It occurred to me today that 371 miles on a bike in one week is a new record for me. Today I added another 51 or 52 miles depending upon if you round up or down. That adds up to 422 miles altogether through eight days. This mileage does not include wrong turns or side trips to stores or sites of interest. I’m staying in Lewis and Clark State Park, which is about a day and a half’s ride from Lewiston, Idaho. I’m looking forward to be done with Washington and Oregon and moving into Idaho.

Seems like Scott and Richard are about a half days ride ahead of me. We are keeping in touch through the magic of smart phones.

I stopped for supplies at the super huge Walmart in Walla Walla. I then found a laundrymat and ate lunch while washing my clothes. The campsite has a shower so now, except for nine days stubble, I’m about as fresh as a rose.

These flowers reminded me of my sister-in-law, Lourdes. Whenever I hiked with Roger and Lourdes, she was always stopping to take pictures of the flowers. These continual pauses in the interest of photography seemed to irritate Roger. Here’s another shot for Lourdes.

Walla Walla is well kept by the inhabitants, especially compared to other places I’ve passed through on this journey. To the west, is range land, and the east are vast fields of grain. All of the green areas seem to be irrigated. You can hear the pumps running all along the Columbia River.

The mighty Columbia River seems to have disappeared near Walla Walla and is replaced by numerous much smaller streams, like the Touchet River, a few steps from my campsite.

When I arrived at the hiker/biker campsite, someone was sleeping on the table with a day pack. He didn’t say anything to me and continued sleeping. It looked to me like a day hiker had found a nice place to take a nap. I found a place for my bike and went to take the shower that I badly needed. When I got back, he was awake. I asked did you hike in? He said he was from Waitsburg and had gone for a walk. Then he said we could share. I said do you want any particular spot, and he said he had his spot. I slowly realized that he intended to sleep on the table. Anyway I silently set up my tent. Then, feeling uncomfortable in this walker that would share’s company, went to find a place to write my blog. When cell reception down by the river failed, I decided to hike back up and use the picnic tables by the rest rooms. Anyway, as I walked by the camp, I noticed the walker from Waitsburg was gone. Hopefully he is off to find a different picnic table, or better yet, to go home to be with family.