Riding wise, today was a smaller version of yesterday, which had been a smaller version of the day before. Again, we started out with 10 miles of easy flats down to Waitsburg. Almost immediately out of Waitsburg we split off onto a quiet side road through the wheat fields and started climbing. It was the usual under 5 miles per hour climb, but only for two miles this time. I practiced some deep breathing and was able to make it up with only one break.
Over the other side we had a wonderful sweeping downhill run for several miles. About the point we were thinking maybe it was downhill all the way, we came to another good hill, but only half a mile this time. From there on it was basically a regular up and down over small hills.
The emotional ups and downs involved the bike. Midway through the hills I had another flat. Like the one days earlier, it was not from a puncture, but something down near the rim, perhaps some kind of pinch on the tube. It was getting hot enough that changing the tube was more wearing than usual. It was good to have Corey and Scott there leaning emotional and other support.

First flat

With the flat finally fixed, we headed on. My tire felt funny though, kind of a thump thump feeling. Then, only a few minutes later, another flat! Again, hole in a similar location. I was out of tubes, so we had to patch one of the tubes that had flatted. Fortunately Scott had a patch kit that actually contained patches.

Second flat!

We also spent some time looking at how the tire was seated. Corey had noticed earlier in the trip how my rear tire especially did not seem to seat uniformly. Some parts seemed to fit deeper into the rim than others which meant the tire was not very round, thus the thump thump. We spent some time trying to manipulate the seating to achieve a more uniform shape, which helped, but not completely. I will be visiting a bike shop while in town for new tubes, patch kit, and maybe even new tires.
There were very few cars on this backroad, but I noticed that most that did come along while we were working on the bike stopped to check if we were ok or needed any help. Nice people!

Strange roadside decoration

Gingerly we made it the rest of the way into Walla Walla, hot and thirsty. Scott mentioned milk shakes, which sounded wonderful, so we looked around and found and ice cream shop and all ordered shakes (salted caramel for me). Cooled down, we headed up the street to a brewpub for lunch.

Downtown Walla Walla

After lunch we rode out to College Place to find the Airbnb we have rented for two nights. It is a great little house, much much nicer than a couple hotel rooms. We hid from the heat, reading etc. I was able to pull up the Sounders game on my iPad (thank you YouTubeTV). 3-1 over NYCFC, one of the best games of a dismal season.

GO SOUNDERS!!! At least Mike was wearing the correct colors.

Come evening we still did not want to venture into the heat any more than necessary, but also wanted something better than our emergency supplies, so we managed to Uber into downtown to a very good Indian restaurant.