Christmas in July has come and gone, and what a day we had!  We traveled from Umatilla, OR to Biggs, OR.  As we trekked 87 miles to our campground we hit forceful headwinds and hot desert heat but it couldn't stop us from enjoying our ride.

Today we hit more road construction being once again piloted 7 miles out of the gravel and newly paved asphalt.  Although we got a ride, the roads were still bumpy which in turn affected our speed in journey.  Some of the riders were able to beat the afternoon heat with another swimming adventure at Lake Umatilla in Roosevelt.  However, following the swim we climbed out of the river valley to even stronger headwinds and a challenging climb.  As we neared the top of the hill, we found our teammates tangled in blackberry brambles!!  What a delicious surprise, a perfect reward for the effort it took to make it up the hill.  A few of us even filled up spare water bottles with fresh picked blackberries.

As we arrrived to Merryhill State Park which was actually on the Washington side of the river, we began our Christmas celebrations.  An amazing meal was cooked by Ben and John filled with lots of veggies, rice and potatoes.  Afterwards we gathered around the pine tree where our secret santa gifts were piled high, and revealed our roadside ($5 budget) finds.  We then wrapped up the night with the campfire staple...S'MORES!!