Ride Across Canada – Day 29 (final)

Day’s distance / Total distance (final) – 357 miles / 8,984 miles

Temperature ranged from low 40s to upper 50s. The skies were clear and crisp in Hermiston but a bit hazy later on as the air from the coast brings moisture.

I haven’t ridden Hwy 14 the entire 180 miles from Pendleton to Vancouver, WA very often, maybe once. It’s quite scenic and varied as the river narrows through the Gorge area to the west.

I stopped for a coffee and pastry around two hours into the ride. It was not warm but tolerable if I took a break and stood in the sun. I had a maple bacon scone that was delicious! The latte wasn’t to my liking, though 🙁 It was hot and warmed me up inside.

During my ride through the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area along Hwy 14 on the Washington side of the water, the odometer flipped 87,000 miles!

I stopped at Drano Lake to mark the milestone.

At the end of the trip, it read 87,187 miles on the clock. That’s a lot of journeys through the US and Canada. 🙂

Why the rush?

Recall that I’ve traveled from Columbus, Ohio to home in six days. I altered the route and sped up the timetable several times as a cold front was arriving in the northwest.

That cold front arrive the morning after I returned home. Here’s what it looks like, from a temperature perspective (blue is freezing – no bueno).

Even one day later would have me in Baker City, where it was below freezing mid morning. And I would have had to cross over Deadman’s Pass where it would certainly be colder with the possiblity of patches of snow / ice on the roads.

So, it was worth pushing, and was informative with regard to the design of including fast travel days. Just being grateful I was able to move across the entire map area shown in a week.

In the coming days, I’ll post some reflections and add the entire trip under the Completed Adventures section of the site.