Day #67-Richland to Baker City, OR 44 miles

We had another good RV camping experience last night in Richland.  It rained most of the night but in this arid area there was little evidence of it in the morning aside for our tents being wet.  Finley, our traveling companion, for the past twelve days, was up and off early as he was getting his phone replaced in Baker City and was meeting up with some friends as well.  While there’s a chance we’ll meet up again, he’s usually riding faster and further than we do.  He has a blog on the Crazy Guy on a Bike site.

Most of today’s ride was a moderate climb of about 2000’ over 40 miles from Richland to Baker City, elevation 3451’.We left the Willowa Mountains behind.  This is high desert and as we have seen frequently irrigation is the only way that anything grows.   We rode along the Powder River, the route of the Oregon Trail.

Once in Baker City we stopped at The Trailhead bike shop.  They have a bar in their shop so I had a beer from Barley Brown, a local micro brewery, while Steve got his bike worked on.  The bike shop has been in business for just a couple of weeks!  We ate a nice dinner at their brew pub as well.

We’re staying at the Oregon Trail motel.  Tomorrow we begin map #2 in our countdown across the country.  We’re two weeks from Astoria!