Day 2: Bring on the Heat!

75.77 mi. max 45.0 mph 6:00.04 avg. 12.6

Some thermometers said it was 114, others said it was 107. All I know is that is was hot!!!!
Today, I rode for a while with David, Kim, Dominic, and Norm for 20 or 30 miles. The last hill, though, was really tough for me and I lost them. It was brutally hot on a steady, slight grade. The whole thing was exposed. I struggled to get to the top, not only because of the sun and the heat and the uphill, but also because I’d eaten a large lunch with the other four in Ellensburg (which was, incidentally very yummy and a GREAT idea at the time!). I wasn’t sure that my stomach wouldn’t revolt in the sagebrush!

We saw the Columbia River for the first time today. That was really pretty, but it made me wish for my boat, a LOT!

After the uphill there was a very long downhill into Vantage. You would think that a downhill would have been fantastic, but it felt like I was coasting (toasting?) in a convection oven. The landscape we saw today was arid desert. I did take the opportunity, as I was hurtling towards camp, to stop at the Gingko Petrified Forest. I didn’t take the whole entire hike (on the side of a completely exposed hill), but I did get some pictures of petrified wood.

Our campsite was behind a truckstop, on a grassy knoll. Everyone had to be really careful to stake their tents down tight, because the wind coming up the side of the hill was ferocious. I slept without my fly…it’s nice in the west, because it’s cool and dry at night.