Big Ride Day 3

Photos from Day 3

Well, my tent and I survived the night and the wind, but not without losing some sleep. In fact, I'm not sure I slept much at all! The winds howled like I have never experienced before. The day started very early for most people since the winds kept most people awake all night! I got barely two hours of good sleep the entire night. Fortunately, we were sent off with an excellent breakfast served at the same restaurant where we had dinner last night. We began by crossing the Columbia River and the strong winds turned into a nice tailwind that stayed with us up the initial ten-mile climb out of the river valley. For the first fifteen miles, I really opened it up and felt great! The cloud cover kept the temperature low and we even got a few cooling rain showers. As we turned onto the long road to Odessa, the farmland stretched out on either side. What beautiful country this is!

Along the way, I got to meet and talk to some of the many interesting people on the ride. It's amazing the variety of ages and backgrounds! Ages vary from 16 to 76 and backgrounds are everything from students to other military people to doctors to a CEO of a large corporation.

Coming into Odessa, we hit a long stretch of road with an oil and chips surface -- rather bumpy on a bike. I'm already beginning to wish I didn't have an aluminum frame. I rode into town with Ken, who is from Washington, D.C. and works in databases. Camp tonight is in the sleepy town of Odessa, WA. There is nothing around here for at least forty miles in each direction. This is truly small town America. We are camping at the local high school and had our dinner prepared by the Future Business Leaders of America from the high school. The food was an excellent traditional German meal. I ate so much, I thought I was gong to burst but that's what I've been doing every meal! It's really a struggle to get enough to eat and drink these days. I've been drinking about 2 gallons of water a day and consuming who knows how many calories! Well, it's time for bed. Hopefully, I can get my first good night's sleep tonight!

This page modified November 25, 2000