Day 14 - June 18, Clarkston to Orofino, 50 miles

Today we continued on US Hwy 12 following the Clearwater river all the way to Orofino.  Very gentle but steadily uphill.  There were a couple of nice State Park rest areas with water along the way but no other services.   At breakfast at the hotel we had met a group called LifeCycles.  They’re riding across the US ending in Delaware.  Their ride is named Trans-Am 2021.  They have 8 young men riding with six leaders riding and providing sag services. Very nice and friendly group.  During the day we crossed paths at one of the rest areas and rode together for about 20 miles until Orofino.  Their daily mileages are higher than ours so not likely we’ll see them again. Orofino had temps above 90 so a nice pizza place with cool air was great for lunch.  WiFi has been sketchy so posting a day late.  No phone service for the next several days.

LifeCycle group packing up at the hotel

Riding with the LifeCycles group - nice paceline

Day 13 - June 17, Pomeroy to Clarkston, 32 miles

Today we rode over our first mountain pass, Alpowa Summit. Not nearly as high as Colorado passes but you start the climbing at a much lower altitude.  We learned that the fields of yellow flowers are Canola and awe also learned that the fields of beans we have been riding past are lentils.  These crops are new to us.  The exciting part of the day was the descent of Alpowa, all the way down to the Snake river.  A drop of over 2100 feet.  

Our first mountain pass!

Fields of Canola

The Snake River

Day 12 - June 16, Dayton to Pomeroy, 40 miles

The route today was a gentle climb for most of the day.  Great way to get our climbing legs in shape.  And cool temps once again.  We are free camping at the Pomeroy city park - a nice change from the recent few nights at hotels.  No rain in sight! When we arrived in town someone from the newspaper caught up with us and asked for an interview.  The local newspaper is The East Washingtonian.  Not sure when it will be published.  A little later when out for a walk we met a young couple also riding east on their way to Clarkston today.  They had stopped to charge the batteries for her Specialized eBike.  Apparently she uses the eBike to pull their trailer.  They carried a fast charger and could charge both batteries in about 90 minutes.   We wondered about this since the 40 mile section we rode today had zero services. 

The downtown Pomeroy Garfield County building.  We learned that these towns that are 30 to 40 miles apart in this area were spaced for stagecoach stops. 

Day 11 - June 15, Walla Walla to Dayton, 30 miles

Yesterday was a day off in Walla Walla.  Walla Walla has a much revived and thriving downtown.   There is a excellent bike shop called Allegro, which has all the gear for every kind of cycling, including lots of bike packing accessories. For all the wine lovers, Walla Walla has 120 area wineries, many with downtown tasting rooms (guessing 30 or 40). 

The route to Dayton today was on backcountry roads with no traffic and through amazing wheat filled hillsides.  Harvesting starts in a couple of weeks.  Theses hills are steep!   We don’t see how they keep the tractors or harvesters from tipping over!   The route followed the valleys steadily climbing to Dayton.  Once again we bring cool weather, clouds, and rain.  Shortly after we got to Dayton it started pouring rain.  The high today was only about 70 degrees. 

Hills of wheat that go on forever and clouds rolling in

Jolly Green Giant on hillside outside of Dayton Washington

Day 10 - June 13, Umatilla Oregon to Walla Walla Washington, 57 miles

Today we crossed into Washington!  Thanks Oregon for all the great bike trails and wide shoulders on the roads!  The day started with highway 730 heading east and then north still along the Columbia River.  We rode as close to the river as we had over the last 10 days.  The Columbia never ceases to amaze - today it seemed wider and more beautiful than ever.  In fact this section of the river is also called Lake Wallula.  The river kept us cool in the morning hours.  Half way through the days route we had to say good-bye to the river and headed into the high desert.  Without the cooling effect of the river things heated up quickly.  As we pulled into the hotel driveway we had our first flat tire!  What good luck to flat at the very end of the day.  Tomorrow is our first day off and we are ready for it!

The views along the Columbia never disappoint

Good-bye Oregon!  Hello Washington!

Day 9 - June 12, Arlington to Umatilla, 47 miles

Today started with more freeway riding, fast, flat & noisy.   Navigator Sherri devised a creative alternate solution.  It involved isolated backcountry roads, miles of gravel, a nature refuge with over grown abandoned roads as trails, a short dirt trail, then more gravel roads that led to Hwy 730 into Umatilla.  Fairly flat ground & quite the adventure on a tandem!  We did not see a car or even another person for many miles. 

Some serious gravel

Day 8 - June 11, Biggs to Arlington, 34 miles

The river gorge has now completely transitioned, from dense rainforest to Oak forests to fruit tree orchards and vineyards, and finally to arid grass landscapes. This part of Oregon should be hot and dry but our weather continues to be cool with cloudy skies.  The standard bike touring route crosses over to the Washington side of the river at Biggs.  However, the Washington side along highway 14 does not have the services we need for 84 miles, so that route was out of the question.  The Oregon side has been fantastic with wonderful lightly traveled highway 30 and bike paths in the forest for most of the first 270 miles.  But that ended today and our alternative route took us along I-84.  The freeway shoulder was wide and smooth and we felt quite safe.  But the traffic noise was a bit much.  Compensating for the noise was the continued beautiful landscape and mostly flat road. 

Arid landscape along the east Columbia River Gorge

John Day dam - so many dams, each with power generators, a lock for the barges, and a Salmon ladder

Freeway riding …