July 23, 2013
One Seriously Hot Day of Riding
Coulee City, WA
When I got up this morning, I emerged from my tent to find Hank packed up and ready to go. We said our goodbyes and he pedaled off. A few minutes later Aaron had his phone out and asked, "What was the name of those thorns that guy was talking about last night?" He was ready to Google it.
"I can't remember," I answered while still searching my memory banks. Then it came to me: "I think it was, um, goatfuckers or something like that."
"That's a good one," he laughed, "but you're right, it was goat-something." He entered "goat" and "thorn" and there it was--a picture of a goathead. Now we know what to look for.
Today we started with a pleasant and scenic ride across and alongside the Columbia River for 14 miles, passing tempting apple and cherry orchards as we went. Then came the difficult 7-mile climb out of the river valley to the high plateau of eastern Washington. It took us nearly two hours to complete, but it wasn't as bad as the two guys on the Iron Horse Trail made it sound when they warned us about it.
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At first the high plateau was characterized by vast wheat fields. Then came an incredible emptiness and desolation. On U.S. 2 from Waterville to Coulee City--a distance of 41 miles--there was no services, no water, and no people. Occasionally we'd see some more wheat fields here and there, but no sign of farmers or farmhouses. It was mostly a treeless landscape of hills, dirt, dry shrubs, and frequent whirlwinds of dust. There were also a few house-sized boulders randomly scattered. I can't imagine how they got there, but I consider them to be better evidence of alien activity, if that's your thing, than something like crop circles.
Speaking of whirlwinds, I saw one of them twisting and whipping up the dry dirt to my right. It was approaching the highway. I distinctly remember thinking "hey, that thing is gonna hit the road at the same time as I get there." I sped up a little bit to make sure of it and, indeed, the the mini-tornado hit me. I actually had to lean into it to avoid getting blown over. It was surprisingly powerful, though it likely would have registered no higher than an F-.000001 on the tornado-measuring scale.
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The afternoon became ridiculously hot, particularly after we descended a few hundred feet into a very desolate desert environment. Somewhere along the route, the driver of a big Pepsi truck heading in the opposite direction pulled over and flagged me down. (As usual, Aaron was way ahead of me.)
"Do you have enough water?" he shouted from the cab.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, proud of my own self-sufficiency. "Thank you anyway."
"No problem. Have a safe trip."
A few minutes later I could have slapped myself silly. I took a drink of the water I was so proud of and discovered it was hot. Not just warm, but HOT. Still, I drank it because it was too precious to spit out. And sure enough, by the time we reached Coulee City it was 104 degrees and I was out of water.
Do you know what's worse than riding your bike 65 miles in temperatures in the 90's and 100's? The answer is setting up camp in a crumby-looking campground at the western edge of town in that heat.
So I bought a motel room in a crumby-looking motel on the EASTERN edge of Coulee City and we took it real easy in our air-conditioned room.
Wait! I have a couple more pictures.
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Today's ride: 65 miles (105 km)
Total: 212 miles (341 km)
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5 years ago
I think my riding through that area was less a case of questionable judgement, and more a case of naivete. I had no idea there was a desert in eastern Washington. I wasn't disappointed though, as I am a fan of deserts.
5 years ago
...unless of course, you know, I was a goat.
Enjoying the journal.
2 years ago
2 years ago