It was pretty cool last night and I slept so well I didn't want to get up. But once the sun shined on my tent I had to get up. Still, I got better sleep than the previous two nights. I had a long, hard walk back to the road from my campsite. I had walked to the nearest tree, across a plain filled with short, ankle high shrubs. Easy. Except there were baby head sized volcanic rocks littering the landscape, which made walking the bike difficult. And then I had to lift the bike over the fence. Thankfully it wasn't barbed wire. I hopped over as well and went on my way. The wind shifted today to north-northeast, from west yesterday. I grumbled about it but had hopes it would turn around. I rolled into Bickleton in only a few miles. I was unsure if it would have anything other than a few houses. But it actually had a little cafe and grocery store. It was the area's social spot and I talked to a local after purchasing a few snacks and a Dr Pepper, who was very impressed with my trip and gave me some pointers on what roads to take. I'm used to that by now so I thanked him and went on my way. I followed the mostly deserted little highway for a bit longer and then turned off onto gravel for good. I descended very gradually for a long time but then faced a long gradual uphill with a pretty strong crosswind from the north. No smoke in the air again today, which I consider a blessing. The landscape changed from sparse, dry forest to vast open fields of harvested wheat that pretty much went on the rest of the way into Richland. After an eternity of loose gravel riding and battling the wind, I dropped down into a valley through a steep canyon on a smooth, packed dirt road which allowed me to really fly. I crossed the interstate, and a brand new gas station not on the satellite yet appeared, so I stopped and I got an Icee for the first time in longer than I can remember. There was even a shaded picnic table where I took my time enjoying it. The day was already pretty hot. I continued on, successfully made my way past road construction, made my way through some new retail sprawl on a bike path, and eventually found my way to a park where I was supposed to follow some trails to get to the next bike path. I met a local named John who gave me tips and answered my questions about my upcoming route. He said that the Columbia Plateau trail was really rough except for two short sections and the rest was still big rocks, railroad ballast. Pretty much hell for riding with tires less than 4" wide. So I will probably have to bypass most of it on the parallel road. I rode a lovely path afterwards on the north side of the Columbia river into Pasco, and decided to get off at 20th ave. There was a nice new looking path connection to the street. It was slightly downhill so I was rolling at a decent clip. Suddenly at the absolute last second I saw that there was a huge gap between the pavement and a brand new sidewalk. I barely managed to stop in time. If I had ran over it, both my rims would most likely have been toast. There was no warning or cones or anything. I may have been able to bunny hop it but my brakes did their job. I lifted the bike over, cursing at the town, and then rode over to Albertsons. I fueled up and decided to get some fast food. It was rush hour traffic but I figured the restaurants would be mostly free. Tried the Burger King but it had no inside dining, of course. Went to the Subway instead, and despite their being only one person in front of me, and FOUR employees there, it took 30 minutes to actually get a sandwich. I've been to some slow Subways and I try to give them the benefit of the doubt but this place was just terrible. I rolled out of town on my route which included a scary little tunnel underneath the railroad, but I emerged fine, but not without a lot of effort to keep up with the car just in front of me. I crossed the interstate, rode down a highway with a decent shoulder, and descended to the Snake river. This was where I was supposed to meetup with the Columbia Plateau trail. I rolled into a little park with a boat ramp operated by the Army Corp. I went down a little ways and the sagebrush is almost treelike it's so big, so I wandered into the middle of the thicket and decided to camp here. There's a huge apple farm just up the hill. The field right above me is completely covered with netting to keep out the bugs. There's a huge spider on every bush(I've tried not to bother them). And there are gnats for the first time since Mississippi. But it's quiet and once the sun goes down should be pretty nice.