You are now traveling through what is naturally a desert. Where the land is not irrigated, you'll see stretches of sagebrush, scrub, dry grass and stone. However, water pumped (with the help of tax money) from the Columbia River is used to irrigate large fields throughout this region, growing all sorts of produce. In the summer, you may notice a whiff of mint growing in one field, onions in another. You may also see teams of mostly Mexican-American migrant laborers at work in the fields.

The technology that makes this all work is center-pivot irrigation, in which an enormous pipe sweeps a huge watered circle in the middle of the desert. If you look down from a plane, the patterns that result are quite striking; but they're not so obvious from the highway.

On the way to Othello one farmer has planted the otherwise wasted corners of his field with a crop of trees, planted in a neat pattern. The result looks like a work of outdoor "site art." Note a second crop of conifers interplanted which will replace the larger trees when they're harvested.

Othello itself offers standard popular fast-food outlets plus some local Mexican restaurants, and gas.