Day 6: A Walk in the park

So after leaving the small town of Coleville I headed east towards the Washington -Idaho border. There were some rolling hills but no more mountains which felt incredible. I was expecting an 80 mile day but it ended up my destination was only 45 miles away, So I posted up in Ione. I found maybe the nicest R.V park that I will come across on this trip, called Cedar R.V Park. The bathroom facility is way nicer than the hotel I stayed at last night. The owner gave me a great place to camp in his back yard area for free, and is letting me use his Internet and lined me up with a cold beer while I am typing this. What a guy! These simple things go along way when you are biking across the country pulling your belongings behind you. I am going to kick my legs up for the rest of the day, and am looking forward to the local Mexican restaurant tonight. Looking forward to a new state tomorrow-- Idaho !

Adam

Miles Today: 45
Miles Total: 404

Day 5: Addios Cascades

Today was the big day. One last big climb and the Cascades are behind me. Out of the town of Republic where I stayed last night I found a dinner about a 1/4 mile from the fairgrounds. I started out the day with a stack of blueberry pancakes and an order of french toast. It turned out to be just what I needed. The climb wasn't very long today but was straight up 3,500 ft in 15 miles. I felt very strong, surprisingly and made it to the top in good time. I spent some time at the top of the pass just hanging out for awhile celebrating finishing the Cascades. The downhill was fast and long but very cold. I dropped into a very ugly storm on the other side of the pass and took refuge in a grocery store for a little while to warm up. Once I reached Colville I decided to get a hotel room which proved to be just what I needed. The thought of setting up camp in a storm after finishing the Cascades did not appeal to me.

Miles today: 50

Total: 359

Day 4 More climbing

Heading out of Omak to Tonaskin I had nice tail winds and flat roads which helped the morale level early in the day. I briefly stopped in Tonaskin to reup on food and get some expresso in me for the climb ahead. Out of Tonaskin there were no breaks until the top of Wauconda Pass which was another big climb. I was contemplating staying in the town of Wauconda overnight but once I arrived there I realized that by town they actually meant a gas station. So I pushed on over Wauconda Pass and had a well needed fun, fast, down hill ride for about 15 miles. I had plenty of time to get things done upon arrival so I found a laundromat, which also had showers. So I was able to clean myself up while my clothes were washing. I found the fairgrounds about 3 miles out of town. I then set up camp quite quickly and made some pasta with alfredo sauce and spent some time looking over the maps. I plan to be into Idaho by day 7 and Montana by day 8.

Miles Today: 60

Miles Total: 309

Day 3 OOPS

So on the last day that I posted my plan I was to shoot up over the pass and directly into the town of Omak for a 50 mile day. One wrong turn, turned into another 92 mile day. Instead of going up and over I accidentally forked the wrong way and ended up going around the pass in a big V shaped route. The ride was fun though. It was slightly downhill with a strong headwind. There were apple orchards everywhere. I ended up getting into camp at around sunset and fell asleep shortly after.

Adam

Miles today: 92
Miles total: 249