Day 3, Vantage to Odessa, 82.5 miles, Tailwind, what tailwind?

Best:  Once again, the Huckleberry milk shake in Odessa.  This time including onion rings.

Worst:  The advertised tailwind was actually a headwind.

Most Unexpected:  Rode most of the day with the strong riders.

Last night we ate at the restaurant at Vantage and had a chicken boob with a heart attack topping consisting of some kind of sauce (maybe in your dreams you could call it hollondaise), cheese, and bacon.  No Dessert so I had to buy a candy bar, a Twix.  Unfortunately it was peanut butter not the caramel flavor I wanted.  I suffered through it, and then had a perfectly cooked marshmallow at Terry's dad RV site.

Tremendous winds through the night kept the tent shaking and gave me a nice foot massage.  I actually slept really well.  We had breakfast at the same restaurant as last night and had the heart attack special which was scrambled eggs with cheese on top, potatoes, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, and green peppers.  We crossed the bridge across the Columbia river where the water level is down 39 feet due to the dam failure downstream.  The businesses are really suffering in Vantage and they were sure happy to serve us our cholesterol raising food.

Crossing the bridge in a tight group with a car in front and a van behind so we wouldn't become a truck ornament.  Unfortunately the lead vehicle was up to 18 mph which spread out the riders and made it possible for a car to get in the midst of the riders.  It didn't happen thankfully.  

The wind was supposed to be a tailwind, which I think means from behind you.  I guess my tail is in front because that is where the wind was for 40 miles, and then it became reasonable.  The landscape is fairly barren with occaisional bursts of beauty.  I rode in my first paceline for the first 40 miles with two other riders, then we became a group of 5.  Unfortunately my legs are the weakest of the group, so I had to bail out and slow down so I wouldn't miss the scenery (okay, I just wasn't fast enough)  Eventually a couple of the other riders slowed down and I caught and rode with them before getting dropped with a couple of miles to go.  They didn't fall for the old naked ladies in the forest that worked last time.

We went to the local diner and I had a huckleberry milk shake, onion rings, and a large pepsi and felt human again.  The shower definately helped as I sure didn't smell like a human.  Pictures below. Note the beauty of our rest stop showing three bikes on the ground.