August 5, 2008
Day 85: Ferry Fairgrounds Campground (Near Republic, WA) to Tonasket, WA
45.86 Miles, 3:34:11 Ride Time, 12.84 Average Speed, 32.24 Maximum Speed
For the second night in a row I awoke at 3:00, freezing, and put on more clothes. Perhaps my cheap sleeping bag, which was a fraction of the cost of, let's see - my handlebar bag, for example - was not the place to economize.
Four hours or so later, I was up and packed, but delayed leaving while I had an interesting conversation with Scott, a Canadian whose family had camped near me last night. For whatever reason, I wasn't excited about riding today, and I dawdled. Eventually I left and rode the few miles to downtown Republic, where I stopped for a leisurely breakfast, read the local paper, and tried to summon the motivation to ride on.
By the time I got out of the place, it was mid morning, and was already promising to be the hottest day in a while. The scenery along this part of the route was OK, but nothing special. Eastern Washington continued to be super-dry.
The climb up Wauconda Pass was easy (much easier than Sherman Pass), but I used my small chainring anyway, because, well, I felt tired and lazy today. Just before the little town of Wauconda, I met Chris Dutcher, an eastbounder who was only a few days into his tour. He warned me about the lack of services on the long stretch between Mazama and Newhalem, where he had been forced to drink (unfiltered) water from mountain streams. I thanked him for his advice, but wasn't too worried; after all, my half-assed, "I'm sure it will all work out somehow" approach to planning on this tour hadn't let me down yet, right? (Cue doomy, foreshadowing music).
A few minutes after saying goodbye to Chris, I arrived in Wauconda, which, as far as I could see, consisted of a cafe, a store, and absolutely nothing else. I bought some pop at the store and walked next door to the cafe, where there was a table and some shade. I sat there for about twenty minutes and talked to the cafe's owners, who, while nice, were heavy, heavy smokers.
I hadn't been riding into the hot, dry landscape very long when I encountered a group of eastbounders - college boys doing a fairly short portion of the Northern Tier. I had been thinking about making it all the way to Omak today, but they warned that the town was "shady". (Not the arboreal shady, but the "suspicious characters hanging around" shady).
There wasn't much to see until the nice descent to the busy little crossroads town of Tonasket (pop. 944), where I decided to call it a day after less than 50 miles. My first stop was Shannon's Ice Cream Parlor, where, my map informed me, I was allowed to camp. The lady at Shannon's was nice, and the food looked good, but the "camping" area was a tiny strip of grass abutting a busy deck. Too hot and noisy, at least this time of day, and there was no shower available.
I rode up the street to "The Junction", a friendly, super-busy gas station/store/laundromat/motel, sat at a booth inside using the WiFi, and eventually talked myself into getting a cheap room at the tiny (only a handful of units) motel attached to the place. What a wimp...
Once ensconced in my air conditioned room, I lay around for around, ate some snacks, drank most of a two-liter of Diet Pepsi, then put on my "Arthur, North Dakota" T-shirt and walked back to Shannon's, where the girl who took my order for a Huckleberry milkshake laughingly asked "Are you from Arthur?" No, I told her sadly. No, I was not.
Later, at "The Junction", I purchased more snacks, and, while checking out, noticed an Adventure Cycling map lying on the counter, briefly wondered what kind of idiot would leave his important map behind, then realized that it was MY map, which I had left in the booth a few hours before - !?
That fiasco averted, I went back to my room, where I lay around listlessly, neglecting to work on the journal or do laundry (despite the existence of a laundromat located literally next door), until I received a welcome, mood-lifting phone call from Joy, with whom I had become increasingly friendly the last month (Cue non-doomy, foreshadowing music).
Now re-energized, I walked a few blocks in the dark to a Subway, where I purchased a twelve inch sandwich, one of my typically modest late night snacks.
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Today's ride: 46 miles (74 km)
Total: 6,192 miles (9,965 km)
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