Today ride was much faster but a little longer than yesterdays ride.  We covered 110 mile in just under 6 hours.  The route crossed over the Columbia River just outside of The Dalles and then crossed back over at our distention at Umatilla OR.  So although most of the day was in Washington State we started and finished in Oregon state.  We followed above and beside the river on State Highway 14.  


The weather started off cool (67F) and windy that moved the scooter around a lot.  Then changed to calm winds and 103 which seems hot to me.  


Navigation which falls to me had one sticky point crossing back into Oregon.  The directions read, “ride the road marked Dead End through the tunnel and then up the bike trail onto the bike beside I82”.  Given yesterdays problems both Dianne and I were a little concerned.  But it was as written and we had no problems.  Highway 14 was a good surface with very broad shoulders.  We run just about flat out except when cars or trucks appeared behind us.  Normally this required us to slow and move closer to the edge to let them past and occasionally  to stop at narrow spots.  There were repairing the road at a mountain top and stopped the traffic for one travel.  Although this meant we had a 15 minute pause once we were through it broke the traffic into bunches so there was nothing behind for 30-40 minutes at at time that was nice. 


The river has changed from the original flow with rapids and falls to just pools behind dams.  


Interesting things:

Saw three dump trucks full of red onions

saw at least 10 wineries along the way and in town

Had use my spare gas for the first time ever (we could have made it but better full than having to start when empty)

 I hit a bee that got under my shirt and stung me it still hurts a little.

Rode past MarryHill art museum onto the a huge bluff overlooking the river

Found a boat Bumper on the side of the road

Saw a dead Elk with a license plate attached to it.  (would have stopped for picture but it was gross and did not smell that good either)

Saw train that had 95 cars behind it.

Saw a train pulling just one coach car with “Federal Safety Administration” written on the side of it.  Tried to look it but it did come up might be part of the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration which is in charge of railroad safety). 










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Image
Well, Dianne and I are off on another long adventure trip.   Although most people know all the trips I have done some people new to us will be curious who we are and what similar trips we have done.   About 2000 I was diagnosed   with terminal melanoma skin Cancer.   I decided to   a do a clinical study with the National Institude of Health and Washington DC.   I was the lucky on the study and after many scans and surgeries they declared me No Evidence of Disease (NED).   As Dianne had a sabbatical from Indiana University we decided to attempt our first trip together.   The Table below lists all the trips as I remember them. Mode of Travel Discription From To With   Resulting Journal Bicycle Ride across USA San Diego CA St Augustine FL Andy My Son Rodent’s Ride (Book) Canoe Mississippi River   Lake Itasca   New Orleans Dianne (my Wife) Mississippi Howl (Book) Hiking Appalachian Trail Amicalola State Park GA   Baxter State Park ...
Read more

Day 28 Sept 24

Image
  Weather report for today was partly sunny with a chilly morning and very comfortable afternoon.   It was little bit of a tough ride only because the roads were poor in places meaning we were bounced around a little.   The distance was 93 miles and as we left early we arrived in Champaign IL way early at 12:00.   The roads were flat and therefore fast.   The traffic was medium.   Therefore there was a lot of passing cars.   But with long straight aways and what is my guess as drivers being used to farm equipment, the people rushed by.   As we had a lot of time we spent the first hour of it walking around Busey Woods a nature preserve.   This was relaxing and gave us a break from riding and some exercise.   Then Dianne wanted her DQ fix for the day which was easy, Next stop was the Spurlock museum that covered all the ancient history from all the continents.   They did a really good job explaining not   only the history but als...
Read more

Day 27 Sept 23

Image
  Weather was great no need for a jacket all day. The route from Granite City to Springfield was like old times as we followed the Route 66 trail.   It was busy though, I guess that should not be a surprise as it is the first day of fall and it was a nice day.   This meant that a lot of people were out for a drive and route 66 i the perfect spot to be.   This meant that I had limited time to count.   As not only do I have to look out on the road ahead but I also have to watch behind to make sure the traffic is not building up too much.   When ever I see cars behind I look for a good place to “let” then pass.   As soon as I find one I pull as far to the right as possible and slow to 20 MPH or less to give them the maximum time to get pass.   Some times I even have to wave them pass.   Let is quotes as some don’t wait they just go regardless. When we arrived in Springfield it was just 1:00 so we skipped the hotel and went directly to Lincoln’s ...
Read more