Day 78: Meteorology, Like an Alcoholic Parent

The sun came out today and hung out for most of the day. It was pretty amazing. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I'm real happy 'bout this. I woke up to the sun and was out the door at 10:30am. I swung by the grocery store to buy today's breakfast/lunch. As I forced down a store-made sandwich, two deer come running through the parking lot; one following right behind the other. They had a slow, steady and consistent pace that made them look like morning joggers. It was weird to say. They stopped outside the pub and started going through trash cans. Nobody in town gave a second look. It was surreal.

Today's climb started at the very edge of town. It was about 13 miles up, and not nearly as difficult as yesterday. I got pretty tired by the end, but it wasn't terrible.

The descent was fun. At one point I stopped to put on a sweater, and forgot to buckle up my left rear pannier. When that happens the buckle hangs low by the wheel, and can easily get caught in the spokes, very possibly causing the bike to spill on the road. Well... I was going 30mph with the strap hanging by the spokes for about 5 minutes, but luckily somehow instead of getting caught in the spokes, it got lodged in with the derailleur. Not sure how bad it would have been had it gone the other way but possibly pretty bad. Grateful for that.

The scenery quickly changed from forest to desert and my downhill was ruined by a nasty headwind. I'm not gonna complain about the headwind, but rather about the forecast that predicted me having a tailwind today. What sort of science is so consistently wrong? Like an alcoholic parent who raises my hopes just to disappoint time and time again. Sober up Meteorology, or you're gonna lose me!

There were some great downhill sections going into Tonasket (sp?), but the headwinds made the afternoon pretty brutal. I ate lunch on a bench outside a Car Wash. Heading south towards Omak was beautiful and some nice riding on a large shoulder. Very busy road though. The map tells you to turn left on an unnamed road and cut through Riverside but all the roads were named! So I just stayed on Hwy 20/97 all the way to Omak the shoulder was really wide and the route was shorter anyways so I regret nothing.

Omak is nice and large. I stayed in a motel again though I really had no reason to do so. The weather was nice. I think I'm just coasting til I hit Seattle. I should be able to recharge and get some of my motivation back while in the city. The motel is cheap and pretty nice. I fall asleep almost instantly and take a long nap.

Tomorrow is another difficult say of riding. Loup Loup Pass is gonna be a 3100ft climb. But luckily tomorrow I'll arrive in Winthrop where I'm gonna stay with my Uncle for a few days; looking forward to that. So Wednesday and probably Thursday I'm not gonna ride. It's always nice when you can stay off the bike long enough to actually miss riding. I have a hunch that tomorrow will be difficult.

In Rainbows might get released tomorrow NIGHT... so that will be pretty amazing. I was trying to decide what my favorite album of the trip was, before the new Radiohead takes over the ipod for the next month. I've decided that its: Final Fantasy - 'He Poos Clouds'. So there you go.

OK . I'm going to sleep. Today took it out of me. Tomorrow's forecast includes rain, but also temperatures up to 70 degrees. I wonder if it counts as an Indian Summer? Either way... I'm really happy 'bout this.