Wallace to Rockport State Park, WA

Well its been a while since I've been able to post. I did such a great job keeping this thing updated for most of the trip only to go for a week and a half at the end with nothing. It wasn't all my fault, I promise. We camped out and were in rural parts of Washington for several nights, but you'll learn about that soon enough if you keep reading this post... so here we go.

As best as I can remember after all the madness of the last few days

Wallace to Coeur d'Alene was an absolutely gorgeous ride. We started the day by climbing a small pass called Camel's Hump, and then just before lunch we climbed the Fourth of July Pass (even though it was August 2nd). The second pass was on the interstate, but even still it was an awesome ride. We ate lunch at the top of the pass and then descended into the toursity town of Coeur d'Alene. We had another pretty big climb up to a bridge a couple hundred feet high before cruising into town. I got there early, and an arts festival was going on. After a quick nap a group of us went swimming in Coeur d'Alene lake and then walked around the festival for a while. I even got some Huckleberry Lemonade while walking around. Delicious! Then we ate ravioli and then a group of us went back to town for a little while since it was going to be a short day into Spokane.

The next morning was a Sunday, and we had a very short ride into Spokane, our first stop in our last state. I was riding sweep with Katharine, and a local chiropractor was awesome enough to give free adjustments to any riders who wanted it done. Since I was sweep and had to be last anyways, I jumped at the chance and definitely enjoyed it. We left the church almost an hour after the main group which waited on us at the the state line. We took group pictures there before heading down the bike trail into town. A few miles out we stopped and went swimming at a great water hole with giant rocks (but not deep enough to jump off of), and then road in to the Fourth Memorial Church we would be staying at for two nights.

Our build day in Spokane went pretty well. We were working on the house where the Habitat's Americorps volunteers will be living starting in September. The local chapter was between builds at the time, but it was good to be able to help out in any way that we could.

I don't remember much about the ride from Spokane to Wilbur. We camped out that night, the first time of the trip, and it was a lot of fun. It turns out Bike & Build and camping do work well together, and I think we were ready faster the next morning than usual.

Wilbur to Omak was a hard ride. In a flashback that eerily familiar to our days in Nebraska, the morning started out hot, windy, and hilly, and just plain hard. Then we descended down to the Coulee Dam on a long downhill only to have to climb back out before lunch. We stopped at a farmer's market for lunch where we were treated to free apple cider and popcorn while we ate. Emily had fallen just before lunch. and although everything ended up being okay, they took her to the emergency room just to be safe. Lunch was a little longer than usual, and then Lisa and I decided to brave the wind and hills together for the last half of the day. A special surprise came for us when we reached Distautel Pass (which I didn't know was coming) and we had to climb for what seemed for ever. At what we thought was the top Lisa and I took a break only to discover once we got up that there was still more climbing to do after a short downhill. By the time we reached the "real" top of the pass, the van had just caught us and we stopped for a short water break. The last 15 miles or so from here were literally all downhill. We saw Omak from 8 or 9 miles out, and just descended the entire way in. The downhill definitely made the day easier because we were all toasted after the climb.

Descending into Omak was great, but that just meant we had to climb out of it the next day. Just as we were leaving Omak we began climbing Loup Loup Pass. I started riding very strong, and feeling pretty good. About 4 miles into the climb I stood up to get some momentum, leaned too far over my handle bars, and something funny happened. My front wheel locked up just a little and I went toppling over the front. Luckily I landed pretty gracefully (well no one saw it happen, but it felt graceful), and I didn't injure myself. Unfortunately, I bent a few spokes in my front wheel and wasn't able to ride it anymore. Luckily again though, Julie was totally awesome and let me borrow her wheel for the rest of the trip! So I continued riding, caught up with Lisa and Joe when Lisa had a flat, and we made it to the top together. I was pretty shaken up after my fall, and after a pretty long lunch we headed into the town closest to Early Winters to hang out for the afternoon. We sat in a coffee shop all afternoon before heading to our camp ground for the night (about 12 miles away). The park hosts who were there were a really neat couple from British Columbia who I talked to for a while before taking a book and my mp3 player down to the river and reading until dark.

From Early Winters to Rockport State Park was my favorite day of the trip hands down. we started the day with a climb up Washington pass. It was 15.5 miles long, and literally started about 100 yards from where we were camping. Joe was driving that day, but he decided to do the first climb with us, descend back down, and then go get the van. He, Chad, Jake Schorr and I rode together off and on through out the whole climb, all grouping up right before an awesome set of switchbacks that took us up to the top of the pass. As you reached the upper switchbacks you could see the Cascades for what seemed forever. After taking pictures at the elevation sign Joe went to get the van while Chad, Jake, and I back tracked just a little to cheer people on up the hill. After a while we descended and then immediately climbed Rainy Pass where most of the rainclouds on the west coast drop their rain before going over the mountains. From there, it seemed like it was all down hill. We followed the rivers down stream past several lakes which I don't remember all of the names of (except Diablo Lake), and several dams meaning our elevation just kept dropping. The water at these lakes was a beautiful green blue, and all of the vegetation was breathe taking. Lisa, Courtney, Kate, Jake Schorr, Hana, and I all stopped at a huge waterfall and played for a while before second lunch. Jake Schorr's dad met us at second lunch where he had fresh strawberries for all of us! He also told us he had an amazing dinner for us once we got the campsite! I was one of the last people to leave second lunch (sweep almost had to chase me out), and Marty, Lindsey, Jess, and I rode the rest of the way in. Along the way we stopped at a really cool blueberry farm where several of the other bike and builders were picking berries. We mooched off of them for a while and then headed to the campgrounds. I was on the road for 10 hours that day. Then Jake Schorr's dad, Josh, had a great grill cookout for us before leading us in the Shabbot, the Jewish worship service celebrated starting on Friday night.

And that's where I'll end this post. I know I still have the ride to Everett and of course Seattle to tell about, but I'm still used to going to bed early for Bike & Build. Maybe I'll get around to it tomorrow.