"Hello from the public library in Walla Walla, Washington! The Across America crew is taking an easy day after an eventful week. Although we normally don't have time to write blog entries, today's leisure time seemed like the perfect opportunity. So, in order, the highlights of each day:
Day 0
- Bus ride on beautiful Oregon roads to the Seaside hostel
- Assembling bikes under the stars
Day 1
- Dipping our bike wheels into the Pacific (and filling our shoes and chains with wet sand)
- First ride, first climb
- Cookies with peanut butter at the top of a hill
Day 2
- Waking up to a car show
- 7% grade on a downhill...yikes
- Going to a bike shop where the only thing the mechanics accomplished was eating cupcakes
Day 3:
- Getting multiple flats
- Crossing into Washington
- MASSIVE CLIMB (around 1000ft)
Day 4:
- Mosquitoes everywhere
- The map lying about the flatness of the road
- Finally finding a town, and finding out the grocery store was, 1. In White Salmon, 2. Up a hill.
- Seeing pietroglyphs/Great Plains-like terrain
- Eating lunch at an aluminum plant
- Entering a thirty-five mile stretch of emptiness
Day 6:
- Uneventful biking for most of the day, aside from a giant tailwind (some of the group hit 25 mph on the flats)
- Hitting our first real town in two days
Day 7:
- Entering Walla Walla
- Getting to a hotel
- Coffee with milk (yaaay)
Trip statistics so far;
Jars of peanut butter: 4
Bags of pretzels: 3
Impromptu icecream stops: 2
Buckets of oats: 2
Visits to bike shops: 4
States: 2
