Day 3 – The Dalles to Pendleton, Oregon – 135 miles, 4,000 ft of climbing – 6 hours

They might say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but my best friend today was a 30 mph tailwind! I rode with Ann and Doug from Portland and Dan and his son Brian from Michigan. All are racers. We clocked a 4 hour century – it was rockin!! The scenery was a little bland in the beginning, other than the dams along the Columbia, which were cool. We were on I-84 for probably close to 100 miles. For awhile, we were along the Columbia River, with Washington on the other side. We stopped where the John Day River met the Columbia and took pictures down by the river. It was so windy we almost got knocked over standing to take our pictures. In another group, Lori and Jeanine were with Tom from Half Moon Bay – we all hammered it today, as can be seen in the pic from one of our stops. The rest stops are so well stocked, with the abundance of food, I don’t think weight loss will be a problem on this trip, cookies, candy, snacks, everywhere! We had a short time off I-84 on a frontage road and went past a tree farm that went on for 7 miles. Apparently, timber being a huge commodity in Oregon, they grow trees for that purpose, looking down the rows of trees was fairly mesmerizing at that stage in the ride. After we got off I-84, we cruised through the town of Echo and along the Umatilla River for around 25 miles until Pendleton, it was very pretty – raced a train, saw the grave site of Oregon Trail pioneer Dave Koontz, Doug laid on the railroad tracks…made for a great picture, but I’m pretty sure we broke a rule. Now I have to go rest my legs and let the Indian casino buffet food do its job and nourish my body – maybe that’s an oxymoron, but it’s worth a shot. Tomorrow will be our last day in Oregon…here’s hoping for more tailwinds!