I left the valley with the rail trail this morning to see how much of the rough sections and how many of the remaining detours I could finish.
When we prepared for the ride we decided on 700x38 tires. They have been great on all surfaces, but as soon as we hit loose gravel, our speeds reduced significantly. I have seen several bikes on the trail and they all have wider tires. It could be that my riding experience along this part of the trail would be much better with wider tires. Oh well - maybe some other time. I am still enjoying the ride tremendously.
The Spring colours on this part of the trail is wonderful. This is a shot towards the Revere grain elevator where I slept last night.
Flowers along the road. Looking at the plants and the dead Tumbleweeds I saw, my guess is that a large number of the yellow flowers belong to Tumbleweeds.
Beautiful
I passed this hill and the marmot on top was ready to sound the warning if I came closer. My thoughts were, you better watch out for Rattlesnakes, they are closer. :):):)
And another random comment here. These last couple of days I heard birds calling with a distinctive call. They all say "Rasberry Shake." These are doves calling.
Beautiful colors.
I crossed the Columbia Plateau Trail running North-South at this point. It is also an abandoned rail line - not for this trip though.
A small valley next to the road.
Still the flowers with a farmhouse and buildings in the background.
I was back in a part of Washington State where the roads are running either East-West or North- South. After some 90 degree turns to basically travel in a general south-westerly direction, I turned left on Klein Road.
After some miles it crossed the horizon at the highest point for miles around.
This is looking back in the direction I came. I saw my tracks and thought I must have had a harder time coming up the hill.
Interestingly, our original route plan showed a shorter detour around one of the missing trestles. I was glad I relloked my route before I came through here. Our original route would have ended in a dead-end.
This is Ralston station. I had my lunch is the shade of the building on the left.
A check on the trail surface confirmed what I already knew, bigger stones, loosened up considerably by the wagon train. I continued on a paved road running along the trail most of the way to Lind.
I was surprised to see copper cables still hanging from the railroad telecomms lines.
I cycled past Pizzaro siding with the elevator still being used. Looking at the photo afterwards. I blame my camera for the "leaning Tower of Pisa-" look.
The trail was still there, but
which route option did I take??
The vegetain keeps on changing. There are almost no trees in this part of WA.
Close to Lind, the Trail has an interesting detour where the State Road 395 cuts off the access. They trail goes along the 395 to the next culvet and back up the hill on the other side of the road.
I reached Lind in good time. I stayed on the road as the parallel cycle path had tremendous bumps.
There is little formal accommodation here. I tried, but the manager did not open the front door.
I stopped at the Golden Grain Cafe, an old cafe turned into a pub. Sharon and her husband, Bob runs this and I had a wonderful beef sandwich.
It was also great to talk to Christine. These last two days I had been cycling through an area where AT&T has no (almost no) service. Who can imagine having your mobile phone turned into a camera only - not by you pushing the airline mode button, but by your provider not having good enough coverage? And these are not remote by any means.
Coincidentally, they also offer their backyard to cyclists as a place to overnight.
The rain was coming and she said I could use the pergola. Great place to sleep and relax. I enjoyed adding my comments to the visitor's book.
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