We left Newport a few minutes before 6 a.m., planning to eat breakfast at a restaurant a few miles away that our motel host told us about. However, when we got there it was closed, and a nearby Subway didn't open until 7, but fortunatelya an espresso place was in the vicinity, so we had a scone and I had coffee with it. Not much to go on when you're burning in the neighborhood of 200-300 calories an hour, so after about 14 miles and one long hill climb we got to a convenience store and feasted on yogurt, a banana, and some baked potato chips. Shortly after that we had a glorious downhill run of about 6 miles. A bit after that we were passed by and briefly talked to a young girl from Utah on a tour by herself. She had been to the Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier Park, and now was on her way to Seattle, an then San Francisco. She seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. After our char, she took off, and within five minutes she was about 1/2 mile ahead of us and the gap was quickly widening - in spite of the fact that we were going between 12 and 18 miles per hour at the time! Ah youth!
By the time we were in the outskirts of Spokane, it was getting very hot. One electronic sign said 93 degrees, and another said 84 degrees, Either way, it was too hot to be on the road on a bike! However we had to deep chugging along. Stopped at a place to get into some air conditioning, and get a cold drink. Then Bill walked over to a bike shop to get some advice on the best way to get out of Spokane the next day. After that we proceeded down a very busy road, took a detour through residential neihborhoods to escape the traffic, until we got to a Verizon Wirelss store where Bill ended up buying a new cell phone because he battery was about shot on his old one, and of course you can't get a new battery, you have to get a new cell phone. And then of course he also had to buy a new charger, but the saleswoman said that they have finally started making the chargers universal so from now on he won't have to buy any more chargers if he gets new phones. It's about time, don't you think? The sales people were then kind enough to help us find a nearby motel, which happened to be 1/2 mile up the road, so we were relieved to finally get off the road and our bikes into an air conditioned room and a shower! We had gone 46 miles - more than we have cycled in one day for some time.
Today we also left quite early to beat the heat. A very long hill climb out of the Spokane River Valley slowed us up quite a bit, and it waa already starting to get warm as we neared the top. From then on it was level or up and down, but it seemed mostly up! They were generally long gentle ups however. Stopped in Reardon for lunch, and then completed our 41 mile day with a 13 mile hot and windy ride to Davenport. Going across eastern Washington is going to be more about survival than enjoyment! We'll be very happy to see those Cascade Mountains! Our motel here in Davenport has an interesting building next door that houses the motel office, and an ice cream shop. Needless to say, we had some ice cream when we got here. I took a couple pictures I'll post tomorrow.
Tomorrow it's supposed to cool off to the 70's, and we have only a 28 mile day, so that's something to look forward to. :)
Riding on.......
Carol & Bill
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