Day 2: Good morning!!!! Check out this sunrise shot from the desert. I slept under a small bridge last night, with the moon shining bright. I woke up at 5am to see the most stars in the sky I have ever seen. Yesterday I rode 32 miles, the toughest terrain that I actually had to walk at least 5 miles. Off to find somewhere to charge my battery. I need to invest in more of them I think. Also get ready for some of the most beautiful pictures I have ever taken, it’s another world out here.

BFE off the Iron Horse Trail-Vantage with a drive over the bridge up the hill to Moses Lake, 38 miles, 7 hrs.
Woke up at 5am thinking I’d get an early start but I was struck still for over thirty minutes looking at the beautiful stars that covered the entire big sky. I have never seen so many stars. I felt well rested too which was a plus since I’ve never slept under a bridge before! I was thinking of making oatmeal for breakfast but I was so anxious to get to the Columbia River I decided to skip a hot meal and just get packed up fast so I can make it to the river for breakfast. The sunrise stopped me too, so bright and beautiful. Something about being out in the middle of nowhere really slows you down to smell life. It was hard dodging rocks with the sun blinding me, I almost fell over my handle bars and I popped something in my wrist from breaking so hard before running into a rather large rock in the middle of the trail. I decided to walk some just because my left hand went completely numb. After seeing a town in the distance I decided to stray off the trail onto a packed gravel road that led to a locked gate and an electronic fence. I was on the inside? Only thing to do was slide my bike under the fence didn’t think then that I’d do that two more times. I got on an actual road though! Flew down a nice winding hill as I desperately found out the town I was seeing was on the other side of the river, just my luck my phone dies but I see a bridge! I cycle up to an older man about to jump in a car and say hello, he says hola and I knew then I really need to know better Spanish! Luckily his son was in the car and could speak English, I asked him about the bridge and how to get there. He says right here is an Orchard and I’d have to go back up the hill onto the trail but the bridge is passable. So I do just that, except to find a huge No Trespassing sign and another locked fence with no room to slide my bike under. I find a cut hole in the wire fence next to the gate and decide to just go. So I slide Surly through and jump the gate. I ride up to the river and the beginning of the actual bridge, it was an old train track. There was no way to pass this 12ft gate that wrapped out over the water. So I had to turn around. I’ve now had to backtrack 6 miles! I snuck through the northern part of the orchard knowing good well I wasn’t supposed to be here. Got back on the road and headed south with the Orchard and river on my east side and a huge mountain side of military reservation on my west side. I went as far as I could until the road forked. The road I was supposed to get on was completely closed, even the trail. At this point I couldn’t help but get down on myself, what the heck was I doing out here! I have no clue where I’m going and now my camelback is empty. I’m worried about trespassing again and running out of water. The other road led to Auvil Food Inc main office, the orchard I was riding by was over 1, 000 acres! I turned into the main office hoping for the best and the ladies I met were very nice and friendly. I was able to charge my phone and refocus. Also got to eat finally, I had an almost bad avocado and onion on the last of my Dave’s killer bread. Refueling was just what I needed. One of the ladies handed me a pear and it was the juiciest pear I’ve ever eaten. Thank you to Auvil Food Inc for letting me know about how many more closed roads Id run into if I went down the trail more. The only way to cross the bridge was by Vantage, the I-90 bridge. So I headed north now and made it there, asked about the bridge but no one in that town seemed to know. I searched online and found it was legal to bike across but not advised because the shoulder becomes nonexistent on the bridge. I then decided to try to get a ride across. I stood out by the interstate for an hour till a man named Brian asked if I needed to get across and then he convinces me I should get a ride to Moses Lake instead of just across. But he can’t take me right then, he gives me his number and says to call him in two hours he’ll be back. So I kicked rocks for two hours and thought about crazy ideas to get across this damn river. I thought I could go back towards Ellensburg and head north to Wenatchee, what I should have done in the beginning. But then I called him and he said his friend was going to come pick me up. He did with his wife and shortly we were headed across. I got dropped off in Moses Lake and checked into a motel for the night. I was emotionally drained from defeat. Bought a bottle of wine, some cheese and crackers and sat and thought about the next few days. I needed not be upset, this was my journey, I make it how I like.