August 4, 2008
Day 84: Cedar RV Park (Near Ione, WA) to Ferry Fairgrounds Campground (Near Republic, WA)
100.92 Miles, 8:21:05 Ride Time, 12.08 Average Speed, 33.49 Maximum Speed
I woke up at 3:00, very cold, put on more clothes, and then a couple of hours later got up for good. The weather out here, with its chilly mornings, followed by the hot (but not humid) middays, is so different than home.
After visiting the best campground bathrooms ever, I rode out at 7:00, then stopped a mile later in Ione at the library/community college branch office, where a girl was already working at the early hour, and let me use an empty conference room to do some internet stuff. Nice.
A few miles out of town, after a glancing at a sign warning bicyclists of "Narrow shoulders and logging trucks - Next 36 miles", I headed up my first mountain pass in Washington, which proved to be no big deal - I was able to stay in the middle chainring all the way up. Halfway up this climb (which was minor enough that it wasn't even named on the elevation profile on the back of the Adventure Cycling map), I met Mike and Linda, from Mount Shasta, California - they were a friendly couple.
During the descent I met another Kentuckian! Abe Bates was riding home to Covington (about an hour from where I live), and was pulling his 14-year-old dog, Happy, in a trailer. Happy has only three legs, and suffers from arthritis, so apparently there is little danger of him jumping out of the trailer and chasing squirrels/cats/other dogs. Abe told me that Happy weighs 59 lbs., I figured the trailer itself weighs 20+ lbs, and combined with the dog food and all the other stuff Abe was carrying, it was obviously a heavy load. I wish them luck, and would love to hear how their trip works out.
After descending the "mountain", everything suddenly became much dryer - this was possibly the most arid landscape of the entire trip, and by mid morning it was already hot. There wasn't much to see (or photograph) for the next several miles. By the time I reached Colville (pop. 4,988), the sun was beating down on me, so when I passed four little girls selling "Otter Pops", I turned around and became their first customer of the day. The $.75 I paid was a shocking 50% increase over the price of the "Icee" I bought from the girls on Day 57, but I resisted the urge to haggle.
There continued to be little of interest to see on the way to Kettle Falls (pop. 1,527), and it was so very hot and dry. I'd eaten only a handful of granola bars all day, so I stopped for a late lunch (it was now about 2:00) at what appeared to be the only restaurant in Kettle Falls. The place was getting ready to close, but the friendly owner insisted that I come in and eat anyway.
After lunch, I contemplated stopping in Kettle Falls for the day, but the city park was not appealing - not only was it near a busy road, but some guys in the park were disposing of a dead tree using the world's loudest wood chipper. I had only done about 60 miles, and it wasn't that late, so I decided to press on to Republic, about forty miles away, and on the other side of Sherman Pass.
Before beginning the climb, just outside of Kettle Falls, I stopped at a gas station to fill my water bottles, and talked to a couple of rough-looking motorcycle dudes who were sporting the usual beards, leathers, etc. Upon hearing how far I'd ridden the last few months, one of them asked "So, have you figured it out yet?" Surprised to suddenly find myself in a philosophical discussion with scary-biker-dude, I admitted that I had not, in fact, "figured it [the meaning of life?] out."
The climb up Sherman Pass was tough, as expected, and this time I definitely needed the granny gear. Still, it wasn't the hardest climbing of the trip - Breadloaf, in Vermont, so many days ago, was tougher.
It was a long climb, however, and by the time I reached the top, I was out of water. As I rested on the pull-off at the top of the mountain, two older ladies drove over, stopped, and walked out with a bottle of water. Were they Good Samaritans, offering the obviously hot, tired cyclist some hydration? Sadly, they were not - they used the water to clean their windshield, then drove off. Oh well.
The descent was probably the most fun of the trip - several miles, with much coasting, and little pedaling. It was getting late when I arrived at the Ferry Fairgrounds Campground, on the outskirts of Republic. I set up my tent in one of the few water-sprinkler-free areas in the park, then visited one of the grungier bathrooms of the trip, where I had one of my rare wildlife encounters!
I was standing at the sink, pushing vainly on the soap dispenser button, when, instead of the promised soap, a BAT was dispensed (onto the floor, not my hand, thank God). Well. My vigorous, annoyed pushing seemed to have injured the bat; it lay on the floor, moving slowly. Aww, I guessed I killed the thing. I took my eye off it as I undressed and contemplated the disgusting shower (how much water would I get for one quarter, anyway?), and then I looked up to find that the bat had recovered and was flying disturbingly close to my head. After some brief excitement, during which I resisted the strong urge to run, mostly unclothed, out of the bathroom, the bat escaped out the door, and I completed my shower uneventfully.
After that, I rode a quarter of a mile up the road to a cafe/store, only to find that they were closing for the evening - I only had time to buy Diet Pepsi, a box of Hostess Donuts, and some bananas for dinner.
It was nearly dark by now, so I rode back to the campground, hurriedly ate my sad "dinner" at a picnic table, then crawled into my sleeping bag, where sleep arrived only after I convinced myself that the tent was, in fact, bat-proof.
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Today's ride: 101 miles (163 km)
Total: 6,146 miles (9,891 km)
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