Day 5--Three Little Piglets in One Room . . . Again

Friday 12 June, 2009
Okanogan to Tonasket, WA

We are five days into the ride and I’m already having trouble keeping track of the date and place. At the moment we are in Tonasket, WA in The Junction Motel. We were supposed to climb Waukoma Pass today and take a rest day tomorrow, but Rick talked all into riding two short days and skipping the rest day, i,e, stopping before the climb—this because muscles are sore from so much climbing. We are at the foot of tomorrow’s climb, Waukoma Pass at 4,310 feet. After Waukoma Pass tomorrow, we have Sherman Pass at 5,575 feet.

All of this initial climbing is tough on all of us, and we grey-hairs in particular. Bill Upton, from OR, and I are the same age. I am pulling 45 pounds in the bike trailer plus another 5 or so in my handlebar and underseat bags. At times it feels like I am dragging an anchor. But I'll stop whining here. Because we stopped early, we had a short day and no passes to climb and the route for the most part was through a beautiful mountain lined valley.  

Hot day requiring several water breaks

Green valley (watered from the O. River of course) in our now more deserety terrain

Route 20/US-97 east

Many ranches with these huge entrances, but I particularly liked this one with its "stop" sign

Riding along the Okanogan River into Tonasket; check out the sawtooth mountains on our right

Me at a water break; Rick and I rode together today

Pink grass at roadside

Rick and I got to Tonasket before the others and stopped at the famous Shannon’s, just the other side of the bridge, to catch the others as they rolled in.

Tim, Bill H. and Kevin at Shannon's

Shannon posing with Kevin

After checking out the camping possibilities, Rick decided that we shouldn’t camp. He had already decided that we should skip our rest day. It can get pretty confusing when the leadership is so muddled. Anyhow, Kevin and Bill H. got a hotel room; then there was some confusion among the rest of us because I wanted to camp in Shannon’s side yard, a landmark camping spot on the AC Northern Tier Trail, but Rick didn’t think I should camp there alone and somehow signed me into a single bed motel room with both Tim and Diane . . . and a very saggy cot. Damn.

I volunteered to sleep on the cot as I didn’t want Tim there with his cramping. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Tim and Diane slept in the only bed . . . with a blanket rolled between them. My tent would have been the better choice, but I am finding that I have no voice on this ride, or if I do make a suggestion, it’s heard as being negative, i.e., not agreeing with something.

The group is pretty diverse. The only other woman at this juncture is Diane Robertson, from NJ. She is riding to raise money for NJ battered women’s shelters, one of which she stayed in for three months with her two daughters several years ago. She is 52, speaks little, is always on her cell phone coordinating her charity ride, and usually sets up her tent post-ride and that's the last we see of her until supper. Sometimes she even stays in  her tent through supper for which she substitutes power bars and pills. The pills, I think are why she looks blank and is often slow to respond when one speaks to her.

With us also is Bill H. a Tulsa lawyer and a strong rider, usually the first to the summit. He wears no helmet or cycling clothes. Then there is Rick from Palm Desert, California, a retired corporate pilot. His girlfriend, Pat, will meet us at RAGBRAI and ride it with us. She and Rick have a place in Paris and will be headed there after the Iowa ride. Rick is an alpha male and so is Kevin, so there are some undercurrents. We also have Bill U. from Oregon, my age, and a retired math teacher. We met his wife, Ann, an Englishwoman, in Bellingham after she drove Bill up to the ride start in Washington. Bill is very pleasant, laid back, and eager to please, smiling and smoothing my and Kevin's rough spots. Tim is also along, a strong rider and a caring guy from OKC, who is knowledgeable about bike mechanics and twitches our gearing etc. for us. He worries about the tail of the dog and often rides back to see how  Diane and I are doing. And then we have the guy who originated the ride: Kevin, from Oklahoma. He is 60, an entomologist retired from the pest control business but now managing a group of storage units he had built behind the pest control business.

So far we are shaping into a pretty good group of riders and friends. We are getting stronger day by day. It is beautiful and wild country out here. We are now on the dry side of the mountains so are seeing a lot of tumbleweeds, sage, scrub, and ranches, Also saw deer today, lying quietly in the shade of the sagebrush.

We said good-bye to Peter today. He wanted to continue over Wauconda Pass, so left us.