I can't tell you how many times over the past several days I have checked to make sure I'm in my lowest gear. I am spinning with all my strength, going 6 miles and hour and I'm sure there's one lower gear left so I check. Nope, I'm in the lowest gear possible and there's nothing to do about it. But whatever gear I was in, I made it up and over another mountain pass today. This time the climb occurred at the beginning of the day, when we were all fresh as can be and happy to be on the road. Still, it took almost half the day to get to the top of Sherman Pass (elevation 5575 feet), only 17.2 miles into the ride. The trip down was fast, even though we stopped at the many lookouts and interpretive centers on the way.
Just after crossing the Columbia River, Ellen, Mary and I went into the town of Kettle Falls to find a place for lunch. The first place looked promising but on Saturdays they close the restaurant and turn into a soup kitchen. They offered us some soup but we decided to look for something a little more refreshing on a hot day. We ended up at a cooperative deli in town where I had a veggie taco and a berry smoothie (including marionberries, something I had never heard of before).
Of course once we got closer to our destination of Colville, headwinds picked up. We had about five people together which made the workload a little lighter and we pulled into the Colville Inn a bunch of hot but happy bikers.
Tomorrow we are staying at the Bear Paw Camp in Newport – our last day in Washington State. It doesn't sound like an internet kind of place but if it has clean sheets and a clean shower I'll be happy.
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