Day 56, Aug. 10 Hood Park to Toppenish, WA

We woke up, did our tent packing thing, ate some oatmeal, and set off to reride our route down through Pasco and the other Tri-Cities.

The morning was very pleasant, but we hadn't gone but 5 miles when I got a flat in my tire. I suspected it might be fated to be a long day. Not bad, just long.

We crossed the wide Yakima River (which joins with the Snake here to become the Colummbia) over quite an architecturally beautiful bridge and then made our way onto the biking greenway on the other side of the river. These things are great, but sometimes they have so many options it is a little confusing. Nevertheless, our ride along the bank was nice and refreshing (we were sort of in Kennewick at this point) and full of much needed restrooms. I think the seat is wearing out my bladder. TMI.

When we stopped off for 2nd breakfast after only another 8 miles or so, we knew for certain that the day would be long. Breakfast at the Sage Port was well worth it though and definitely the happening place to be on this Sunday morning. The best corned beef hash we've ever had, as well as pancakes good enough to rival Ben Hitchings'. The place was full of kischy pirate and sailor stuff and full of motorcyclists and nice local people.

One of the reasons we were reluctant to continue I think, was because we were a little uncertain of our route. Big cities can be a little indimidating to a cyclist. One older couple put us onto the track of the Old Inland Empire Highway, which turned out to be quite a good recommendation, and got us to get going for a little bit.

We missed the turn and ended up at the grocery store, before we ever got on this road, but once we did we were quite happy to enjoy its sights. Bizarre rock formations climbed up on our right side, farms and orchards surrounded the Yakima River we were following, and big brown and black hills rose up on the left side, farms creeping as far up on them as they dared. The road was windy and lovely, but we were still moving like molasses.

We passed Prosser, and eventually came to the town of Grandview. I really needed a break. It was about 4, and even though the hills were pretty gentle, my knees were killing me. So we had our classic Sunday dinner in a really tasty Mexican place. We tried the Huevos con Napolitas which had cactus in it, a cross between a cooked green bean and pepper, that was pretty tasty. Our most professional waitress gave us further directions on how to get to our destination in Toppenish, and we happily followed them back into more lushness. The only drawback were the farm dogs that chased us. But the traffic was light and the shoulders good to us.

It was about this time we started to make out mountain shapes in the background of our landscape. It was also about this time that Andy got a flat in his back tire. We stopped to blow it up, just to see if we could make it down Rt 22 to Toppenish, while we were stopped, my front wheel went flat. We tried the same fix. Another mile or so, and Andy's back tire was totally flat, so we stopped and got out the gear and began pulling several of the same thorns out of it that had been in mine earlier.

Another ten miles down the road, he got another flat. We changed the tube. Our last new tube gone, and 2 patches left. Scary.

We made it to Toppenish, but we were both just exhausted. It was already past 8pm and we were spent mentally and physically. We had been discussing a rest day here, but knew we needed a bike shop in our future, so planned instead to head into Yakima (20 miles or so) and then take the rest of the day easy.

The Yakama Nation RV that we called home that night in Toppenish was awesome. It was only $15 and had laundry, a pool, a hot tub, showers, a sauna, free internet, coffee, and tea, and leather couches with a big screen TV that we could just zone on.

We showered and set up camp among the 60 or so other tents (mostly belonging to fireman fighting a nearby wildfire), and promptly went to bed. Both of our colds were settling in strongly and we needed some shuteye.