After sitting out the rain in the morning I am back on the road by 9:30AM. By noon I reach The Dalles [that I keep mispronouncing "The Dallas" instead of "The Dalls"] where I have some fast food, coffee and stock up on 3-4 days' worth of calories for the next days on the backroads.

I don't really get going and start again late by 2PM. I don't see the need to rush but with the short days this almost certainly means very slow progress. By 3PM I reach my first gravel section. The landscape changed drastically by now. Very dry [I like dry!] bushlands, windy, grey. Like in the movies the first round bushes [still don't know much about plants] pushed by the wind cross the gravel road. Making my first miles on gravel here in the Lower 48 gives me a proper adrenaline rush. I look forward to the next days on the backroads through eastern Oregon.