Bike America Day 5: Beds!

Today's Distance: 57.51
Average Speed: 10
Maximum Speed: 32.8
Overall Distance: 297

At 1:30 am, I woke up to a loud, bellowing siren that went off for a minute or so. It was unnerving but, apparently, nothing to be alarmed by. It was a mystery to us and everyone in the park what it was for. When I woke up again, it was 6 am and raining. How lucky we had been to make it through four days in Washington with no rain. Our luck had ended.

Pottery by Margie.

We packed up and my mom and I rode the one block to “downtown”. My dad stopped at the now familiar Riverside Grocery looking for coffee. The shop wasn’t open but a kind woman on a geo-caching mission (in the large rooster photographed here) offered him a cup from her car. While he helped her find her “cache”, I perused the antiques on sale outside of this store. I desperately wanted this mid-century modern credenza/dresser, on sale for only $150, but my parents didn’t think it would fit in our roof-top carrier for the next 3,000 miles. I guess they have a point.

The first 16 miles were rainy, cold and hilly and I was not in the best mindset. I wanted to be warm and dry and, for the first time this week, wasn’t having much fun riding. But we pushed on and, in Tenasket, my dad picked up the next leg, a 27 mile ride up mountain #3 to Wauconda Pass. The rain stopped and we kept each other company. Riding was fun again but my legs are still pretty ready for a rest day. Three miles from the top, we stopped for a late lunch at Wauconda Restaurant and Store, Est. 1898. I had a spanish omelet with hashbrowns. Re-fueled, we pushed on to the summit and snapped another celebratory photo.

Only scenery photo of the day. Snapped on the way down. We're back to more
green trees and grass and less sand and sagebrush.

We sped down the mountain, making up some time we’d lost on the slow trip up and cruised into Republic by 5pm. We are staying in the cutest motel I’ve ever seen, inside and out.

Our motel.

A walk through town had us wondering if we should spend the morning here, getting massages, eating pizza, or shopping for antiques. We considered dinner out but were all so excited to have beds to rest in that we opted for to-go items from the grocery store which we ate in our room while watching friends re-runs.

Dinner.

A sign in town. I wonder how they determine the exact penalty. Size of spit? Distance of spit? Very curious.

Tomorrow is our final mountain pass in Washington. On Thursday, I exaggerated when I said “when you hear from me again, it’s likely I’ll have ridden up and over the Cascade Mountains.” What I meant was,

”I’ll have ridden up and over one of the Cascade Mountains.” But tomorrow night, if all goes as planned, I’ll have gone up and over them all. My mind and body are up for the task but they're also ready for a break from all of this serious climbing. My knees are achy, my legs and achilles tendons are sore, and my stomach is adjusting to the change in diet and daily routine. I'm ready to show Sherman Pass who is boss in the morning and then to spend some days riding the rolling hills that lie below.