Day 59

 74 miles
My alarm went off early. Lily heard it, and talked from her tent. She told me she had a terrible headache and maybe we could sleep a bit longer. I was happy to oblige. I got up around 8. I checked on Lily. I dug out my headache medicine to help ease her migraine. I ate and packed up slow. Lily told me I didn't need to wait on her. But that seemed silly. It was almost 10 when Lily finally felt ready to set out for the day.
It was warming up quickly but the air was dry.  The first few miles didn't involve much climbing. When the climbing started Lily was only a little bit ahead of me. But I caught up to her. She was pulled off the road. Juno had a flat. What a morning for her! I waited until she had it patched and was getting her wheel back on before I set back up the mountain. She still beat me to the top. I wasn't far behind this time. This climb wasn't bad. It went fairly quickly. My visit to Wauconda Pass was brief. At 4310 ft elevation it was the easiest pass I would ride. We started down the mountain. There was quite a bit of wind. We stopped by a small store/cafe a bit past the pass.We ate a long lunch there. Lily was feeling better but still felt the affects of her migraine. I could relate.
We continued down the mountain. The scenery was great. It varied from desert to plains to rocky peaks. There were lots of abandon homes and farms. The landscape lent more to the "Old West" feel that I had been experiencing. I never realized how "Old West" Washington was. I enjoyed some great downhill. It was curvy and fast. It was almost like a really long roller-coaster. I grinned the whole way. I took the lane when I could and enjoyed the pedal free ride.
The town at the bottom offered another short stop. I enjoyed a sugary soda. Yum. I don't care if it's commercial and cliche. There is nothing like an ice cold Coca-Cola after a long ride. So refreshing. We decided to keep riding. We had a small tail wind.
The scenery provided more desert landscape and towering hills. I enjoyed the view thoroughly. The road was freshly paved. But there were tires blown and strewn about everywhere. I passed the town of Omak. It was busy as the local tradition of the Omak Stampede was going on. There was lots of camping, but it was full up and looked pretty rowdy. I continued on. Lily slowed down and we started looking for a place in the next town. We had heard that there was free camping in the next town. We asked a local and he directed us to go into town and across the river. This seemed reasonable. We set out. Before rolling into town I had to get off the bike. I had a flat. I couldn't help but laugh. Upstate always had to do what Juno did. I decided to just walk the two miles to the park instead of changing the tire along the way. Lily offered to walk with me. But I thought it was silly. She eventually rode on. I ran into my Dutch friends and spoke to them a bit. They pointed me to the park. When I finally arrived at the park Lily was all set up. She was sitting at the picnic table with her patch kit ready. To repay me for being so kind in the morning when she had her migraine she wanted to repair my tire for me. I wasn't going to complain. However, the inner tube had not one hole, but two. This meant that after the repair we both were without patches. We were three days from the coast. What were the chances of another flat anyway? I thanked Lily repeatedly.
As the sun set there was also a storm in the distance. This of course made a rainbow. It was an incredibly bright rainbow. The angle of the setting sun made it look like the rainbow was shooting straight out of the mountain over yonder. It was a beautiful ending to the day.

Day 58

 48 Miles
My alarm went off early. I woke Lily up and we got ready. I was quite excited. I was going to climb a mountain with my bike! We were the first of the cyclists that had camped in the park to leave. The ride started with a brief downhill. Then it was all uphill. I didn't mind the ride.  The mountain was wooded and I enjoyed the shade. There was a slight breeze between the trees. I liked the smell of woods and there were plenty of babbling mountain brooks to appease my ears. The logging trucks increased as I climbed. This was of course because the logging roads increased higher up the mountain. I couldn't really hear the trucks until they were almost next to me. I could feel them right before they rattled next to me.Then I left the smell of wet cedar wafting behind them. There was a tinge of orange to the aroma.
  I was doing pretty well. I'd been riding uphill nearly an hour. I thought I must have been getting close to the top. I wasn't. I was about 9 miles into my ride. I saw a sign for deer for the next 7 miles. The top had to be there. My calculations were still off. There were pull-offs for slower traffic. Did you know it is illegal to hold up more than 5 cars in traffic in Washington state? It is apparently so.
About 20 miles into my ride, still climbing mind you, I spotted in my rear view mirror a speck, a yellow speck. The yellow speck was catching up to me. It was Joe climbing the hill at pace slightly faster than mine. This was good incentive for me to just keep pedaling. Sometimes I sang to myself "Just keep pedaling. Just keep pedaling." I wanted to make it to the top before Joe. It was a bit of a pride thing. I wanted to keep up my pace. I didn't want to stop pedaling. I didn't want to stop at all.
At about 26 miles there was an overlook. I opted against pedaling to it. It was straight on to the summit for me.
I made it to the pull off at the summit. It was cold up there. I pulled out my long sleeve button up. Lily wasn't at the summit. It took me almost 4 hours to climb the 26 miles. My pace was slow to say the least. I wondered where Lily was. Maybe she was at the overlook. I wasn't going to ride down just to ride back up again, even if it was only about a quarter of a mile. I ate and read the historical facts about the region.
Eventually Lily rode up. She had been at the overlook waiting for me.
We took pictures of each other next to the Sherman Pass sign. After another quick snack we set off down the mountain. I wasn't far behind Lily; at 30+ mph I really had no reason to be. The curves were fun and I raced down the mountain grinning. The views were gorgeous. I pulled off at one of the overlooks. The area I was looking at had been devastated by forest fires in the 80s. It was a sad sight, but beautiful just the same. I rode a little slower down the mountain taking it all in.
At the bottom of the mountain was a cute little town with a genuine western feel. I couldn't find Lily at the usual stops. The convenience stores were void of her and Juno. After riding up and down the main strip once or twice I decided to stop moving. Then I saw the library. Of course, that's where she'd be! She was. After she finished at the library we went and did laundry. It was a tiny laundromat with no coin machine or soap vending. We used camp soap, put our quarters together, and did a load of laundry. My clothes smelled like peppermint.

