Make New Friends But Keep the Old...

One is Silver and the Other's Gold--isn't that the old Girl Scout song? It really came to mind during our time in Lyle, WA



We're catching up on the last 4 days or so because we finally found our first internet cafe! So, back to Day 3 of the ride:



Camas to Lyle, WA--64.5 miles



The ride to Lyle was going to be a long one, but it was SO beautiful! I was very happy about our decision to stop in Camas because we had a huge almost 4-mile climb about a mile out of town that would have done me in the day before! That climb took us to one of the most beautiful views I've seen--the panorama of the Columbia River Gorge from high up. It's almost too hard to describe how gorgeous this place is--you must come to see it for yourselves! The Gorge is steep on both sides through this portion, and although the road was a little narrow, the cars were all very cautious with us on the road.



We are learning to use our rear view mirrors more and more each day. It's funny--if you get them positioned correctly, you can see at a glance the things you need to. Often, in the first couple of days, all I could see was the welcome sight of David riding behind me! Fun, but not totally practical. The mirrors are small, but give you enough information if you set them properly. And of course, if you spend too much time looking in the rear view, you miss the pothole right in front of you! How like life...



After our big climb, we had a big descent right back down to the river level and then experienced a rare northeasterly wind. Not too exciting, but not horrible either. We found the most fabulous coffee bar in Stevenson, WA for lunch. It's called the Bahma Coffee Bar and it made me want to move to Stevenson immediately! Excellent salad (we're missing the fresh food and produce we usually eat at home) and great service--really a lovely town.



Washington State has flowers everywhere in bloom--Shirley poppies along the highway in droves, lupine by the acre, and rhododendron in every color imaginable. It's so pleasant to ride along and look at all the color nature offers.



An interesting thing along this stretch of road were the tunnels. We were on Rt. 14, and had five tunnels to go through. The way they have accommodated bikes is to have a button that you push. Then a light starts flashing on either side of the tunnel so the cars know there's a bike in there. Luckily, we only had one car pass us inside the tunnels, but it was pretty exciting. We sprinted through these--leap-frogging (I would push one button, David the next) and riding as fast as we could to get through the scary, dark part! After that, there were just a few cars and we had a nice ride into Lyle, WA.



James and Patrice Archuleta put us up during our stay in Lyle. David knew these two old friends from his days in China Lake. They moved to Lyle in 1999 and have a fantastic spread in the High Prairie area with sheep, horses (and a mule), lambs, chickens (and one of the funniest-looking roosters I have ever seen), cata, and a Blue Heeler to keep everyone in line. It was a fantastic place to stay--especially since they put us up in our own little cabin!



The Washington gang treated us royally. We had quite a feast that night, and they mentioned that if we could stay another day, we could participate in the wine tastings that all the local wineries were having for Memorial Day Weekend. Well, when they put it like that...OF COURSE we stayed!



Rest day consisted of lazing around, trying to post to the blog, and wine tasting! We particularly liked the Dry Hollow Winery--the setting reminded me of Tuscany, and the wine was excellent! We also met up with Dirk, our new friend who we met in Paonia in April. He took us to his house and we had a fantastic time with Dirk, Jan, and a few of their friends. What a fun evening and a great way to spend time off the bikes! We also got a tip about a great free campground in Roosevelt, so that will be our next stop!



Thanks to all our old and new friends for making this part of Washington so fun and special! (P.S. we left our camera connector in Lyle, so we'll have to post pictures when it catches back up with us or we buy another on. Bummer!)