(EDITING NOTE; be aware that I have made changes to days 67, 68, and 70 - 74.  The changes mostly include adding a narrative and videos)

I arose this morning at 04:00 to see Doc off.  In the craziness of last night, I accepted his offer to take his tablet computer with me.  He's trying to reduce weight for his run to Seattle and said he would mail the tablet home unless I wanted it.  My netbook isn't powerful enough to run the software that assembles the video segments each day, so we have that software on Doc's tablet.  I didn't want the extra weight either, and I debated just posting the videos in their "raw" state, but in the end I took it.  I also took a freeze-dried dinner he had for emergency food in case I got caught out and needed to camp unexpectedly.   We said our goodbyes and Doc rolled out at 05:00.  In the early light the photo below isn't focused well.

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Doc took the 3 remaining laundry pods with him, as he needs that many to finish.  I walked over to the local Safeway at 06:00 and bought more laundry pods.  I kept a few and gave the remainder to Steve and Allane, and I also gave them the remainder of a box of "teabag coffee" after taking what I needed.  Steve rolled out after Doc left, and Allane drove off later.  I went through my stuff and managed to find a few more things I could ship home and walked a block to the post office.  I'm soon to climb at least 3 mountain passes, and I don't need excess weight.  Reading from right to left, I will (hopefully) climb Sherman Pass, Wauconda Pass, and Loup Loup Pass in that order.  The 4th (leftmost) pass is Washington Pass, and unless the road reopens I won't be able to climb it. 

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I will be tired after climbing these passes, and I will end up in Twisp.  At that point I must divert unless the road reopens.  If so, I don't yet know where I will try to go each day or what lodging options exist (if any).  I also don't know what the road conditions will be like, I will have to rely on the Google bicycle routing to give me the best route.   The good news is that it should only take a few days to reach the Seattle area if I must divert.

So, everything has changed.  We made it to the last state on this incredible journey, and now our path is blocked.  But I will finish somewhere, somehow.  At the moment I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, and very much alone.  I have ridden solo on tours before, so I know I can do this.  I'm concerned about Doc also, I know he has ridden too far today and encountered some unexpected obstacles - but he's about 100 miles closer to Seattle now.

Update on Doc.  Doc just called - he biked 100 miles today to reach Sprague - Google bike routing put him on a loose gravel trail for 10 miles before he could get off it and seek his own route.  He has 300 miles to go to reach Seattle.  Here's a picture he took of a lava flow on his ride today;

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Found Money Update.  I have $2.91 in the "found money" fund now.  It's a silly game I play, but if you never play games how do you ever have fun? 

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Health Update.  I have health, both good and bad.  The wisdom tooth infection has been brought under control with the antibiotics, and I have no more pain from that.  A milestone for me happened last night when I applied the last dose of the topical chemotherapy for the in-situ melanoma on my left heel, so I don't have to do that anymore for the remainder of this trip.  So those are positive things. 

I hope you have everything under control in your life.  Things are good here, I just can't control little things like forest fires, so I'll have to roll with it however it works out.  Good night all...