I had made it to town before 2 pm. A short day was in order. We heard about free camping in this town. So we looked around. We found a park. It was busy, but there was a pavilion. The sun was hot. Lily seemed out of sorts and grumpy. I was still pumped from the ride. I suggested maybe getting a pizza or something. It meant no cooking. We deserved a treat. We crossed a freaking mountain! So we got a pizza. And we ate all of it.
Lily still a bit out of it went in search of ice cream. She came back without ice cream and with information. We were not at the park that had free camping. That park was really the fairgrounds about 2 miles back from where we'd come. Reluctantly, we rode back the 2 miles. Joe and all three Dutch men were there. We set up. I scrounged up the rest of my quarters. I took a shower. Then I went to bed. Did I mention I rode up a mountain?

Day 57

Park where we all camped.

68 Miles
We were up early. I don't recall waking up at all during the night. We set out after a quick breakfast. I had water on my cereal, in case you were wondering. The first stop of the day was at a small store/museum. The store wasn't open when we got there. Outside there were some pictorial histories of the area. It was all very fascinating. We spent more time there then we would on a normal break. I did manage to get my phone charged. Outlets were far between out here. I didn't have any service, but I was glad to be getting a little charge.
After leaving the museum we started a climb up a giant hill. Its curves were plentiful. I was getting a real taste of the kind of climbs that I would get over the next week. It was a slow steady climb. I didn't even use my granny gears. I was feeling pretty proud of myself. After the initial climb there were a lot of ups and downs. There was lots of newly chipped pavement. This wasn't the best conditions for riding. It added extra friction and slowed momentum. Also, it made me more cautious because stopping would be more dangerous with loose gravel. At one point I passed a bar where I spotted several fully loaded bicycles. I didn't stop since the riders didn't seem to be outside. They were probably riding East anyway. This proved wrong as while stopped along the side of the road to eat some crackers I was approached by three gentleman on the previous spotted bicycles. They introduced themselves. They were from the Netherlands. Their names were Han, Hans, and Robert. They were riding from Maine to Washington. I chatted for a bit before they rode on ahead. I ate some more crackers and set out. The dutch men were pulled over eating at one point I waved and rode past them. There was a great downhill into the next town. I zoomed down the hill. It brought a smile to my face.
I found Lily with a little work at the next towns grocery store. We bought a little food and headed to the next town with the idea that we would find a place to camp. When we got to the next town we looked around for places to camp. We went to the library. Lily got super excited when there was a loaded bicycle outside the library. The bright yellow panniers were hard to miss. She was about to go into the library the owner of the bike showed up. Joe was from Thailand and was riding all the National Parks. He directed us to a camp where he was camping.
We found it and set up camp. Shortly after the Dutch men showed up. Lily chatted with them. Then Joe showed up. The Dutch men already knew him. There was some talking and planning by all parties of where the next day would end.
Tomorrow would be the first of five peaks. I was finally excited. And I was just days away from the Pacific. There were less than 400 miles left in my journey. It's strange how that number once seemed so big. Now it seems like such a tiny one.
I found an outlet after dinner and fully charged my phone. I finally had service and made a few phone calls. It was nice to hear some familiar voices.
I went to bed excited for the next few days.

