I slept pretty well. That new air mattress really works great and is a little thicker than the previous one. While the campsite is near the road, there are not many cars going by in the night and the ones that did sure didn’t bother me.
I was awake about 5:30 and read for a while before getting up and going on a walk/hike. I looped the campground repeating the route I took yesterday and took some photos at the entrance.
And one along the river.
When I got to the north end of the property, I hiked up to the highway and saw that there was a parking area and an obvious trail leading away from it. It looked like it went almost straight up the hill behind it and I thought it might provide a nice view. It was steep but no big deal and worth it for the scenery.
When I returned I went through the usual morning routine, had oatmeal and cocoa for breakfast, and got the bike loaded up.
I’d like to travel lighter but I have paired down what I bring to a minimum and because I bring several seasons of clothing for riding and for when I get to where I am going, I have been unable to reduce what I bring any more than I have. This is why, on a longer ride, I bring my blue backpack. It’s not ideal because I have to strap it down on top of by clothes satchel but it’s handy for carrying things I need to get to or put away as the riding day goes on.
Notice that it’s a NIke Team National bag from 2006. That was the year that Billings Senior High girls cross country team got an invite to nationals. I was assistant coach and the head coach, Steve, and I got to travel with the team to Portland for a pretty awesome experience. This bag was one of the freebies we received. 20 years ago, wow.
The ride today was long. I just wasn’t that enthusiastic about it, partly because I’ve done it so many times and after 6 days of riding in the past week or so, I’m ready for a break. At least the weather is nice.
As I rode past the place I usually camp, I noticed that there had been a fire from the main camping area to the southern border along the river. I liked hiking through that area and now it’s all exposed and blackened. Sad.
I rode south through the Yakima Canyon and once I hit civilization, I pulled over to take care of a few things. For one, I downloaded some video clips from the dash cam to save them for later editing.
While there a friend, Jason, texted and then called and he wanted to talk about an ‘88 Volvo 240 DL that he is thinking of buying for his daughter. Because I have an ‘83, we chatted about the issues one will have with that car but it seems like a good deal. After we talked he sent me the ad on FB Marketplace in Bozeman. I sent it to another fiend, Nick, who is expert on these things.
I got back on the road and nocked off a bunch of miles before pulling over outside of Moxee, WA to grab a photo of my odometer as it just turned 60,000.
I rode to Othello for gas and cruised their main commercial area. There are quite a few Mexican restaurants. I’ll have to look up their demographics.
I had a text from Nick so I screen shot his positive feedback on the car and sent it to Jason.
I racked up more miles and can’t say there was much to write about. I stopped in Kamiah for gas and to grab some chips and an apple at the store. Then it was back on Hwy 12. The navigation app said it was 75 miles to the campground but would take about 90 minutes.
I blasted along the road, enjoying the curves but watchful for critters as it was that time of day. All I saw were some wild turkeys.
I did grab a shot from my dashcam of this sign.
About 30 miles from the campground I was going past a large pull-out area and saw a car over the embankment and two guys standing there. Here’s the car grabbed from my dash cam in the left-center of the photo.
I arrived at the Jerry Johnson campground at 7pm. I looped around and was surprised to see that at least half the sites are occupied. I’ve never seen it so busy. I rode past Site #6, the same on I stayed at on the way out and when I saw that it was empty, I grabbed it. There were no envelopes for registration so I’ll see if a ranger comes by later or in the morning. If I hit the road early enough, I might get a freebie.
I got the site set up, wrote this blog entry, and then cooked up dinner, a cheesy broccoli rice dish. Very tasty. I ate half and will save the other half for tomorrow’s breakfast.
It was 404 miles for the day.
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