It was really nice to sit with Woody and Chip on the front porch of the hotel yesterday listening to live music and getting in some valuable people watching. I actually met a couple that live in Hanau, Germany where I was first stationed in Germany while doing so. Small world in a small town.

I snuck out of the historic hotel this morning before most had rolled over once it seemed. I saddled up War Dog and we skedaddled and never looked back.

The sun came up easy this morning refusing to offer any heat for my cold feet. Once I got into the rolling hills, the cold pockets of air hidden from any sun were not friendly to my chilled feet. The sun finally relented and raised up enough to push some rays down to all the surrounding land and life was perfect once again.

I had a great view of Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens the rest of the day once departing HWY 97 and into the open fields of grain. The fields seem to be a living organism as the wind pushed through moving it in waves that was simply mesmerizing.

The best part of the day was when from behind I hear something just off the road ripping through the field. The grain was very tall so I was curious what was truly happening. I then see the antlers and head of a large white-tailed deer running past me. I then see another one. Seconds later two more bucks were right behind the first two and off they go. They eventually turned away from the road and vanished. These bucks were massive to say the least.

About a mile down the road, the four bucks are seen again and this time they cross the road well in front of me and stop in curiosity. A couple more seconds and they vanish behind a small ridge line. These deer must run at a high speed for miles and miles a day.

Lots of small steep hills today rolling one after the other. The largest of the ones found in this sawtooth pattern was the hilltop with the Wasco Radio Station tower sitting on top. They definitely found the perfect spot to be able to broadcast and be received for numerous miles via line of sight up on top of that steep hill.

Soon I was finding myself adjacent to the Deschutes River and the views were spectacular. This meant that soon enough, despite the gusty winds, I would be coming down to intercept the Columbia River.

Once on pavement, the wind versus Stan was a full on battle. The wind was gusty and was giving it a valiant effort. I had two things up my sleeve, gravity and the urge to see my family.

With two miles left, the road to the river was steep enough to have a sign warning drivers of said steepness. Wind can try all it wants, but it will not stop a grown motivated human on a loaded bike on a really steep road. Down I came to the Columbia River.

Caroline was there impatiently waiting for me on her bike at the campground. We did a celebratory Loop A lap and brought it home to the rest of the family. Done.