I'm sitting in Whistler's Family Restaurant in Tonasket. Parked in the bike parking. First restaurant since porking out in Winthrop. (The restaurant in Riverside had closed down so I just got a factory sandwich and junk food at the store.) First air-conditioning of the trip. I planned on getting up early and beating the heat. I got up at 3:00 and recharged the computer while resting in the restroom. Woke up again at 5:56 and thought I might as well sleep till 6:00. Finally got up at 7:00. It was already warm and the drone of the lawn sprinkler, that had run all night, drugged me into sleeping about 10 hours.
Margie's RV park in Riverside was great. I highly recommend it. Nice folks, a shower, even a laundry (wish I hadn't spent so much time hand-washing in Winthrop). The grounds were beautiful, peaceful and soft.
Ate a box of raisins, a peanut butter bagel and a Frapaccino I'd gotten at the store the night before. Thought about stopping at the store for more food, but felt pretty good as I was.
I'd been watching the temperature climb from low 70's to mid 80's for about 10 miles and saw this espresso stand in the middle of nowhere. The 20-something kid inside was from Seattle and had just gotten here to help out his dad. I drained an ice mocha in a matter of seconds and felt much better about the road. I read once that caffeine was good for riding. Don't remember why, but I know it's true.
Taking a break under the first tree near the road in the last 10 miles or so. It's 12:40 and 95 degrees. It's been 95 since about 11:00. I've been thinking about the heat for a long time. Maybe if I write it down, I can think of something else. I figure this is either stupid or an early stage of heat stroke. " Enlow's Conjectured Conundrum of Climate and Climbing Compromises" (Makes sense to me, probably not to an English teacher. Mark?) Since I got a late start this morning I figured I could beat some of the heat by gaining some elevation. I believe this to be true because Omak was the lowest elevation I've been at in days and it was hotter than hell. But the harder I climb, the more heat I generate, therefore offsetting the relative coolness of the higher elevation. If I stop in the rare shade, I cool off a lot, but the temperature keeps going up. Right now I have a slight tailwind. It's also cooling me off and when I start riding it will help me climb faster thereby beating the heat a little. But since the wind and I will be going the same speed, it will feel like there's no wind at all and I'll be hotter. If there's a headwind, it will cool me down, but the extra effort to overcome it will heat me up.
Yeah, just as I thought. Stupid. But now I can recognize it. I must be doing better. Oh well, 12 miles and about 1300 feet to Wauconda and a potential campground for the night.
I'm about 4 miles and 400 feet from Wauconda. I just saw some shade and a "wildlife viewing area" sign. I thought it would be funny to pull over and view the wildlife. Just then a deer bounced onto the road, pondered me a while and turned around and went back. Truth in advertising.
Bet you're glad to know that I made it to a campsite and I won't be writing anymore from the road. First time I've fried braincells from the outside!
Got to Wauconda and ate at, as near as I could tell, the only building in Wauconda. She was Korean and I'm guessing from the Kuwait clock on the wall that he's recently out of the military. The dinner menu was oriental, but I chose a sub and lima bean soup from the lunch menu. Both were excellent. Even homemade bread for the sub. Then I realized that the map was a little misleading. I thought the campground that I wanted to stay at was just off the road a little from here. It was actually 6 miles off the road 3 miles ago. Wauconda itself was still 4 miles and 500 feet from the pass. Well, I wasn't going to backtrack and I wasn't going to start tomorrow with 13 miles of climbing yesterdays pass before starting on today's (or something). So I poured my radiator full of ice water and headed up the rest of the pass. My thermometer stopped being so insistent that it was 96. When I first looked at it after lunch, it read 109. Then it started bouncing around and was below 90 by the time I stopped. I got a few groceries in Republic, really a kinda cool old mining town. I was heading for the fairgrounds campgrounds out of town. When I found it said it was open, but there wasn't a soul there. I didn't feel too good about that and headed for the hostel about a mile off course.
The Triangle J Ranch hostel was pretty cool. There was a converted garage with couple of bed/couches in it, a kitchenette and bathroom. They also had a pool and hottub, but neither were ready for use yet. Apparently it had been raining and in the 50's just a few days ago. No one expected to go from winter to summer without any spring at all.
Of course they also had a few acres you could camp in. I just set up in the backyard, near the bathroom and waited for the sun to go down. I guess there had been a few cyclist through the night before, but I was the only one tonight. Had a good time talking with Lisa and Dave and their kids.
The cell phone worked well for once. (Last night I was standing on a table to get a signal and yelling to sorta be heard.) Talked to Lisa for a long time while strolling among the irises and dahlias. She had talked to Jake's counselor who thought it would be best if I showed up on Sunday the 20th instead of Tuesday the 22nd. (I had asked Lisa to check when she talked to her.) Well, I had just decided that I would take the 17th off, stay in Kettle Falls and soak my butt in the river all day. I spent some time going over maps and calendars and left a message for Shawnale that I would be there the 22nd.
Put away the maps, ate another Lipton meal in an envelope and sacked out early. I'm beating the heat tomorrow.
Stats: 61.9 total miles, avg speed 9.7, max 38.8, bike time 6:21, altimeter read (since inception) 359.0 for 4500 feet today.