Day 17 – June 29, 2015

Day 17 – June 29, 2015
Pomeroy to Clarkston WA – 31 miles – Temps 102

Bumble Bee – Audrey:

The day started early – again at 3am out the door of our wonderful Motel at 4:30, about 15 mins earlier than the las couple of days. Did not sleep that well since the Motel’s ventilation system was broken and kept blowing in the next door smoker’s smoke into our room. It smelled like an old dive bar, not a pleasant way to enter dream time.

It was nice leaving really early. The sun was lighting up the horizon in a pale blue hue. The roosters were at their morning duty of crowing and waking all the other farm and field animals. We passed sheep, lamas, and a few deer on our morning ride. The weather was different this morning. We felt rain drops off and on, and the sky was overcast. But since it didn’t really rain and which would have broken the heat a bit, it was hotter and humid in the morning. But without the sun it was still pleasant.

We did a nice climb up to a summit, but then an awful downhill for about 6-8 miles. The grades were at about 6% with trucks passing every so often. I have muscle cramps in my hands to contend with since I kept my cantilever breaks slowing me down all the time. Gregg suggested a few months ago that I switch to disc breaks but that would have meant changing my bicycle completely, and I refused. Thousands before me did this trip without disc breaks, so I could do it to! Not only do my hand muscles cramp up a bit, but so do my forearms. I had a recent bought with tennis elbow which has weakened by right arm, and this morning it was especially difficult since somewhere in Pomeroy I lost the elbow brace that I have been wearing. Braceless and a huge hill. No fun for me. The other danger that Gregg reminded me of is the heating up of the break pads and wheel rims that could potentially effect my tires adversely. My solution was to stop every mile or two and take a short break on the side of the road.

But once we reached the bottom it was smooth sailing. Literally, we got a really wide shoulder with smooth asphalt that was smoother than the road, heaven sent! We reached the Snake river in no time. The landscape changed dramatically with brown canyon walls lining another mighty river. In no time we reached Clarkston just 7 miles farther down the HW 12.

The weather was still overcast and I felt good. We stopped for breakfast and I tried to convince Gregg to go another 20 miles to Orofino while the weather was in our favor. We discussed it back and forth, including looking up weather forecasts that predicted the temperatures would rise again over 100. He thought it would be irresponsible to go on. We also looked at the maps and realized it would not give us much. After about 20 miles after Orofino, at Kamiah in the Nez Perce reservation, we had to start a very steep climb up the mountains. We decide to stay in town and do a 41 mile trek to Kamiah tomorrow. We would then face our first tough mountain challenge nice and early the next morning after a good night’s rest and in the early morning cool hours.

We had a nice day. We check in early to the hotel, did laundry, took a nap, went to Walmart, very hard for me to admit this but it was just next to the Quality Inn where we were staying, and even had a chance to visit Lewiston just across the river.

These towns seem very depressed. I was expecting more. I had a vision in my mind that Lewiston was a beautiful old historic town. It had a bit of that but only for about a block or two, after that, the signs of flight were everywhere. As so many towns in this country, main street is dead and boarded up. Not only in Detroit, but most towns are filled with a certain sadness, a certain “this once was a flourishing place” but now it’s dead. Bygones The Mom and Pop shops are all boarded up and gone. Mom and Pop died, the kids had no desire to stay in town. Bygones are bygones. The only youth we saw were strung out kids looking for a quick fix. To be fare, it was 100 degrees outside, no sane person, expect for us and the “tweakers” were out on the street. Yet still, this little town was once very beautiful. Maybe it will rise from its ashes.

We managed to make it to the local Walgreens to replace my arm brace. While shopping we noticed that all the shoppers and the employees were all morbidly obese. A father and son who gave us direction to a hardware store where both at least 400 lbs each, and the sales clerk that check us out was also about 350-450 lbs. He could hardly hold himself up at the counter. I thought to myself, I wonder how these people cope with this heat.

We got back to our hotel to enjoy our free drink vouchers – we each had huckleberry martinis and worked on our blog entries. Just a little more R&R before heading out early tomorrow.

The Bear – Gregg:

It is Monday in Clarkston Washington and I finally find the time and energy to write this. Even though Audrey has found the energy and motivation to keep up her blog entries, I haven’t.

At the end of each day’s ride that began at first light, we find someplace to have breakfast. We eat, drink coffee, glasses of water and orange juice. By the time the meal I was looking forward to the last 10 miles is done, I am ready for a nap. Problem is there is no place to nap. The hotel doesn’t have our room ready an hour before the people still in it have left. Yesterday, we did what we should have been doing for days, we found the city park and took a nap in the shade. Still, when we get to our hotel room, it is time for another nap after a shower.

The problem is, this is not what we planned. We planned to camp most nights. We thought we might get up early, maybe 6:30 or 7:00. Now we get up at 3:00. We have spent a lot of energy carrying a rather extensive cook kit with the expectation that we would cook at least two meals day. Now we cook none.

What has caused us to change our ways. In a word or words, heat wave. Every day since the ride to Dayton, we have faced triple digit temperatures soon after 9:00 A.M. We can’t climb a sizable hill when the sun beats down on us 90 degrees or more, with no prospect of shade. We can’t carry enough water to keep us hydrated for more than 15 miles when the temperature is nearly 100 degrees. We can barely move anywhere when the temperature is nearing 110. The only thing we can do to make progress east is to ride the hours between first light and 9:00. That limits us to about 40 flat miles, and about 30 hilly miles. The stressful thing is we have no margin of error. A flat tire could cost us a half an hour when we have no time to spare. Any really serious mechanical problem would require a thumb and a hopeful look by the side of the road. So far so good. We have been strong and lucky so far.

The short mileage every day is costing us time. In stead of averaging 45-50 miles a day, we are closer to 30 miles a day. We can afford to add a few extra days – we planned for it in our schedule (see excel worksheet – click “Tour”). The problem is this heat wave could go on long enough to eat up all those days we have held in reserve. Right now, the heat wave is predicted to last at least another week. We are already planning on canceling a zero day to make up time. Yes, this is definitely an adventure – a little more than we planned on.