I woke up early today and got to say good-bye to Chase before he left for work. Ari, who has been feeding me wonderful meals the past two days, made me breakfast before I rolled out. I hope next time I see them, it won't be as long as it has been!
I had to zig-zagged down several streets for about 7 miles to get to over to interstate 82, which I was mostly sure allowed bicycles (Most interstates in the west do) and rode its wide but littered-with-blown-tires shoulders. It wasn't bad riding, about 30 miles, and I had to climb over some hills to get back to the Columbia River.
I got off the interstate right before it crossed into Umatilla, Oregon, as I decided to take the "Washington Option" route which went along the Washington side of the river. It had lighter traffic than the Oregon side, but also less towns and services.
I rode a few miles along the river to a camping area right outside town where Johannes and Rebecca (the Irish couple) were spending a rest day. We had been keeping each other up to date on where we were via texts, so I stopped in to say hi but when I got there all I found was their tent and bikes. I texted them that I was looking at their tent as I took out my food and had a PB&J bagel for lunch.
A few minutes after I finished and was thinking of leaving them a note and get going, Rebecca showed up, she was recharging her phone at the bathrooms and skyping with relatives. We hung out and chatted for about an hour until Johannes came back from the library and he joined in, before I knew it I had already been there for 2 hours. They asked me if I wanted to just crash at the camp site and head out with them tomorrow, which sounded really tempting, but I had only gone about 40 miles today and some strange urge told me I should keep going.
I wished them well and joked about how we'd probably run in to each other again, and left to continue my ride. It may have been a bad decision, as now it was mid afternoon and pretty hot and about 10 miles later I got my 3rd flat tire of the trip! This time there was no place around for shade so I got to change it with the sun beating down on my back. I found a small steel wire poking through the tire, I have a feeling I picked it up on the interstate, with those retreat tire pieces all over the place.
After changing out the tire and pumping the frame pump like mad, I was on my way. After changing a flat I find I am very paranoid for the rest of the day, looking down at the tire every other mile making sure its not losing air! The last 10 miles of the ride, a headwind picked up, slowing me down decently, but I was already expecting it from the warnings of others, so I just put my head down and pedaled through.
At a little after 6pm I rolled into West Roosevelt, where there was free camping at the town park, which was popular with wind surfers, probably due to this headwind I was fighting. I stopped at the town's only minimart/restaurant and got a beef burrito to go as they were closing, and this thing was massive! The burrito itself was way too hot to eat, so I threw it in a pannier and headed down to the park.
Ahh, the park. I will always remember this park. I watched some wind surfers as I ate the burrito, and talked to a Mexican kid who was also staying there for a few days before he went up the road to pick cherries. The wind surfers were also staying at the park, in one of those old Volkswagen buses.
And the park had showers, another plus, but one of the windsurfers warned me - The sprinklers in the park go on at 10pm and have an insane range. There were about 2 dozen "diverters" next to the bathroom, pieces of PVC piping cut in half with stakes on each side, meant to be placed next to the sprinklers to block the spray.
I set my tent up on an edge of the park, and put up diverters on the two closest sprinklers. I even threw my tent's rainfly on just in case. I got into my tent and started to drift off to sleep... I awoke to sounds of water hitting my tent! I waited till a lull in the sound and got out, and saw three different sprinkers, all 50+ feet away, just arcing water distances I never thought those pop-out-of-the-ground sprinklers could. I had to race around and grab more diverters and set them up next to these long range sprinklers to protect my tent. I felt I was in a real life video game. Finally, I was able to dodge them all and set up the diverters, and still dry, I made my way back to my tent and finally fell asleep to the sounds of those insane sprinklers.
Start: Richland, WA
End: West Roosevelt, WA
Distance: 86.25 miles
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