Washington Mountains

The days in Washington thus far revolve around a mountain climb. The first day into Chewelah was 74 miles with the climb starting around mile 40. Wade, Theo, Jay, Alli and I made a quick morning and beat the trailer to lunch. Jay talked to a local who recommended an off cue sheet reroute to a diner. We were up for the adventure, that may have even cut off a mile, and enjoyed a great burger 'drowned' in chili. We told the manager what we were doing and she gave us our meal for free. Inconveniently enough, somewhere while we were not paying, I took out my credit card and haven't seen it since. No big deal though, it's all worked out now. The climb was long up flowery trail road but Jay and I took it well and joined Cydney for a long curvy descent. I remember one turn in particular that must have been more than 270 degrees of rotation going in the 30s mph. It was awesome. Hosts provided another great pot luck, I've never eaten a bad pot luck.
The next day I took over sweep for Jon, who's had some saddle sore issues, with Wade for an epic '74 mile' day over Sherman's pass--the biggest mountain pass in the state according to some other bikers. We were having a good ride at the end of the pack in the morning following signs for WA 20 as the cue sheet told us. Lunch should have been at mile 35, so when we hit 38 and still hadn't seen anyone we flagged down a pick-up truck. Turns out we were rolling WA 20 East--not West--for the past 18 miles. We headed for the nearest house and a nice man named Roy let us use his phone--we didn't have service on our cells. I told Nate not to wait for us at lunch, Wade and I were a little off track and would go self supported. Roy left us with a banana and an awesome pice of granola huckleberry bread. Wade and I never discussed if we could do it, only if there would be enough day light. Inconveniently enough I run a flat 3 miles later, and with no extras patch the tube with a self adhesive patch. Flat again within 2 miles--aparently the self adhesive patches are bad for hot weather. Another patch was all we could do, this time the glued kind from Wade--it worked. We got a sub at the grocery store in town and stocked up some granola and water. The climb was intense. Took us about 3 hours to climb the 20 miles in the hottest part of the day--hitting 90's. Of course the descent was worth it--long and awesome, got a video to prove it. We rolled in to Republic about 7:30, just in time for dinner, with 107 miles on the day.
Today started with a climb, not as bad as the past two and led into a descent twice as long as the ascent. Another cafe delayed our day. Then something funny happened. Washington turned desert. Temperatures in the 90s. Didn't know Washington did like this. The last flat 25 miles of the 65 mile day turned out to be quite the unexpected energy drain. Quick shower, nap, and dinner and we're good to go. Kristian's back to finish the ride with us--one of the head B&B guys, organizes all the routes and starts and finishes with us. Good deal.
Another big climb tomorrow. Going into 2 days of camping then only a few more.