Day 56

87 Miles

We both woke up at 5 am again. It was light out thanks to the time change. We headed back half a mile to the gas station and ate breakfast. Thank goodness. Cereal is so much better with milk instead of water.
We set out with a nice early start to the day. The ride started nicely. The roads were lined with forests and the smell of cedar prevailed. W had been mistaken. The hill in Bonners Ferry was not the big hill that the locals at the state line were talking about. We encountered the mentioned hill a few miles into our morning ride. It took a long time to climb it but it was conquered. I didn't even stop on the hill. I was quite pleased with myself.
Lily was waiting for me at a convenience store. It was going to be a hot day. We found a Radio Shack so Lily could get new batteries for her camera. Then we breezed through Sandpoint and bid each other another "See you at the border".
We did meet up at the border. I was in and out of Idaho's panhandle in less than 24 hours. It was a brief stop. We pedaled on. We did stop at a campground with a creek running behind it. We went swimming. Well, Lily went swimming. I went wading. The water was freezing. That stop was short too.
The rest of the ride was flat and beautiful. We started looking for a place to camp at around 70 miles into the day. We encountered a tail wind and rode more than planned. We saw a gentleman outside on his lawn. It looked like his home was part of a farm. We briefly discussed it and Lily approached the man. He was elderly and hard of hearing and she had to ask him more than once. But he obliged to let us camp on his lawn. Shortly after we set up the man's wife came out. She offered us food. We couldn't say no. She invited us in and gave us water and tea and cookies. Her name was Delores and her husband's name was Jack. They owned an open range ranch. Delores told us stories about the ranch and the surrounding area. Delores made us cheeseburgers. I have a feeling that it was from their own cattle. The cheeseburger was the BEST cheeseburger I have ever eaten. No joke. It was THE BEST CHEESEBURGER EVER. I'm a terrible vegetarian. Lily was a terrible vegan, at least that night. After the burgers, Delores made us ice cream sundaes. It was amazing. It was like having a grandma for a few hours. Delores also insisted we took showers. I don't know if this was because we smelled, which was very possible, or if she was just being generous. Regardless, I took a shower. Delores insisted it I couldn't be clean because I didn't take nearly long enough in the showers. I guess battling with 3 minute showers had made me unaware as to what was a lengthy shower and what was not. I retired shortly after my shower. I went to bed clean full and content.

Day 55

97 Miles

My alarm sounded at 5 am. It was still dark but I woke Lily as we had discussed. We packed up  and ate and set out shortly after 6. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. Paul woke up before we left. I'm glad we got to tell him goodbye and see you later.
It was a Sunday morning. The winds were minimal, as was the traffic. I enjoyed hills despite the chill and drizzle in the air. We hit the first town at 10 am. 40 miles under our belt this early was awesome. We were both completely psyched. We set out for the next town.
After lunch at the next town we told each other, "see you at the border." We were finally about to leave Montana. We set out eager and full of excitement. Then came the hill...
We opted to keep to US-2. The ACA maps went some other way. This hill was probably the reason. The sign at the bottom mention tire chains. Crap. That meant some serious grade. It was only about 2 miles up, but there was some serious grade with some serious switchbacks. The shoulder was less than adequate for comfortable passing by the trucks on the tight curves. I pushed myself and only stopped briefly for a drink. I found Lily on the other side of the hill outside a bar talking with the locals.
We sat outside and talked with the locals for awhile. They were an entertaining bunch. We hadn't quite made it to the border. The bar was on the Montana side of the border. The Welcome to Idaho sign was viewable from where we were sitting outside. Also, an exciting bonus that I wasn't expecting until Washington, time change! We got to change our clocks back an hour. It meant that it wasn't 2:30, it was 1:30! Awesome!
We asked about the terrain. All down hill until Bonners Ferry. Then there would be a big hill. We were okay with that.
The ride down the hill was most definitely sweet. It was a beautiful ride. And Idaho smelled like cedar. The air was dry and hot. Despite the heat I smiled. We had hit 95 miles when we reached Bonners Ferry. We searched around town (which had a wicked fast downhill into it). We couldn't find any grocers or convenient stores. I finally asked. A girl pointed up a giant hill. This must have been the hill they had been talking about. We climbed the hill. I used the sidewalk, which I hate doing. But it seemed the safest option. It was a big ass hill! At the top of the hill was a grocery store. We shopped and asked about places to camp.There were no good suggestions.
We rode up a ways and saw a ranger station. We looked at the map outside. It was of little help. But we thought maybe we'd just camp right there. Then I spotted a guy walking around one the ranger cottages. He was on the phone. Lily went to approach him. He seemed elusive. But eventually she caught up with him. She asked if we could pitch our tents in his yard and that we'd be gone in the morning. Kyle told us it was no problem. He was kind and obliging. We set up there at the ranger station.
We ate. We talked. We laughed. Great day. Lots of miles. Smiles. Sleep.

