Left the security and camaraderie of the bike club and headed off solo. Robert dropped me off in Hermiston where I got a motel room. Did laundry and got organized. Started riding at 5:30 this morning to beat the heat. It worked out well as I got to the store in Roosevelt by noon.

From Hermiston to Umatilla I was on 395 but it was early and little traffic. The bridge over the Columbia was a protected bike path as it showed on Google Maps, which is why I chose this route. Once in Washington it did some funny, but well marked, stuff to route cyclists under the freeway and on to a very quiet country road heading west. There was even a nice looking campground there in Plymouth I wish I had known about. There was nothing else here but a few big orchards. After a while the road climbed north away from the river and met highway 14. There was a good shoulder here which was nice as there were a lot of trucks. The road mostly stated away from the river but every noiw and then I had a nice view. Very barren desert terrain otherwise. When I got to Patterson there was a big junction and most of the trucks turned north to Prosser. There was a store that was shut down and nothing else. There would be nothing else until Roosevelt, still a ways off.

It was hot but there was a light headwind that kept me cool enough. Still I was pretty dead when I got to Roosevelt. The store there is great. They even have a log book for cycle tourists. This is on the ACA Lewis and Clark route so they do get some. The Roosevelt park was a real oasis, shady and green with a nice swimming beach. It even has free camping and hot showers. There was a fellow from Vancouver who was here for the wind surfing but the wind was calm so he was just hanging out. The camp host was a cyclist and a wind surfer who entertained us with some interesting tales of life on the Columbia. I found some trees to hand my hammock and had a good rest, then made diner, pitched my tent and had a good sleep.