Out of the Gorge

   After a pleasant night listening to the rain in Bingen we woke to strong winds and a chilly drizzle...yuk!  As usual though riding in the rain is not nearly as bad as thinking about riding in the rain...at least it was a tailwind.  We were quickly warmed up with a long ascent leading to Cape Horn, a lookout on an 800 ft cliff overlooking the Columbia River valley.  The weather cleared in the afternoon and we rode more strong tailwinds into a beautifully kept campground across from lovely Biggs, OR.  Biggs is actually a huge truckstop complex and definitely not worth a bike ride across the Columbia in 25mph winds.
  Traffic lessened considerably the next day and we were treated to continued tailwinds and beautiful views as we made our way further up the Columbia.  One of the reasons we chose the Lewis and Clark route was to avoid any major climbs and take advantage of the consistent westerly winds, it was nice to have our plan pay off to start our trip.
  Crossing back into Oregon at Umatilla, we finished our journey up the Columbia along Hwy12 towards Walla Walla.  As we approached the point where we would leave the Columbia we raced a black stormfront late in the afternoon...we lost.  As we rode into our campground for the night the sky opened up and we got drenched as we performed a speedset on the tent.  Kelly mopped the water out of our soaked tent while I stowed gear as quickly as possible.  We had a cozy evening with a delicious dinner of cold ham  on a tortilla and turned in early.  Riding and being outside all day we have no problem putting in 10 hrs of sack time.
  The next day dawned clear and cool for a perfect 30 mile cruise into our daughter, Hannah's, place in Walla Walla where we spent a great couple days visiting and not riding.  Now Sunday morning we are ready for the next phase of our trip, heading NE through Spokane and on to our friend's (Bill and Anita) home in Sandpoint, ID.