Day 6: Nailed it!

June 22, 2023

It could’ve been worse.

Yes, that’s the biggest nail ever in my tire!

Today started out swimmingly with more Palouse to Cascades Rail Trail. We rode about 14 miles on the trail from Lake Easton, and it was quite pleasant. We planned to stop in Cle Elum to do some grocery shopping as we wanted to get some fresh fruits and vegetables for lunch to supplement what we already had; however, we had trouble finding the supermarket, and it was just a dumb mistake, and we ended up with a bunch of meat instead; so again, common sense went out the door. The meat fiasco actually turned out OK because we went to a local meat shop that smoked, cured and dried their own meat. We ended up with jerky, pepperoni, and their specialty- a meat and cheese candy bowl. Don’t ask. Anyway, it turned out OK. After, we headed on our route which was compromised of country roads, which were very pleasant and scenic.

The scenic country roads led us to Highway 97, a busy route with lots of truck traffic. The highlights of this section were second breakfast at the Liberty Cafe, thanks Ed and the Hobbits for that idea, and getting off this section onto the Old Blewett Pass Highway.

The low parts were the rain that caused us to do at least three costume changes, and one of them may have happened on the side of Highway 97 that had nail debris that ended up in my tire! Not fun, but Mike was able to fix it in record time. The second uncomfortable event has been - because it is still occurring real time- building up our mosquito immunity at Wenatchee Confluence State Park. I do not recommend staying here. The mosquitos are brutal. We may have to leave here without coffee in the morning- sacrilege, I know!

Tomorrow we head to Alta Lake State Park. I hope we are not donating more blood.

Lastly, I have a few corrections from previous days’ blogs.

Easton Lake is actually Lake Easton, and a really nice place to stay if you have earplugs.
Matthew actually took 20 days to ride to Brooklyn not 22 to Pennsylvanian. Amazing feat! As The Beastie Boys said, “No sleep till Brooklyn!”
I am sure I have other mistakes…

One of many views from the Palouse to Cascades Trail

Museum and Smoke House at the Cle Elum trail head

Until tomorrow,

Team Bean

Today's ride: 75 miles (121 km)
Total: 247 miles (398 km)

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