June 25, 2010: Republic to Colville, WA. 57 miles

So my package did not come in to Republic, as Postmistress Cindy promised. After stressing about it for a while I left a note at the desk with instructions. If it comes in today they are going to give it to Michelle of the Woman Tour group one day behind us. If it does not come in today they are going to forward it to Sandpoint, Idaho, where we have our next rest day. Either way I guess I'll get it when we get to Idaho.

We started on a sunny morning, most of us leaving the hotel between 7:15 and 7:30. We had a nice little warmup for the first 2 1/2 miles, and then started our big climb of the day. It was a 15 mile climb, a bit steeper than the ones we've been doing. Dianne said she had a harder time of it today, but I felt the opposite. I think I am getting used to the extended climbing... I was the second of the group to reach the top, with Super Sherrie way ahead of me--I did not see her from the time she left the first sag stop at 11 miles until I arrived at the hotel! Close behind me were CJ, Amy, Patty, Jennifer, and Kathy L. And Kathy took my photo at the top. Then they all screamed on down the mountain while I went a tad slower. I just looked at my bike computer and it told me that my max speed today was 29.7 MPH. I can live with that.

Our nemeses (good scrabble word!) on the road today were logging trucks! There were a lot of them, on both the climb and the descent. At the bottom, after we crossed the Columbia River, we saw the plywood plant that they were all headed to (and where I took this photo). For the most part they were considerate of us on the road.

Once we got to the bottom of the mountain, we had a few short climbs as we passed through rolling hills and farmland on the back roads. This is how I like to ride--the short distance on the busy highway today was enough for me! I rode the last 12 miles with CJ (from Jackson, WY) and we had a great time--much more fun than all this solo riding I've been doing. The photo above is Lake Roosevelt.

I got to the hotel at 1 PM and my room was not quite ready so I walked to a nearby sub shop and got a sandwich and an iced tea. I called home, took a shower, ate my sandwich and then swam 1,000 yards in this wonderful pool at the hotel. Not your usual hotel pool, that's for sure. Now Dianne is here and we are going to try to get some laundry going before we play Scrabble.