Days 7 & 8: 33 and 41 miles

Well, I said that the previous few days were the toughest. It just got harder. Until today, I have ridden in the rain for four days straight, and yesterday at the summit of the climb over Santiam Pass, it was sleeting! I wish it had not been raining so much, because there were some cool things to take pictures of.... The Cascade Range has over a hundred volcanic peaks, so there are these lava fields above 4000 feet that look like the moon. Nothing growing, just hundreds of yards of black rocks! The other thing about the Cascades, one I'm VERY thankful for now, is that they block that "liquid sunshine" from the coast. Riding down the eastern slope of the mountains was like that part in Who framed Roger Rabbit where the guy goes through the tunnel to Toontown, and things dramatically change. The sun comes out; the birds start singing! I was singing, too! Thankful for a chance to dry out. I'm excited for the next several hundred miles -- I looked at the climate data for the ride up until the Plains, and I won't go through any more areas with that much annual rainfall!!! Hopefully, it'll mean I have some pictures, too.