Their only campground was at the Stampede rodeo grounds. I dutifully checked it out. There were a few rvs sitting under a couple of trees (in a nice grassy area) in the middle of the fairground/low income housing complex.
I'm about 5 miles and 1000 feet from Loup Loup pass and I'm taking a break. Another break. The race is over. The vacation has begun. Its already hot (78 degrees and it's supposed to hit 90 today), so hot I put on my helmet cover for the first time. [I didn't wear it long. It blocks as much wind as sun.] It has a brim in front and cloth that hangs down in back like Lawrence of Arabia. Yet another piece of dorky bicycle clothing. An old Dilbert chronicled the engineering solution to hard uncomfortable bicycle seats - dorky pants. Speaking of which, when I changed shirts earlier I noticed that the shorts I'm wearing today are thinner than the others, practically see-through. In fact when I looked down it kinda seemed like I was looking back up. Guess I'll just wear these under tights in the future. Good thing I was wearing my long Solumbra shirt when I was hanging out (or, hopefully, not hanging out) in Twisp. Then again, as my old biking buddy, John Sims, used to tell his wife when she commented on his bike shorts, " Thanks for noticing!"
Well, I woke up early this morning and read my book and listened to the radio for an hour or so. Heard enough of the Spokane news to know that it would be hot and dry for a couple of days with possible showers after that. Ate most of the leftover pizza and the last chocolate cherry and started the impossible task of putting all that crap back into bob. Managed, but there is more stuff every day. Winthrop was dead when I left at 7:30. Like I said, rush hours ended at I-5. The back road from Winthrop to Twisp was beautiful, quiet and cool. Saw an enormous snake warming itself stretched halfway across the road. Don't know if it was a rattler, but every time I see a snake I think of you, Molly (Towslee). Not that you remind me of a snake, exactly. You just always remind me to watch out for them.
The Cinnamon Twisp was as wonderful as I remembered it. As I was leaving I saw the two boys I'd met at Newhalem. They'd stayed in a church in Twisp. The girls were at the post office. I directed them to the bakery and took off. Now I'm waiting at Loup Loup pass so I can take their picture.
Guess I've been talking about gear today. Maybe I'll expand on it while I'm waiting. I'll start at the front.
[MOVED TO SEPARATE GEAR PAGE, too damn boring]Well, that's stem to stern. Yes I know it's boring. I'm bored! Where the hell are those Jersey kids?
I waited an hour and they never did show up. Must have gotten a real breakfast in Twisp. After a short detour I started down the other side of Loup Loup Pass. It was great. 6% for 6 miles is what the sign said, the descent lasted much longer. It was just the right slope to make the curves without very much braking. Bob trailed great today.
Took a nice side road by the dump into Okanagon. I'm officially in Eastern Washington now. The only trees are planted and pampered. And I was looking for trees.
I wanted to camp in Okanagon because I like the name. I kept trying to figure out what joke Dad would have made. " Use your noggin, don't camp in Okanagon." Naw, he would have thought of something funny. As I kept crusing, because Okanagon was an awful, hot, flat town, I thought how glad I was that I would be by myself this Father's Day. I'll celebrate with the kids a couple of days later. But when I went in the card shop the other day, the Father's Day display really caught me by surprise. It's been over two years, but I guess I'll never stop missing him.
It was only 3 miles into Omak, home of the Stampede, which I think is Eastern Washington's version of Barcelona's running of the bulls. (I'm sure I'll find out something about it soon.)
[I've been corrected as follows:P.S. One correction, the running of the bulls is in Pamplona, not Barcelona. In Barcelona they have the running of the surrealists, or at least they did while Franco was still alive. Love, your bro] Their only campground was at the Stampede rodeo grounds. I dutifully checked it out. There were a few rvs sitting under a couple of trees (in a nice grassy area) in the middle of the fairground/low income housing complex.
So then I had 10 miles to go into Riverside. I could have, and should have, taken the highway instead of the route and saved a couple of miles. According to my thermometer the temperature went from 93 to 95 to 98 to 100 and eventually back to 96 in Riverside. It didn't matter if it was in the sun or the shade. I checked. I spent quite a while under each of the two trees between Omak and Riverside, drinking what was left of my near-boiling water. When I got to the store in Riverside, after I filled my radiator and downed one of those big orange carrot & ginseng pops (what do you call those things?), I saw that it was 92 in the shade. But I hadn't been in the shade. It was freaking hot. I was keeping close tabs on signs of heat stroke. I was pretty damn close.
Anyway, the lady at the store pointed me toward the campground and told me to tell her husband, the campground manager, to point me toward a shady spot and a shower. A shower. Ahhh. So thats where I am. I'm clean. I'm under shade. I already took a nap (almost involuntarily). And I'm getting hungry. I don't want no freaking meal in an envelope. It's burger time.
Stats: 60.2 total miles, avg speed 11.5, max 43.1, bike time 5:14, altimeter read (since inception) 354.5 for 3300 feet today.