Around 5am or so, tent zipper alarms went off in succession. Riders crawled out of tents, made trips to the bath house, slipped into clean sets of spandex, and packed up their nomad abodes. The breakfast crew had already fired up large pots of water making press pot coffee possible, as well as oatmeal. We stood or sat, still groggy from a night of interupted sleep. Many Riders commented on the constant flow (and roar) of truck traffic. Hard to pretend it's just the lull of ocean waves.
After getting the gear truck loaded, we rode off to join those fine elephants of commerce. But happily, we were only on I-90 for a few miles. Side roads took us into Cle Elum. Less traffic, placid scenery, and thankfully, all of the farm dogs were still slumbering. Shortly outside of Cle Elum, we glided onto SR-10. This was a beautiful stretch - made even more so by still winds and cool temps. We edged up some gentle hills, and stopped to take photos.
The air seemed especially clear, the views sharp. It reminded me of an eye exam. At some point, the doctor slides in those lenses that make everything look so crisp. You want to shout: Yes, yes! This is how I want to see everything. Make me some of these!
We continued on into Ellensburg, and stopped for a 2nd breakfast. I was reminded that we are slowly moving out of coffee country as I poured myself another cup of umbrella juice from the thermal carafe. This will be an adjustment. Sigh.
After finishing our platters of food, we got on our steel ponies and rode through town. Darrell, Bob and I slowly meandered past the Central Washington campus area and headed out of town. There was a very gradual, steady climb in afternoon heat up to a wind farm ridge. We were rewarded with a very long (13 mile) descent. It got to be a bit monotonous going down for so long. Bob humored me by agreeing to stop at the Ginko Petrified Forest so that I could have a look around. "Forest" doesn't come to mind as you stand on this shadeless, sage-filled, hot hillside, peering into fenced pits of petrified wood.
We soon skedadled out of there and on to our campsite in Vantage. The afternoon was spent getting accustomed to the gusty winds, seeking shady napping spots, and gazing at the scenery. Hard to ignore the 5-mile hill just across the Columbia. Hmmm. A breakfast burner for sure. All of us ate dinner at Blustery's Drive-In. After re-securing tent stakes, it was time to sleep.
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