Day 4 Bigg to Umatilla

Sunrise along the Columbia. As I rode along those bluffs there were a couple of eagles flying around they kept making that cool screech/scream sound that you hear in all those western type movies--the one that comes to mind right now is Thunderheart with Val Kilmer--whole lot of eagle screams in that one.
Many of the natives out here do not appreciate what they get to see everyday. I have told several that back in our part of Ohio people would pay an admission fee to see what is commonplace here.

Lot of irrigation going on in this part of Oregon. Away from the river it is like high desert. Good dirt but not enough rainfall for Ohio type farming. This scene was interesting in that it shows wet and dry ground. There were some other types of irrigating setups closer to the road--I got off the bike and stood under the shower and boy did that feel good--probably going to do it again several more times during trip. Very refreshing and cooling as it evaporates while riding in hot sun.

There was just too much going on with this business to pass up shot. Somebody worked real hard to put all this in place.

Three new cute kid friends--Jacob,Emily, and Neveah(heaven spelled backwards). They had a ton of questions about what I was doing, the bike, etc etc. They were still talking as I rode away after a good 45 minutes of intense interrogation.

Good long ride today between Bigg and Umatilla, took a couple of "off the suggested route" roads and enjoyed it all, farming techniques very interesting. A little over 90 miles in total. In Umatilla stopped at a roadside taco stand and meal was delicious, of course I was ready to eat road kill about then.
Was going to lay over a day but feeling good and heading for Walla Walla in morning. May take a day off then.

Getting into the groove of riding , was worried after first 2 days, felt beat up, but think that was caused by 2 week layoff from riding, and sitting in car for 4000 miles. Between March 1 and middle of May I got in over 2000 practice miles , first 1000 bike only , second 1000 with trailer. It was riding in Ohio which is a lot different than here terrainwise but it was the best I had to work with, hopefully I biult up enough base to make this trip doable. In any case it is what it is and here I am.