get your @$$ over the pass

Hey all, so sorry to not be in touch for a few days, as we have not had easy access to internet.

We'll, we're out of the great state of Idaho, it was a quick one, but Sandpoint was a good stop. We got to do siding at our build on Saturday, and basically got the entire house done by midday. Woooo.

But we're in Washington now, and so far I LOVE it. Seriously. Well, kinda. If it weren't so damn hot, I'd say it's pretty great. Its been over 100 the past three days, so we've been getting up early to try to beat the heat...it's not really working.

Why is it great, you ask? Well, actually, I don't really know. They have...shoulders. And lots of mountains...like a lot. The past two days we've climbed a total of about 7,000 feet and crossed both Flowery Trail Pass (4,046 ft) yesterday and Sherman Pass (5,575 ft), the highest continuously maintained road/pass in the state, today. So, needless to repeat, we've done a lot of climbing recently. For Flowery Trail, we climbed about 2,000 feet over six miles, and for Sherman, we climbed 4,500 over 22 miles, so Flowery Trail was definitely steeper. But with those climbs came a lot of sweet downhills. The one into Chewelah was 8 miles straight shot, but the one to Republic today was a little more of a tease. We went down for about 10 miles, shallower than out of Flowery Trail, no brakes needed, then came the headwind, and I had to pedal, then came another uphill, and I refused to pedal hard at all. Let's just say I was a little angry at that point, and after the previous over 20 mile climb in intense heat, just wanted to get done.

Okay, I'm rambling...lets ramble some more. Fortunately we're staying right in town, there's an organic food mart across the street, where I can buy my final round of Clif Bars, and an ice cream shop right next door with wireless internet, which is where I am right now. Its a pretty sweet deal. After my fourth flat tire in four riding days (I wanted to get all the way to Vancouver without having to change my tires, but they already have over 4,000 miles on them, and it'll have to happen tonight), and being in a pissy mood until Sherman Pass, and then again right before Republic, this town really knew how to calm my mood (completely with food).

Yesterday was better. The climb was tough, and it was hot, but the roads were really good and I was in a pretty good mood the entire day. It's amazing what a good attitude will do to make the day more manageable. When we got into Chewelah after a really nice 8 mile downhill, we were very warmly greeted by the amazing people at St. Paul's Lutheran Church. They had a potluck around 12, which I didn't really make it in for, arranged to have the city pool open for us at 2, cooked hot dogs for us at 3, and had a big dinner at 6. AND they displayed all the t-shirts they'd received from Bike and Build over the previous six years they hosted us, as well as some photos from previous years. There was a nice cool creek, and a cool air-conditioned basement to sleep in. So all in all it was just a great day in general

Damn, its hot.

I gotta go, but we're riding into Omak tomorrow, apparently in the desert of Washington. It has already been really dry here, but I guess it gets drier. We have another hill to climb tomorrow, up to Wauconda Pass (4,310 ft). We're at 2,600 ft now, Omak is at 870 feet, and the climb is early, so I imagine a difficult, but still less challenging day tomorrow. It's also supposed to cool down, finally, into the 80's. Maybe (inevitably) some rain. Oh, and we're in the Cascades now, apparently. I don't know where they started, maybe at that huge river we crossed today (the Columbia)

Looking further ahead, we only have 6 riding days left, but they aren't going to be easy. Through some more mountains and parks, where we're camping, after Omak. We still have the rest of the Cascades, where we're going over two passes in one day (Washington and Rainy...sounds wet), among the daily others, as you may have already taken note of. They're only 4 miles from each other, so I imagine the climb between them won't be too bad. Apparently this side of the pass is not so bad, and the other side is basically all downhill until we get to the coast. Maybe we'll be able to see Mount Rainier on the way??

Alright, sorry for all the blabber. Gotta go.