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As the sunset in Ralston, a narrow storm had just passed overhead, creating this rainbow.

54 miles today, 270.5 miles towards goal.

We arrived here…

… at about 5 pm.  The wonderful people of the Ralston Grange make their park available to people riding through on the trail; we are very grateful because there is nowhere else to camp for tens of miles around.

The day started early and Bob and Steve were very proud of themselves for getting out of camp by about 8 am.  We rode the 1.5 miles to the gastro-gas-station and ordered breakfast there.  The departure time from the gas station was 9:15, so we really haven’t upped our game much.

Bob is still suffering some sort of PTSD from previous days on the trail, so we spent the day entirely (with a few hundred yard exception for me) on the road.

The roads were quiet and the eastern Washington drivers were exceptionally courteous so it was great. The trail would undoubtedly have been flatter…

…but it was hard going on the section I tried.

We fueled up at the grocery store in Warden and stopped for ice cream in Lind.  Lind is a quaint, strange, little town, and apparently “home of the combine’ demolition derby” (see evidence below)

We found a pretty good grocery store in Warden so we have fresh fruit again and Bob and Steve selected spam and tortillas for dinner. However, as we arrived in town, we saw a sign at the end of a driveway, ‘Eggs $4’.  So after much debate Bob went foraging with $4 in his pocket, and retuned with a dozen eggs.  As a result, the menu has been updated to just eggs and SPAM) the tortillas will become lunch tomorrow (with peanut butter and banana 🙂).

The general store is also a 76 gas station, so it looks like we’re on the best junk food money can buy again.  🙂

45 miles today, 216 miles towards goal.

After working hard to leave at 9, we rolled out of camp at 9:30 am.  Contrary to Bob’s assertion, we’re getting a wee bit later every day rather than a wee bit earlier.

Today was a day of open vistas and wide roads. 

We started riding alongside the Columbia River and continued past the Wanupum Dam.  We found our way back onto the Palouse to Cascades Trail so that we could cross the Columbia on the Beverly Bridge. We found the trail surface here to be fantastic, but Bob was unimpressed; his preference towards asphalt is becoming very apparent. 

The Beverly Bridge was impressive

Steve posed for this photo, and took some others.  Following encouragement from Bob, he has taken up a new bridge-hobby and spent some time experimenting. 

After climbing out of the Columbia Valley…

…we transited through a major agricultural area, first wheat, alfalfa etc then apple orchards as far as the eye could see.  The sound/ song of red winged blackbirds accompanied us most of the way (perhaps Bob or Steve have a photo to share).

After 1804 ft of climbing, we got to camp setup early. 

We are now contemplating a trip to ‘town’.

Scratch that, we have retreated to our tents in the face of wind and rain.  If this squall passes soon there may be another update later. 

The title of this photo is Reclining Bob. The question is what is he doing? This is a multiple choice quiz. Answers, a) Taking in the view, b) Resting after lunch in Vantage WA, or c) Finishing his bike repair.