The week

We have completed about 340 miles of the journey in the first 7 days. The toughest passes are done with three remaining. Tomorrow will have one unnamed pass from Colrville to Iona. It will not be too bad. There is a low pass in the Rockies as we pass south of Glacier National Park. And finally a low pass in the Apalacians.

So this last week we topped 5 passes. We are getting adjusted to being in the saddle for long hours with each day getting better. Surprisingly going downhill also has it's problems. For one, there is the question of stability. I'm not comfortable going more that 30 with these loads. We try to keep it around 20. Believe me, the bike wants to go about 50 down these steep passes.

It's also actually pretty uncomfortable. Hands cramp squeezing the brakes hard enough to slow down. And, there are foot problems. Our feet get really hot and cramped and it is hard to relieve withou stopping and sometimes even taking shoes off for a bit. It is interesting because even going downhill there is always some kind of pressure between foot and pedal.

- Pete

It's been a great week although exhausting at times. We camped 5 nights out of 7. We found many cute little cafes to eat lunch at. We also made friends along the way. We are looking forward to the next week of adventures.

-Alicia

Climb Zone

The hill is steep; the air hot. No breeze; no shade. Granny gear 3.5
mph. Peddle stroke follows peddle stroke. Don't think about how far
away the corner is. Must be 1/2 a mile. Stroke, stroke. Look at the
pavement and gravel passing beneath. Hot. Butt hurts. Hands numb.
Breathing is fine; legs fine. Try to spin those peddles. Stroke,
stroke; on and on. Spinning faster - grade must have lessened - 4.0
mph. Good! Get there faster. It's about the miles - make them go
by. 2.10 miles stroke stroke 2.11. That is only 1 hundredth of a mile.
Don't think about the miles. Look in a while and be happy with half a
mile. Peddle, peddle. Must stop. Urgent relief needed. Bottom aches
too much. Not stopping because of being tired but to relive the
pressure for minute.

Better, that helps. Hard to get started again on the steep slope.
That was only .5 miles!

Peddle, peddle, stroke, stroke. The pass if finally won.

-Pete

Sherman Pass; Colville

We have bested the last of the bad passes. Sherman Pass is the
highest in WA. It was a grind. That was the first 15 miles today.

We went on a total of 55 miles into Colville where we are staying at
the fairgrounds. Turns out fairgrounds usually have camping with
showers at a reasonable rate... $5 for tonight.

It was a hot day. Since it is Sabbath we did not seek relief from
cold drinks or air conditioned restaurants. This raised an
interesting question. How do you find relief from the heat. Well it
turns out that one benefit of cycling is you generate your own
breeze. Getting to camp early is a disincentive as what are you going
to do? Sit around and bake? That is not an exciting prospect. We
rode until we were tired which brought us to Colville.

Alicia was attacked by a black bird today! She was riding alongside a
marsh with tall rushes and she heard this flapping of wings and a
squack in her ear. The shadow showed the bird right at her neck.

Yesterday we met another fellow singly riding west to east and we
mentioned this to him (Chuck Bell). We saw him again this evening.
He recalls this happening to him several times in the past and he too
was attacked today.

I guess the bird knew better than to try any funny stuff with me!! Ha!

Republic

We are in Republic at the Ferry County fairgrounds. They have camping
here.

Tomorrow is Sherman Pass - about 15 miles from the fairgrounds - then
on to Kettle Falls or Coleville.

It is hot here.

-Pete

Wauconda

Wauconda. This is my favorite small town so far. It has everything:
cafe, grocery, gas, post office, and Gatorade. (I must have
Gatorade!!). We drank two camelbacks - 70 ml and 4 20 ounce bottles of
water coming up the hill. We have a couple miles yet to the top.

Tonasket

We have finished our easy ride. We are in Tonasket. This is
Shannons. We will rest our muscles this afternoon.

I'll be off to the library to do some job searching and talk to may
favorite creditors. How fun!!!

We saw quails, sheep, of course cows, and a pheasant.

Alicia at Rainy Pass

This is a couple days back. It is Alicia in full rain gear at the top
of Rainy Pass.

Omak Stampede

We are camped at the Omak Rodeo site. They have some RV and tent
sites, ball fields, etc. It looks like they are setting up a carnival
as well.

In this picture there is a slide area. This is where the Omak
Stampede takes place. During the stampede men and horses plunge off
the cliff into the river below.

Omak

Today we tackled "The Loup" otherwise known as Loup Loup pass. In
some ways this was tougher than yesterday. The climb was 12 miles and
relentlessly uphill. No breaks. We knew it was steep when we looked
back down a straight strech and could not see beyond a 100 yards of
the .5 mile section just finished.

After getting to Okanogan we decided to press on for Omak. Here we
stop. We are going to take a rest day tomorrow and only ride 26 miles
to Tonasket.

-Pete

Colonial Creek, Rainy Pass, Washington Pass, Winthrop

Yesterday we had no signal to provide a blog update.. We rode 46.5
miles from Concete to Colonial Campground. There was a fair bit of
climbing. The weather was nice. This was the last campground before
the passes.

Today dawned with light rain that did not let up all day. It was
quite cold near the passes. We ended up decked out in full rain gear.

After 8 hours of hard climbing we reached Washington Pass. 28 miles
to Rainy Pass then another 5 to Washington Pass.

From there we bombed downhill 31 miles to Winthrop. Today was a 65
mile day. We met a local developer who let us set up camp in his back
yard.

Tomorrow it is loup loup pass and on to Tonasket (probably).

We've Arrived in Beautiful Concrete

We have made it. We are stoking up on vital nutrion to try and coax
our bodies to drag us to a campsite... Reesers, ice cream cookies and
Gatorade (which Alicia won't touch).

We are done for the day...

60 miles.

Later!

Sedro Woolley

Well, here we are. 32 miles. We are taking a good break then will press on to Concerte for a 60 mile day. It is breezy and 70. A bunch of bikers (motor) are in town.

The start

Here we are at Washington park near the ferry where we have our bike
tires in the waters of Puget Sound.

The weather is great. About 55 degrees, no wind, time 10:30am.

Off we go!!!