Day 7 (June 12)

I'm losing track of the days.  After the last post, we headed east and ended up spending the night in a place called Roosevelt, WA, which had a free wind surfer campground. A bit of a party scene, and no running water, but we managed. The ride to Stanfield, OR (just past Umatilla) involved some freeway mileage, but there was a bike lane at least.  Upon arriving at Becca's nephew's home, we were rewarded with a warm welcome by Josiah and his wife Courtney, and their 2 adorable babies.  Becca enjoyed catching up with them and even got to sleep indoors, have a hot shower, do laundry and eat pizza! 

Unfortunately, the return ride over the Columbia River was quite dangerous, as Becca had to go on the freeway bridge without the benefit of a bike lane. These routes are not well marked apparently. On top of that, it rained the entire day, with nothing but endless brown wheat fields to look at. Plus, due to miscommunication on my part (and poor directions from a local), Becca and I ended up in different places.  I had been driving around for hours trying to find camping within 50 miles of Umatilla, and we'd decided on the town of Eltopia, WA.  Turns out there's Eltopia and Eltopia West.  By the time I tracked her on her Garmin device, she'd gone 10 miles out of her way in the pouring rain.  I tried to persuade her to get in the van, but in spite of looking like a drowned rat, she and her indomitable spirit wouldn't have it.  

I couldn't find any camping that wouldn't take her miles out of her way, as she had already ridden over 70 miles, so we ended up parking the van behind a Catholic church.  Like fugitives, we took off from Heltopia at 7:00 AM, in order to prevent getting caught by the church janitor and being accused of vagrancy. 

Today is no picnic either; nothing but rain and wind in the forecast, but we'll be staying in Ritzville, WA tonight, and if I have anything to say about it, it will be in a hotel.  We can't have our hero dying of hypothermia after only one week!