Wayne and I agreed we were going to get on the road early because of the heat and all of the climbing today. We rolled out at the same time, but Wayne stopped for a photo and that was the last I saw of him.

I didn't stop often. Today had one roller after another. Some small, some large. The later it got in the day, the hotter it was. I started using the granny gear on climbs that would have been middle chain ring earlier in the day. The very last big climb was really slow with no air moving and it was hot. It reminded me of the day going into Ellensburg that Oren poured water over my head and gave me a couple of Perpetuum tablets. I was a bit woozy at the top. I could tell from my RWGPS elevation profile that this was the tallest climb. Thank goodness. I had a couple of bites to eat and some water. My water still had ice in it. Thank goodness.

Scenery today was a whole bunch of sagebrush. I didn't see any antelope, although I looked. The day was very deserted. There were a number of abandoned homes and even an abandoned campground. It was Sunday, so very little traffic. The tallest climb of the day was 6,800 feet. That particular hill had a number of juniper trees, but after the descent, it was back to sagebrush.

It was hot, hot. I was getting to town fairly early (noonish) for the miles, but it was hot. I went straight to the store for a cold drink. The lady said it was 96 degrees. She had saved me a can of chili behind the counter. There's dinner. I was really hoping for ice in a drink, but there was only bottled beverages. I bought a water and a V-8, a big bag of chips to go with the sandwich from last night. I took them outside to the picnic table in the shade.

This was a hopping little store for such a small town. I sat there more than an hour, eating and waiting for the guys. There were cars coming and going the entire time. Jacinto showed up and we went to the motel to check in. There was a note on the door to call when we got there. It turns out the owners are out of town and they had a friend let us in. Their main season is hunting season. There isn't much business in the summer. We had the run of the place. Luckily our rooms had window AC units. The main house was quite hot and remained that way until morning.

We can tell you the friend's entire life story - but we never got his name. A retired man with nothing else to do but sit on the porch and entertain the bicycle riders. It started to rain right when Jacinto and I went walking to the store. As we came out, here was the man to give us a ride back so we didn't have to walk in the (now) non existent rain . . . .

It was a lazy evening. Just what we needed after the long, climbing day in the sun. I was happy about the short day tomorrow.

I had a good night last night and a nice ride today. What a relief on both counts.