Friends!

I last left off at parting ways with Grant! It was such a wonderful, albeit brief, time biking with him and I hope our paths cross again at some point! After Twisp, I head over 3 mountain passes in 3 days. The first one was Loup Loup, which led me into Tonasket where I set up camp behind their visitor information building. 

There was a sign on the lawn warning campers that the sprinkler system would come on at 9am. I figured I had plenty of time to pack up and get out of there by then. Oh boy! Was I wrong!! Instead of turning on at 9, like the sign said, I was suddenly awake at 4am with the loud pellets of sprinkler water pounding against my tent. They turned off after about 20 minutes. And then on again at 5! Not the best night of sleep (a man also walked by my tent around 1:30 mumbling something about trying to find a place to sit where there was no smoke), but I still got up on schedule to head over the second mountain pass- Wauconda. This one was super pleasant and the weather was really nice as I pedaled up to the old mining town. 

I rolled into Republic around 3 or 4, anticipating getting a snack and then heading over to my warm showers host’s home. However, sitting outside of the local food co op I started chatting with another biker who had passed me on the way up Loup Loup two days ago. Him and two of his buddies are biking the northern tier as a group and one of their sister’s is driving a support van so that they can crush it all the way across the country. Dave, the gentleman that I was talking to, is from Keene, New Hampshire, just a hop, skip, and a jump from where I’ve spent many many summers and from the mountains I learned to ski on. What a small world!

I told him the macaroons inside were incredible and then hopped back on my bike to head over to my host for the night. Patty and Rob had informed me that there were two other ladies staying with them and when I rocked up these two chicks were so excited to meet me (as was I!). Alex and June are two UConn med students biking across the country and raising money for a local organization that provides free summer camp activities to kids with serious illnesses. Students from their school have been doing this for over a decade and it seems like it’s a really great tradition! They have notes on where to stay and what alternate routes to take from previous groups, which is gold! 

After a night of delicious food, a soak in the hot tub and a long sit in their marvelous massage chair, we all went to bed for a long day going over Sherman Pass the next day. We hoofed it on up and had a yummy lunch just over the top. We spent the night at Kettle Falls on the Columbia River. I’d originally planned to stay at a bike hostel maybe 10 or 15 miles farther down the road, but I was pretty beat and decided that I would stay with my new friends for the night and continue riding with them. Our campsite neighbors offered to cook us food and give us showers in their RV. Miriam and Karen are two sisters that seem to have led incredible lives. We chatted with them and their husbands over a delicious dinner of pasta, homemade bread, veggies, and salad. They told us about their families and all the adventures they’ve been on and the ones they hope to go on in the future. 

They told us they’d give us some cookies too once they were finished baking, but I fell fast asleep long before then. I went into my tent to blow up my pad and rest a little, but passed out underneath my pad instead of on top of it! In the morning Miriam was walking to the bathrooms to blow dry her hair and told us that she’d hungry back to the RV to whip us up some pack lunches for the road! What an incredible woman- she handed each of us ziplock baggies with beans, cheese, and tortillas for wraps and chips and snack bars for munching on!

We rolled out of Kettle Falls to head into Colville to check out their bike shop and do some restocking at Walmart. The bike shop was entirely unhelpful- Alex has been experiencing a lot of hand pain and was hoping to get a higher stem put on her frame so that she could relieve some of the pressure. But they didn’t really have anything for us. We went on over to the Walmart where I got a pair of hot pink shorts that cover more of my legs so I won’t get so sunburnt. We continued on and I decided to spend the night at Leo Lake, just before Tiger and Ione. My gal pals continued on to Ione so that the following day wouldn’t be so long for them. I wa planning on taking a rest day at Leo Lake instead of continuing on with them, but hopefully be able to catch up once in Sandpoint, ID. 

There were no sites when I got there, but a very kind couple allowed me to set up my tent on the outskirts of their site because they were staying in their camper. They also let me store all my “smellies” in their vehicle because there were no bear boxes or suitable tree limbs for a bear hang. I slept like a rock that night and was somewhat looking forward to my rest day on the lake. 

One week

Holy moly! Biking is fun...too fun?? Nah, no way! I had to force myself to take a day off. My body feels good, but I figured it was probably the healthy thing to do. Unfortunately, I picked a spot that had no cell service and the parents got worried (I feel so terrible). They called all the local hospitals and police departments to see if anyone had seen me. An officer came round the campground at around noon looking for me and was able to call my dad back when he rode into town, back to service. The next morning I called my dad as soon as I got down the hill into town, just sobbing. 

Outside of that situation, I've been having a great time. I had such a blast riding through Washington and would love to come back sometime soon to visit the Cascades and do some hiking- what a beautiful area! I did my first 100 mile day yesterday and felt really good and really strong the whole way through. I chose a predominantly flat day, so that I wouldn't tire myself out too too quickly. However, I was insanely bored for about the last 20 miles and was stoked when I reached a bike path and bridge into Sandpoint for some change of scenery. 

After that ride, I think I finally understand why people wear bike shorts. Once in town, I popped into a gas station to pee and I looked at my ass in the mirror and there was a big fat red imprint of my seat on my butt. I think I'm going to keep riding for a little bit longer without shorts and if it continues to bother me I'll pick up some lightly padded bike shorts in White Fish.

It's starting to get really hot too. The little bits of skin that poke out from my shorts above the knee quickly turn pink under the beating sun. No mater how much sunscreen I put on I am still getting burnt. I may have to alternate shorts and pants to keep my legs happy and my skin healthy.

Since this is my first post, I'll recap what's happened since I started my ride! I met my friend Joe in Seattle and he miraculously made all the logistics work out that he could join me for three days, get us a ride to Anacortes on a Friday and a ride for him back to Seattle from Mazama on a Sunday. What a hero! He made the first three rainy days very enjoyable. Every time I eat an apple from now on I will think of Joe sitting at the picnic table after our first day out saying, "This is the best apple I've ever had!" He'd teased me a little earlier for bringing apples, saying that they're heavy and he didn't really like them all that much. Going over Washington Pass on our third day was a feat. But we lucked out with some cool (and rainy) weather. I think I would have been miserable if it'd been sunny that day. It was a whole lot of climbing!

We got down to Mazama after the most epic downhill in time to drink a beer and meet his friends for the pickup. I then ate an entire bag of potato chips and made my way to my campsite all by my lonesome. I set up my tent, stuck my feet in a nearby river, and then promptly fell asleep for a nice afternoon nap. I woke up and got out of my tent to walk around and stretch the legs and found Grant! Another biker we had chanced upon at our first campground and then happened to be at the same one again the following night. We chatted for a bit and then I went back to sleep because my stomach was bothering me from all the chips (this may become a theme). 

In the morning Grant and I started to say our goodbyes, but then realized we were headed in the same direction! We decided to meet in Mazama, just 2 miles down the road, to make our plan for the day. We figured it'd be a chill day and we could bike to Twisp and stay at a Warm Showers for our last night on the same route- Grant was going to start heading to Rainer. We stopped in Winthrop to get some ice cream, drink some beers, and try on some funky hats in between. It was really a lovely day! 

We headed into Twisp to do some laundry and grocery shopping. Hank's is without a doubt the weirdest grocery store I've ever been to. It had all these taxidermied animals up above the frozen food aisles...super bizzare. After, we went over to our Warm Showers host, Ben's, home. He had purchased an old motel/diner about a year ago and is working on renovating it into something probably very cool.  

This post is getting long, and I should probably finish running errands while I'm in a bigger town. But I'll continue the recap and hopefully get up to current soon!