Day 55, Aug. 9 Lewis & Clark Trail S.P. to Hood Park (Pasco)

We closed the library down (5pm)after witnessing some local hysterics involving a printer, 2 customers, and both librarians. Then we headed down main street to explore our dining possibilities. The librarians had recommended a place called "Books and Brew" (not surprisingly) and we were low on literature, so we headed there. Pretty neat place, awesome beer (with a little too much alcohol content 6.5%), homemade pot pies and soup. We stayed there as long as we thought reasonable, Andy dove into the Alchemist and I picked up an author we had read back in Mr. Love's 7th (or 8th) grade English class, Kaye Gibbons.
We left as a storm approached and stopped by the grocery store for some freshness as well as some marshmallows and chocolate for roasting.
The Lewis and Clark Park was a quick 5 miles down the road and so we were feeling pretty good when we got there. The attendant had Palsy of some sort, and after he helped us we settled into the primitive campsites. It was a strange setup, just 4 campsites set up in a sort of isle, or railroad apartment style so you have to walk through everyone elses to get to yours. We set up, went to ask for firewood and was told their was a ban on fires, so we spent the rest of the evening reading by the rocky beach beside the stream, eating cold marshmallows and chocolate. When we had run out of daylight, we made our back to camp (all of 30 feet) to find that another cyclist (who would have thought off the transam?) was camping there also. Yoni of Rochester, NY turned out to be a fine chap. His partner (the dad of a friend)had had to abandon their Northern Tier journey in Glacier NP because his knees were just giving out, so he had flown onto Eugene, OR and Yoni was finishing the trip solo, and off route. We talked the coast-to-coast shop (which is very different from REAL cyclist shop I think), shared some more cold marshmallows, and hit the bumpy sack.) You can check on Yoni at mikeandyoni.blogspot.com (Fatman and Beardo, although Yoni no longer sports a beard).

We woke up. Andy did not sleep well on account of not breathing too well, and we were both pretty much full of snot. Sorry. Yoni said he too had been sporting a sore throat the past few.

Cooked our oats by the river, got packed up, said our goodbyes, and were out of there nice and early. Yoni was heading to Walla Walla.

As soon as we exited the park, the wind was with us, or rather against us. It was not going to be a terribly long day, Hood Park was only 55 miles or so from where we were, but nevertheless it was starting to look like we were going to be pushing into our greatest adversary for most of the day.

We were not wrong. The wind followed us around corners, as the Park Ranger at Hood said "Our Lady of Perpetual Headwinds" was our patron for the day. We stopped about 15 miles in at a teeny town, Prescott I think, to let our anger subside and do some emotional and physical eating of microwave Jimmy Dean biscuits.

The landscape was hilly and golden brown with wheat and hay. This gradually was peppered with more and more green spots, a few orchards, vineyards, a potato field. There was nothing but this and NorthwestAgri's intense no trespassing signs (we were scared to pee) until we reached Hood Park. At which point, we were exhausted, it was getting hot, and it was still pretty early in the afternoon. A short debate of whether to stay at the park for the rest of the day or head into Pasco for some urban experiences followed, ultimately, and maybe regrettably with Pasco winning out.

We headed across the Snake River and into Pasco. A bike lane was our greeting into the city, so we anticipated a good omen.

Apparently we misread the signs. Although I wouldn't say it was an entirely bad experience, it certainly wasn't a warm and cuddly one. We followed the signs to the City Center, but no center really appeared. Lots of sad looking Hispanic shops, dirty beach town vibes, and unfit people. We passed one gorgeous building that was city hall with a swell park across from it, but otherwise it was a dirty flat town. We stopped at a gas station to check the phone book for options, but this came to nothing and instead we munched, or should I say devoured some halfway decent Mexican bread, 4 rolls each. Ouch. We finally decided that our best bet would be to eat the 5 miles and head back to Hood asap. We did this, but not without stopping at a grocery store that was so hot the owners had to sit outside and didn't have any groceries, just more Mexican bread, then we headed to another grocery which was only a small improvement on the first and bought all of their produce: an avocado and a couple bananas. Trying to rectify our sense of Pasco, we went into this bakery that seemed like the place to be. And were delighted to find that they serve sandwiches! Hurrah! So we split a sandwich (and these bean burritos Andy got for a $1 at the grocery) and an ice coffee, which ended up being like very cold chocolate milk with a hint of coffee in it. We managed to leave without buying any baked goods, but while we were in there for 30 minutes or so, about 50 people came and went, filling up cafeteria trays with loads and loads of baked goods from right off the baking sheets, then having them bagged at the front counter before they left with many gallons worth of sugar and bread.

The ride back to Hood was fantastic as we actually had the wind at our back. We set up camp in the Overflow camping area, which turned out to be great. Then we just vegged out by the Snake River, swimming and staring at our majestic view of the grain elevators across the way. We cooked our dehydrated soup, finished our books, and then went back to camp, stocking up on toilet paper for our snotty noses on the way, and then sleeping happily under the stars and the very bright half moon.