taking that on!
The past few days have been good, but challenging. It's really hot and dry here - it's enough to keep ourselves hydrated and protected from the sun while resting in town, let along while biking! Our plan for tomorrow is to leave at 4:30 or 5am so that we can climb the majority of the hill before it gets too hot.
We've given in and started staying at camp sites because they're really the only patches of green grass to be had out here. And it's SO nice to be able to take a shower every night!!! =P While we were still in on the coast and the air was moist it wasn't such a big deal, but here it feels like we need to drink the water in through our skin.
The freeways and interstates are turning out to be the safest routes for us to ride on because the shoulders are nice and wide, and there are gas stations every once in a while. We had originally thought that we would be using the side roads, but it turns out that the one-lane roads rarely have decent shoulders to ride on, and the cars and trucks whip by at such speeds that it can be pretty scary sometimes. It's also so sparsely populated out here that along the side roads you rarely come across gas stations and markets where we can refill our water bottles. So, we're planning to stick to the main roads until just south of Boise, where we'll cut down into Nevada and across to Utah. That's the current plan! It tends to change quite frequently, though. =P
Anyway, we're having a great time! Pictures will hopefully be up a bit later today.
Oh yeah, and one more stat: yesterday we patched our 8th and 9th flat tires. Durrr!
1 comment:
Sounds like you are making great progress. My advice - AVOID NEVADA AT ALL COSTS. There is no vegitation, no people, and the temperatures are off the charts. I'd stick to 84.
- Erica
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