July 12, 2019 – day 10.
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A cyclist had earlier warned me to prepare for disappointment on the so-called Great American Rail-Trail Washington State.
And I was disappointed today.
Twice I was turned back at points on the where bridges were impassable. You can see where I backtrack on my route video.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
My first roadblock came right at the beginning of the day. The bridge over the I-90 was out.
Without hopping fences that meant a 6 mile detour. But a detour including coffee and bacon on a stick!
Farm country has a lot of fences. And other impediments to cycling.
On the other side of the bridge the GART continues on to Army land — Joint Base Lewis McChord. It did not look welcoming. One tunnel MIGHT be closed on that 22 mile section.
I decided, instead, to detour via the I-90 stopping at the Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility.
The I-90 is not all that bad. It has a very wide shoulder.
Once reaching the gorgeous Columbia River I tried to rejoin the Great American Rail-Trail.
Once again, no go. The bridge over the river was out. 😕
I backtracked again now forced to cross the Columbia on the I-90. Not good. There is no shoulder at all crossing the bridge.
Look — the railstotrails.org website is lousy. Not up-to-date.
Not having their own app they rely instead on TrailLink, also lousy.
The Great American Rail-Trail is more of a concept than a thing.
I decide to skip the next section as well trying to resume (last chance GART) at Warden past Moses Lake.
I road the service roads beside the I-90 freeway. Not much shoulder but hardly any traffic.
By the way, there is a town called George, Washington.
This is lush cropland. Lots of potatoes. Lots of corn.
This was my longest, hottest day so far. On a whim I decided to get a cheap motel in Moses Lake.
For dinner I followed the crowd over to Chevron.
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