Another big ecosystem change today. After about 15mi along the Columbia, we turned north for a gentle but steady (only ~2%, but it continued for about 20mi) climb into farmland, mainly wheat, corn and onions. it's pretty in an America the Beautiful amber waves of grain kind of way, but a day or two of endless wheat fields will be enough. The last 4 miles were a sharp drop into the Yakima valley. We got a relatively early start (8am) because this will be the hottest day of the trip. Although not that hot for out here, this afternoon will still be well in the 90s, so it was good to get the riding done by lunch. The roads were fine. We had to deal with a bit of road construction on the highway along the Columbia, then 14mi north on a country highway with a decent shoulder and light (but mostly truck) traffic. We then turned west then again north on nice country roads with zero traffic before rejoining the highway for several miles of 6% downhill into Prosser.