Day 54

 

58 Mile
We all woke up early. We didn't get on the road very early though. This was disappointing. I really wanted to get some miles in. The coast was so close. And I was losing my fear of mountains. My confidence was building.
When we finally set out. We stopped at the first town we came upon. There was a quilt and fabric fair of some kind. I explored a bit while the others were getting supplies. We all ate. More time passed. It was after noon when we were ready to go again. We stocked up on water. Shops and stops would be far between.
We encountered some big hills, and wind. The wind was actually terrible. The hills we were riding were forested and surrounded a large reservoir. It reminded me a bit of the Kinzua Reservoir. Even though the ride against the wind was terrible, I took it in stride. I wasn't letting it break me. I was accustomed to a slow pace. Although, one instance in my day's ride included having to pedal downhill to not lose momentum. The wind was stronger than the momentum gravity was giving me. I had to help gravity get me down the hill. It was work. I did catch a slight tail wind at one point. I relished it. I met up with the rest of the crew. The wind seemed to have broken their spirits. It was decided we should find a campsite. We talked to a few climbers and they suggested a National Forestry Service campsite a few miles up the road. We found it and split the cost. It was an amazing view over the water. Oh... And water...
Lily and I went swimming. It may or may not have doubled as bathing. Lily and I talked about our goals to get to the coast. The guys wanted to follow the ACA maps. Lily and I wanted to cut out the extra roads and head straight towards the mountains. We decided we would split off and meet the guys in a day or so.
After swimming we all cooked our dinners. I finally ran out of cooking fuel. But my food was delicious. Lily shared some of hers with me.
The sun was setting shortly after I laid down in my tent. I opened the fly and let the warm glow fill my tent.

Day 53

38 miles
Sleeping in was spectacular. I loved it.
I hung out around the State Park. I wanted to take a shower. It was 4 quarters for 3 minutes. I had 3 quarters. Oh well. I would have wanted more than 3 minutes anyway.
 I packed up after awhile. I stopped at a nearby convenience store. It was a little misty out. I just relaxed. I saw a couple of touring cyclists and spoke with them briefly. I smiled when I saw the Nutella stuffed in their pannier's mesh pockets. The touring staple food was in such an easily accessible pocket. It only made sense. I ate it every meal. And truth be told put on foods that most people wouldn't dream of doing.
I got a call from Lily at about 11 am. I met up with Matt, Paul and Lily at the nearby grocery store. The Flaming Wheels High Road Bike gang was reunited. After some shopping and rejoicing we headed back into town. Paul headed to the bike shop, the rest of us headed to the library. Paul neeeded a new chain and cassette (that's the gears on the back tire). I was sure Upstate needed some new parts and care as well, but it since I was only 10 or days from the coast I figured Upstate could wait.
 We had a goal of 50+ miles for the rest of the day. This was ambitious considering it was about 3:30-4 when we set out again.  The road was curvy and the shoulder narrow. There were numerous trucks zooming by us. It was a little too close at times. I of course was always at the back of the pack. So I was surprised to see Paul waiting at a cross roads. He wanted to veer off on a side road to follow the Adventure Cycling maps. It was longer but it would take us off the road with the trucks almost clipping us.
The ride was easy and mostly flat and Paul slowed to my pace so we could talk during our ride. The alternate route proved to have some beautiful views. It was especially gorgeous watching a storm roll in. We donned our rain gear. The storm was brief. And we continued on. It wasn't too long before another storm was rolling in. I stopped to put on my rain gear again. But as I was ready to pedal on I felt the rain. But it hurt. It hurt a lot! I took cover in the trees nearby. Paul followed. The marble-sized hail was coming down plinking hard against my helmet. I was beginning to think I'd end up with bruises or welts from the constant pelting against my skin. Paul spotted a wagon trailer nearby. He crawled under it. I followed. We were under for a few minutes before it finally stopped. After taking a few pictures to document the event we pedaled on.
We ran into Lily and Matt a short time after. They had taken the other road and had been waiting for nearly an hour. They were worried about us. They hadn't run into the storm at all.
We rode on, but it was getting late. We decided to search for somewhere to camp for the night. We stopped at a little store in a "town". Towns seem to be a school and/or a post office and a store out here. We asked around. We were presented with a few options, but eventually opted to find our own place to camp. We came across what seemed to be an abandoned State Park station. We thought it looked like a good place to camp despite being posted as closed. We were worried about animals and moved all our food far away from us. They regaled me with their tales of Glacier. I was a little sad that I hadn't gone with them. But remembering my headaches and the way I enjoyed the mountains I was glad I went solo.
We agreed to get up early. I was asleep around dusk with another headache.