Waitsburg, WA Father's Day

Waitsburg, WA. Sunday, June 20
Today was another cool and cloudy day. Fortunately we did not find any rain; however we did have another day of a strong assist from the wind.
Although we have had other days of climbing, today's climbing was longer and generally more gradual (we did have a few short steep hills to
overcome) which resulted in net elevation gain as we moved from 500' to 2000'. In all we pedaled 55 miles. It was an appropriate mileage for the day given our past two days and the 70 mile challenge that awaits us tomorrow.
The ride today was a story of two tales. For the first 30 miles we
pedaled through WA wine country while traveling on the shoulder of busy US
12 (I would not like to travel along this road on a weekday). Beyond the winery, the route was as flat as an inclined board. From Walla Walla, to Waitsburg, we took a back road filled with long climbs through mounding wheat friends. It was very rustic and beautiful capped by a 2 mile decent into Waitsburg.
We have ended our day at Lewis and Clark State Park - a small, but quaint park well suited for our needs and vastly superior over the 'dump' that we stayed last night. Our camp site is close to a clear, rapidly moving stream hidden from both site and sound from the road. The babling stream should be very soothing to sleep by tonight.
Here we also caught up with two other college students riding across the country. We had heard of these two when we overnighted in Roosevelt; however, we had also been told that they were moving at a very good clip and that we would likely not see them. I guess 18 flats in one day will slow you down. Their goal is to average 80 miles per day. I'd say that is a very big challenge given the mountains ahead.
Today is also Father's Day. Andrea surprised me with a card at our first stop this morning. I had forgotten what day it was. I almost had a similar experience yesterday with respect to my wedding anniversary.
Fortunately, I didn't forget that one. When one is out on the road like we are it is very easy to forget the day or events given the focus on the challenge at hand.
Despite a rough start, things seem to be going smoothly. We are getting into a routine. Our starts are a little bit earlier - they could still be better - neither Andrea or Alex are early risers. Generally, I have to cool my heels for about an hour in the morning before they even begin to move.
In all it has been a good day. Unfortunately the forecast for tomorrow is rain all day. Bummer.