Day Eight - Republic to Colville

6/16/99

It's 9:00 and I'm about 5 miles and 1400 feet from Sherman Pass. Left camp at 6:30 and 57 degrees. Got some breakfast at the only restaurant, gas station and/or store I'll see till Kettle falls tonight. Watched a couple of cyclists come into the restaurant while I was eating and made room for them to join me. Next thing I knew they were pumping up the pass. I've already climbed 1600 feet in 10 miles. Most of it at 300 feet/mile. Wauconda Pass, yesterday, was a steady 100 feet per mile almost all morning. But since it's still only 73 degrees, today seems like a much easier climb.

Pulled over at a info display/rest stop that told all about a 1988 forest fire. While I ate an orange (could've had a cookie, too. I learned something from the Henderson's), it rained a little and the temperature dropped to about 64. It felt pretty good and didn't threaten any of my gear. First rain I've seen this trip. Haven't had any songs on my mind today. Just a constant chant of how many feet and miles to the pass. Thank God this is the last one.

Made the pass feeling relatively good, especially for as steep as it was. For the next 5 miles I didn't drop below 30mph and didn't drop below 20 for about 10. I pulled over into another cool rest stop and saw the 2 cyclists from this morning, Wally from Colorado and Colleen from Montana.They had started in Bellingham and were following the maps to the end in Bar Harbor Maine. We had a good time talking about the route, maps and gear. They were also computer nerds and liked my computer and camera. They also planned on stopping in Colville tonight. If I ever get off the computer, I'll go look for them in the hot tub.

The rest of the ride into Kettle Falls was pretty nice. Still mostly downhill and changing from dry pine forest to farmland. The river I thought would be nice to spend a day swimming in is more like the Mississippi, but glacier fed. I think it would be a good place to play if you had a house boat and it was August. Kettle Falls itself wasn't much of an attraction either. I got a big bottle of cold water and an Arizona Green Tea (I'm beginning to like this new style of pop) and figured I'd found about the best Kettle Falls had to offer. Rode the final 12 miles or so to Colville with my butt screaming every pedal. It was only 2:30, but it was enough. Found a nice new motel with a bathtub, a good restaurant, a phone line. Soaked my butt, stuffed my face and checked email. Hey! Send me some email.

Also figured out that with all afternoon to rest up, I didn't need a layover day. Especially since my dream date in Kettle Falls was a little disappointing. So I changed my schedule. I'll spend my birthday riding to Usk, (where else?), make Sandpoint on the 18th, Bonners Ferry the 19th and just not move a whole lot at BCA the 20th.

Stats: 57.5 total miles, avg speed 10.7, max 41.4, bike time 5:20, altimeter read (since inception) 363.0for 4000 feet today.

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