Today I continued the fight against the winds in the Columbia River corridor. The scale of everything here is extreme. The river is wide, the winds are strong, the cliffs on both sides are menacing, and the highway, sandwiched between the railroad line and the cliffs, is long, and rather dull.
It reminds me a bit of the large flatlands I passed through, where there's a town with a gas station every 50km or so, meaning I can take a break every two and a half to three hours. Here, there's a small town every 30km or so, which, thanks to the winds, means I can take a break every three hours.
There's not much here in terms of people or places. Just a windy corridor carved by a river, and I'm so so so glad that I gave myself the appropriate time window to pass through it stresslessly.
Today, most of what went through my mind was preparation for the next two days. There's the physical aspect, of biking enough to make it to Portland on time, but there's also the mental aspect of changing gears. I've got mathcamp classes to prepare, forms to fill out, clothes to buy, blogs to write, and all of this needs to be planned before I even know what my room looks like. I've closed my life for two months, and now it's time to reopen it.
I'm about an hour's drive away from Portland. If I wanted to, I could probably order a pizza from there and have it be delivered to me here. I'm reminded of the scene from Lawrence of Arabia, where a messenger brings fresh grapes from Aqaba to demonstrate just how close they are. At the start of the ride, I felt silly that I was so geared up and exhausted after just barely making it out of the suburbs of Miami. I felt silly when everyone around me was also from Miami, and were heading back home that evening. Now, I feel silly because everyone around me is from Portland. Ok, not everyone, but I can tell that these small town rest stops are frequented by city folk out for a few days vacation.
I've been in this "almost but not quite there" situation before. The most memorable case that comes to mind is the end of high school. No matter what the scenario, I oftentimes just have the restless feeling of wanting my status to already change. I hate the anticipation of "almost but not quite there," where my brain is already trying to adjust to the big change. It's been a long time coming, and every day I say goodbye to something else. On Day 52, I said goodbye to the large uphill climbs. On Day 53, I said goodbye to the dry plains. Today is probably my last day camping, and I'm saying goodbye to that. Tomorrow is the last day of the usual routine.
Tomorrow, I will also say goodbye to the wind.
Today I biked for 63km over the course of four and a half hours.