Day 57 - Roosevelt, WA to The Dalles, OT

Gorgeous day in The Gorge.  

And just when I thought it couldn’t get any prettier, Mt. Hood made a grand entrance.

 

The rims of both the Washington and Oregon sides of the gorge are littered with the highest concentration of wind turbines I have ever seen.

 I happened to meet a guy at the laundromat tonight whose job it is to make repairs to blades on wind turbines when they are damaged by lightning strikes. That entails climbing the ladder inside the wind turbine tower, locking the blades in place, and repelling down to make the repair on the damaged blade. The outer skin of the blades is constructed of fiberglass and he uses a resin to make the repair similar to what you might use to repair a gash in a fiberglass boat.

Once again, the road construction crew summed up my day perfectly!

Day 56 - Umatilla, WA to Roosevelt, OR

I was reunited with my friend, Robert, at the campground last night. Robert flew into Vancouver and is doing a tour of the national parks in Canada and United States That to date includes Jasper, Banff, Yoho, Glacier, and Yellowstone. He had a close and scary encounter (5 meters) with a grizzly bear on a trail in the glacier national Park. 

A fellow camper asked if this was a father – son trip.  I was surprised, but then again Robert is only 34.

My constant traveling companion all day was the glorious Columbia River.

The landscape was full of lava rocks from ancient volcanic eruptions and fresh onions discharged from high speed trucks.

Robert and I camped along the banks of the river with a bunch of kite surfers. I spent much of the evening conversing with a kite surfer who grew up in Edina and graduated from the University of Minnesota.

Day 55 - Walla Walla, WA to Umatilla, OR

Lowden is A tiny hamlet about 10 miles west of Wala Walla that has fallen on hard times for the past many years.

But in the past few years that has all changed And it is continuing to change at a rapid pace. The saying around here is: Buy Your wine in Walla Walla; by ear auto parts in Napa. Grapes are a far more lucrative crap these days than a week and you cannot swing a cat in The Walla Walla area without hitting a vineyard, a winery or a wine tasting room.

Meet Jeremy and his daughter Batman. (don’t call her bat woman. There is an Adam west day in Walla Walla and she knows that he was not a woman.)

Jeremy and bat man live in a house that they rent in Lowden. But they are going to have to move. Their landlord sold the house to a winery that is going to convert it into a wine tasting room.

The Louis and Clark trail guide book and some blogs that I track were Published in 2004 or 2005, when the nation was celebrating the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. They make no mention whatsoever of wineries in this region. And this is all happened in the past decade.

They do mention that this is a great onion growing region and that I could expect to find and smell onions on the side of the road. That has not changed.

I am passing into Oregon, The 11th and final state I will pass through on this trip. I also have met up with the Columbia River, the fourth and final river that Lewis and Clark travel upon. This region is known as the scab lands because of rock outcroppings from and otherwise they are in landscape.

Perhaps the biggest floods ever to take place on the planet earth were the floods from the melting of ice on glacial Lake Missoula between 15,000 and 18,000 years ago.That formed what today is known as the Wallula Gap, through which floodwaters raged at speeds of up to 60 mph.

I met a couple from London who are on a four month trip through the United States and Canada. In their research they identified this as one of the top 15 or 20 things that they wanted to see. I for some reason had never heard of this until today.

I have been giving some thought to extending my trip slightly to cycle down the Oregon coast a bit and then loop back to Portland. Today the road crew sent me a message about that.

Speaking of road crews, I didn’t know exactly what to make of this sign, but I did not expect it was good news.

It wasn’t.

A Rest Day in Walla Walla

It was a day of wine and roses for me in Walla Walla.

So what does a touring bicyclist do on a rest day? S/he takes off the panniers, the tent, the bicycling gloves the biking shorts, the cleats (but not the Bicycle helmet ) and takes a bicycle ride around town. 

When in Walla Walla, I did as the Walla Wallans do. I sampled lots of wines. I am not a wine afficianado but they tasted really good to me.

I also visited the beautiful Whitman College campus where I watched members of the men’s tennis team practice. Tennis looks like a fun game. I’d like to try playing it sometime.

Whitman College is a small liberal arts school that is named after Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, who were missionaries near Walla Walla. In 1847 they along with 12 others were killed by Native Americans who believed they were responsible for the deaths of many tribe members in a measles outbreak. It became known as the Whitman Massacre.

I had lunch at a Thai restaurant downtown and rode around the city and nearby Pioneer Park.

I spoke with many Walla Wallans about attractions and history of this town. I learned that Adam West, who played Batman, is from Walla Walla, as is former NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe.

I closed out the day by doing some laundry, lubricating my chain and making a plan for tomorrow’s ride. 

