Just the Basics: Almost 32 miles today, with about 1100 feet of climbing. We are coming into a period with increasing possibility of rain and, indeed, the clouds threatened all day and we were sprinkled on a couple of times - most notably the last couple of miles into Wilbur. However, riding conditions were good on US 2 - mostly wide shoulders and good visibility and not much traffic most of the time; it was also cool. = )
We are making our way north between Adventure Cycling's Lewis and Clark Bike Route and their Northern Tier Cross Country Route; we're about 80% of the way across the State of WA from west to east. We have climbed nearly a mile since Pasco.
Plan for the Next Few Days: Wed: Ride 29 miles to Davenport and spend Wednesday and Thursday nights there (80% chance of rain on Thursday); we have a motel booked in Davenport. Friday we get on the road as early as possible, planning to arrive at the White Willow Motel in Fruitland, WA (about 35 miles) by 1 p.m., where we will hole up over the Memorial Day weekend to avoid the holiday traffic, leaving for Kettle Falls, WA on Tuesday morning, 6/1.
For Those Who Want More: Today's picture was taken because we have again encountered a bunch of the Railroad Motor Cars (Speeders) we enjoyed so much in Othello. This time it is a group of the Speeder enthusiasts on a weekend excursion out of Wilbur - it's an annual affair and they had almost all the rooms in town booked; we got the last one at The Willows, one of the 3 motels in town!
Nice Stories of the Day: (1) We stopped at a Conoco station as we arrived in town, mainly to use the restrooms. As is our practice when we do that, we bought something - in this case a couple of crackers and cheese packets. The clerk (Indian or Pakistani?), insisted on giving us something to drink for free - he offered soda, coffee, cappuccinos! We finally took a shared cup of coffee. We said it was very welcome after a long day of riding and he said he thought it would be and again urged us to have more!
(2) We desperately needed to do laundry today and there is a small laundromat across from the motel - small town, small laundromat, no soap dispenser. The live-in motel manager insisted on giving us some of her own laundry detergent. There's a little local brochure in our room touting the charms of this area; the pages about Wilbur detail a number of ambitious projects undertaken by citizen volunteers - building and equipping athletic fields for school and town use, replacing an aging pool and bandstand, purchasing and installing playground equipment in a park and at the school, etc. Our own experience here certainly speaks to what fine folks live here!
We are making our way north between Adventure Cycling's Lewis and Clark Bike Route and their Northern Tier Cross Country Route; we're about 80% of the way across the State of WA from west to east. We have climbed nearly a mile since Pasco.
Plan for the Next Few Days: Wed: Ride 29 miles to Davenport and spend Wednesday and Thursday nights there (80% chance of rain on Thursday); we have a motel booked in Davenport. Friday we get on the road as early as possible, planning to arrive at the White Willow Motel in Fruitland, WA (about 35 miles) by 1 p.m., where we will hole up over the Memorial Day weekend to avoid the holiday traffic, leaving for Kettle Falls, WA on Tuesday morning, 6/1.
For Those Who Want More: Today's picture was taken because we have again encountered a bunch of the Railroad Motor Cars (Speeders) we enjoyed so much in Othello. This time it is a group of the Speeder enthusiasts on a weekend excursion out of Wilbur - it's an annual affair and they had almost all the rooms in town booked; we got the last one at The Willows, one of the 3 motels in town!
Nice Stories of the Day: (1) We stopped at a Conoco station as we arrived in town, mainly to use the restrooms. As is our practice when we do that, we bought something - in this case a couple of crackers and cheese packets. The clerk (Indian or Pakistani?), insisted on giving us something to drink for free - he offered soda, coffee, cappuccinos! We finally took a shared cup of coffee. We said it was very welcome after a long day of riding and he said he thought it would be and again urged us to have more!
(2) We desperately needed to do laundry today and there is a small laundromat across from the motel - small town, small laundromat, no soap dispenser. The live-in motel manager insisted on giving us some of her own laundry detergent. There's a little local brochure in our room touting the charms of this area; the pages about Wilbur detail a number of ambitious projects undertaken by citizen volunteers - building and equipping athletic fields for school and town use, replacing an aging pool and bandstand, purchasing and installing playground equipment in a park and at the school, etc. Our own experience here certainly speaks to what fine folks live here!
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