Well, today turned out to be a rest day: 105 miles - but almost all day with 30-35 MPH tailwinds! Quite a cruise.The scenery du jour was high tension power lines - much of the day up the Columbia River Valley with power lines enroute to Southern California air conditioners.
The valley is a deep cut through the basalt layers, with desert mixed with rolling wheat fields (amber waves - really waving today - of grain, and grain, and grain, and grain). Amber, really.
And the gorge itself was green below dark cliffs with a surprisingly blue river down the middle.
The fruit du jour was apples and bing cherries, orchards everywhere. And plenty of cherries at the rest stops.
The massive construction of the day was, of course the Grand Coulee Dam. The subsidiary massive construction of the day was Banks Lake - in the middle of nowhere, with no obvious source of supply. Turns out that water is pumped up from the Grand Coulee Dam, started in Banks Lake, and irrigates huge expanses of high plateau farmland farther east (the grain farming that we rode through today is dry land farming).
The river picture is the Columbia, the dam is as expected, and the rolling hills are of a 35 MPH paceline hardly pedaling in the 30+ MPH tailwind.
You're doing a way better job of blogging than I do, Dad. Hopefully the winds stay at your back and the chamois cream is plentiful!
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