Day 54 - Pomeroy, WA to Walla Walla, WA

Wella wella I’m in Walla Walla.

This area has a reputation among Sommeliers as a fine  wine region,

and it is surrounded by glorious golden hills.

Having seen nothing but headwinds this entire trip, I was happy to see this sign today.

Today’s yard art winner from Waitsburg, WA

 

The first thing I saw when I crossed the snake River into Washington was two people getting high in the park along the river. This is another topical issue as to which I am Actively seeking a local sentiment.

The people I spoke with from Clarkston, Idaho definitely were opposed to the legalization of marijuana. One woman who worked across the river at the Large regional hospital in Clarkston, Washington. She said they were having a great deal of trouble finding employees because otherwise qualified employees could not pass the drug test.

A person I met in Washington asked if I would like “to partake.” I politely declined as I have hundreds of times over the course of my life. But I am keeping an open mind about this issue.

In the brief time I stop in front of this store, several people my age and some people from the succeeding generations came in and out. It was one of the busiest retail establishments I sought in Dayton, Washington. 

One of my first reactions was that this might be better than having those same people deal surreptitiously with shady drug dealers. It is out in the open and the state is collecting tax revenue.

Day 53- Clarkston, WA to Pomeroy, WA

As soon as the rain stopped this morning, I headed out. T

Two of the other three cyclists who stayed the night decided to take the day off and guard the home of our warm showers host while he was at work. When I left they looked like they were getting pretty comfortable. The third is staying the night with another warm showers host.

The first 8 miles today was a glorious ride along the shores of the snake River just north of Hells Canyon, the deepest canyon in North America.

Then things changed. I don’t know whether I technically was in Hells Canyon, but it sure felt like it as I slowly ascended a steep 12 mile long Hill that was reminiscent of a mountain pass.

I stopped for a rest about halfway up the canyon wall and a motorist came over to ask questions. He offered that he lived   in this area because he doesn’t like people and there aren’t very many people here. Further discussion revealed that The people he didn’t like where the liberals in Seattle and Portland. Not many liberals around here, I gather.

I stayed the night in tiny Pomeroy, WA. It happened to be national night out, which is a big deal in Pomeroy. Everyone came out for the free hamburgers provided by the fire department. I dropped by to mingle with the locals. 

The firemen served me a burger and I took it over to one of the community picnic tables.. The women sitting across from me were chatting away happily and didn’t acknowledge my presence. I gather that year it was super hot at the national night out celebration and there were bees all over. Much nicer tonight!

 There was a band, but they only played one song (which was more than enough for me and, from what I could tell,everyone else!). The rest of the time the bandleader walked around the stage with his guitar strapped around his neck and his microphone in hand making announcements. Somebody lost their keys, Bingo is starting in the pavilion, hamburgers are being served, kids are Welcome to explore the ambulance, fire truck, the Garfield county sheriffs car and boat that have been brought to town for the occasion, it is good to see so many Pomeroy folks out having fun, etc.  There was so much going on that needed announcing that there just wasn’t any time to play music.

As I left the celebration, I noticed a sign that apparently was placed there by the municipality. I have the distinct sense that not much else of any import has happened in Pomeroy in the past 212 years.

But things in Pomeroy are changing. I understand that a group is in town to town to Set up a factory that will convert the stems from harvested wheat into low grade paper products. There is plenty of raw material in this area to spin into gold.

Day 52 - Winchester, Idaho to Clarkston, Washington

Rode through the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho this morning before crossing the Snake River into Washington near its confluence with the Clearwater River.  After two weeks in canoe camp the corps of Discovery traveled down the Snake and whitewater rivers to theColumbia river.

Lewis recorded his fondness for the Nez Perce in his journal:

In 1831 the Nez Perce sent a delegation to St Louis to meet with Clark, who was then the director of Indian affairs, to explore ways to get the tribe assimilated into the new country. Toward that end, a few years later schools and missions were established in this area. 

In 1877, Nez Perce Chief Joseph, refused to sign a treaty establishing the reservation and the United States cavalry pursued the Nez Perce across Idaho and into Montana. They unsuccessfully sought refuge with the Blackfoot. Eventually the the tribe turned north east of Fort zBenton and crossed theMissouri river at cow island thinking that that marked the United States border with Canada. It did not and chief Joseph surrendered, saying that from where the sun then stood he would fight no more forever. He was imprisoned and many of his his people were sent temporarily to a reservation in Oklahoma.

It was a cool, rainy night here in the twin towns of Lewiston and Clarkston. I arranged to stay with Gregory, a magnificent warm showers host, and was delighted to see that Robert, my new cycling friend from Barcelona, who camped next to me at Wilderness Gate, was also staying here. We had a great evening and it would have been a cold wet night in the tent. (Gregory middle and Robert right)