Cache Creek to Savona (known locally as Sa-va-nah)

July 4 - Thursday and Independence Day 

Notice the windbreaker. Its been several days since it has been outside the pannier. However, Donna didn't need it for very long.

Our legs are thanking us for the short day yesterday as we have a hill right out of town. It is another mild, clear morning which we fully appreciate after the earlier-in-the-week hotness.

Speedy Gonzales or just a slow shutter speed?

The frost cracks are reminding us of Nebraska though these are a little smoother. They are a good comfort test for Doug and his new aluminum frame bike. Imagine a bump every 3 seconds.

We stopped to take pictures and the young women in the Road Maintenance truck offered to take our picture. Thank you!

As in Eastern Oregon, irrigation water makes all the difference. We aren't sure what the blackness is in the distance.

Up close we realize it is shade cloth. A nearby sign leads us to believe that it is ginseng.

There is a trading post hiding in here somewhere.

Meet Barrie. He verified that the crop we saw is indeed ginseng. It was a big money-maker here for awhile but the Chinese market has dried up recently. Barrie is a snowbird that spends his winters in Yuma and was full of local knowledge and good cheer. He lives in Savona and was so kind as to gently correct our very Spanish-like pronunciation of the town's name.

Taking in some of the history of the First Nations tribe that runs the Big Sky gas station where we had just met Barrie.

This is a good sign!

And here is the hill. It's going to be a fast one.

The 2nd 8% grade of the day took us down across the river to Kamloops Lake and Savona.

Steelhead Provincial Park is our home for the night. They put us in a very shady spot for half price, which was much appreciated.

This is the best chain tattoo that Donna has ever had.

Lunch found us at the Robin's Roost Pub - appropriate don't you think?

The portions were HUGE!

We took half the onion rings back to camp to have with our dinner.

This meal called for an afternoon nap.

The campground is located on a historic ranch site.

We had time to do some photo sorting in preparation for catching up on the blog when we next have Wifi service. The long sleeves are to ward off the numerous bugs. Our sound of the day was 2 branches rubbing together which sounded like a squirrel behind our tent  . We were glad the wind died at sunset. It still wasn't dark when we went to bed at 10:00.