Naches to Yakima was an easy go. We stopped for gas in Yakima and chatted with Mike a man I met  in  the  Arco parking  lot, asking first for directions and then discussing life in general. I looked over at NMBL for a second, felt something in my hand, and Mike had put $40 there! He had just won some money and wanted us to have breakfast on him. We paid it forward and tipped our waitress at Denny’s well. Thanks so much Mike!

We hit heavy winds on the 97 south of Goldendale all the way down to the Columbia River gorge. Those crazy high winds made for scary riding. A local at the gas station said they were expecting 50 mph winds that day and I think he wasn’t too far off. We had to counter steer a few turns opposite to normal because it was blustering so hard. Heavy buffeting and some white knuckle moments were on the menu all the way to the Columbia gorge.

Across the Columbia into Oregon and the winds calmed a bit. Plus the speed limit went down. And there were wind farms everywhere! We figured there must be thousands of windmills, catching the air and pumping electricity to who knows where. We turned off the 97 into Wosco OR, then onto the 206, a very pretty road heading to Condon. It gave us a chance to ride right through.  Wonderful ride. Lunch in Condon.

Great ride out of Condon in to La Grande.The road took us across windswept plateaus, down through gullies and gorges, great scars in the earth that the engineers had to contend with in such a way that riders like us could enjoy the hills and turns. We climbed, we dropped. We rode through beautiful canyons and along rushing rivers. All on highways that were well-kept and nearly devoid of traffic.

We eventually made it to La Grande and up to Morgan Lake campground on the hills/plateau above the city. Heavy wind (a regular occurrence there, apparently) and rain during camp setup. Bedding down to some questionable weather.

DES out.