Our morning started in our rain forest campsite by Silas saying, "I know I'm going to regret this at some point, but I'm ready for it to be hot and dry." Little did we know that wish would be granted in a few short hours. In less than 40 miles, we left the Cascades weather systems and cruised into the warm, windy, dry Eastern Oregon desert. During our lunch break in Hood River, we shed our layer of spandex tights and long sleeve shirts and felt like new people. Our riding for the day was mainly on I-84, which made it quick, easy, and noisy. There were, however, several adventures to note.
1. There are random bike paths that follow the interstate, and as we were cruising down one, we came to a set of stairs that were described as having "grooves for bike wheels." These grooves, in actuality, were nothing but gutters along 5 sets of concrete stairs. It's sufficient to say that we're both glad we didn't get dragged down with our out of control loaded bikes. But it was close.
2. After lunch in Hood River we decided that we were going to cross the river into Washington and ride the much flatter roads on that side of the river. This was not to be, however, as we approached the toll bridge to discover that bikes and pedestrians were prohibited. We stood by the bridge entrance, leaning on our bikes for little bit, hoping that someone would offer to throw them into a truck bed and give us a lift across the river, but that never happened. So we hopped back onto the interstate and made great time to the Dalles.
Our camp that night was along the Deschutes River as it joins with the Columbia River, in a surprisingly lush campground (thanks to sprinkler systems) surrounded by golden hills, sage, and the occasional passing train. We tried to get an early start the next morning, but it seems no matter what we do we're awake at 7:30am and not rolling out of camp until 9:00am at the earliest.
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