Neeca dedicated the ride today to her high school security guard. She found out recently that she died of pancreatic cancer.Yesterday we rode 85 miles from Umatilla to Hook River State Park, and it was an extremely hard day filled with climbing and headwinds through a river gorge surrounded by yellow hills. It seemed that wind was characteristic of the area since the door of a convenience store we stopped in said “pull close if extremely windy”. To break up the long day we had 4 rest stops since the headwinds were so hard. Also groups split up leading into 3 mile interval pulls. Everyone was glad to be done with the day once we got back to the campsite at a staggering 8 PM. By the end of the day, fellow van driver Rebecca and I had spent 14 hours in the car after a brief stint waiting for some riders cuts to be bandaged in a local clinic. However, the stars yesterday night were the brightest that we have seen on the trip and Nick Nodus and Analisa and I even saw a shooting star as we lay out before we went to sleep.Today was infinitely better with only 55 miles, barely any headwinds and perfect crisp breeze. Since we were all so exhausted from yesterday’s ride, we took over a McDonalds for lunch, obviously using the McDonald’s app to get the best deals (major i4k key). We rode into Hood River Oregon, and it is absolutely beautiful. For me, it is one of my favorite cities we have visited. With views of snow capped Hood Mountain, a river dotted with wind surfers, hilltop lookout points, and tons of bikers and breweries (for the 21+ crew) we all are impressed with Hood River so far.Making a decision on which state is the best is going to be very tricky in the end.We all can’t wait for Portland tomorrowMB