After passing Wallula for the fourth time, I was finally headed south on US-730 along the Columbia River to Umatilla, OR thence crossing over the Columbia onto WA-14 to head towards Maryhill and the Stonehenge Monument and then off to Goldendale for the night.
Looking southwest along the Columbia, just after the junction of US-12 and US-730. The hills through which the river has gouged it's way are a continuation of those holding the wind generators.
Same location, looking north.
Some of the lava flows which cover much of eastern Washington state.
A close up of the right hand tower in the above photo.
The crossing of the Columbia River at Umatilla is done via I-82. Leaving that immediately after the crossing, I took WA-14. There's a sign - "No Services for 60 miles" (100km). And how right they are. There's nothing but road following alongside the river. And no shade. Just rock walls, and brown vegetation. And it was really getting hot!
Then, out of the blue, is a sign to
Ah, shade at last, after a couple of hours of riding in the sun.
I believe it's called para-sailing. Whatever it's called, these folks seem to be having some fun, and were moving through the water at a great rate of knots. Note the difference between the watered green grass on this side of the Columbia, and the "natural" brown on the other side.
After about a half hour of cooling off, relaxing and avoiding the sun, it was time to continue on the journey. The next stop was at the Stonehenge Monument, located at Maryhill. This site offers a great view of Mt. Hood, but the best image is in the morning. I stopped at the gift shop and had an ice cream, while having a pleasant conversation with the lady behind the counter. She checked her outdoor thermometer (it was NOT in the sun) and it said 100 degrees (38 for the metric people). That was hot.
So it was back on the bike, and on to Goldendale, which is not too far away from here. I had a reservation at the "Far Vue" motel, and the GPS took me straight to it, although it was on US-97 anyway.
The motel was on one edge of the town, as evidenced by the view out of my window! This was late in the day, hence the orange glow.
Fortunately there was a restaurant at the motel, so I could have a couple of beers to quench the thirst after a hot day, and then I only needed to cross the parking lot to reach the bed.
Central Ferry