Day 44 Gee Brief I SMELLED THE OCEAN TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 3
Umatilla, OR to The Dalles, OR
(not just ANY Dalles, but THE Dalles!)

So like I said in the title, I really did smell the ocean today. I'm not talking psychological, get pumped for the big day type stuff. I REALLY smelled it. I was on the Columbia river today for most of the ride. Not really ON it, just south of it, on route 84 which follows it.

Anyway, as I was riding, I realized that the river actually DOES flow into the Pacific, which I could tell by the fact that it was flowing in the same direction as my ride: West. As soon as I noticed that, I started wondering about fresh water verses salt water. I wondered at which point a freshwater river started getting "brackish' because of flowing into the salty ocean. I then wandered off into a train of thought asking myself exactly WHY the ocean is so salty. I realized I had NO IDEA why the ocean is salty, and then right at that moment of un-realization BAM... the smell of ocean hit me right in the face.

Actually, it hit my nose, which is on my face, and guess what? I forgot one major thing about ocean smell.....IT SOMETIMES DOESN'T SMELL GOOD!!!! That's what hit me today: a dead fish, brackish water smelly seagull poop kind of smell.

But it was still the ocean type smell. I got excited, realizing exactly how close I was to Portland, and then the ocean. I started pedaling like a madman. I whoooped like a madman! Any time I saw a car passing by with a bike on it, I whoooped even louder like an even MADDER man!!!  It was AWESOME!!!!!

And then I got another flat. Actually, today I dealt with TWO flats. I'm running out of tubes, down to my last spare. I went through 12 states without ONE flat. Then I hit Washington and I almost can't count how many I've gotten! I think it's around 5. The same thing happened to me when I went from Florida to Rhode Island. I did fine right up until New Jersey, and then BAM! Five flats! Five seems to be the magic number. I'm hoping it will stay that way.

I've got a ton of pics to post and some videos. But tomorrow needs to be an early day to hopefully beat the wind. Perhaps I'll have time when I hit Portland tomorrow. If not, I promise I'll catch up.

I'm not sure what J's plans are, but I definitely plan on doing an Epilogue to this journey.

Peace out for tonight! Ride safe, but RIDE!!!!!