Another great day in the books! Woke up at camp and made some gourmet breakfast burritos, then headed east towards hood river aided by a killer tailwind. Hood river unfortunately had no replacement violin bows (Alice’s became unstrung, so we are currently musical saw-less), but we did pick up some camp fuel, and, more important, ice cream!
There was a good climb out of town and then we were back on the amazing Columbia gorge bike trail. I think this is the fourth time I’ve done this route, and it gets better every time. There’s now only a 4 mile section where you need to get on the freeway, which is quite a change from when Megan Books and I rode it back in…2005?
The tailwind got stronger and stronger as we headed eastward, and then we were at the famous Rowena Curves, a set of really fun curvy switchbacks that led us of the plateau and into the town of The Dalles.
We picked up some supplies and then headed across the Columbia into Washington. Unfortunately, we then had to ride west, back into the wind that had been aiding us all day. But it was still a nice ride on a quiet highway. We saw some bison, took a swim in the river, and had some nice chats with some windsurfers.
Now we’ve pulled away from the Columbia as we ride up Klickitat canyon and back up into the plateau – gonna be some good hills today, but nothing a few bums can’t handle!