Days 1, 2 & 3

We made our departure from Sedro Woolley on time, with the help of our long time friend Ken Blassingame, who provided transport for his wife Cary and her bicycle to our start point.  Alea and Cary started off on a paved section of the Cascade Trail, which quickly became a gravel path and then a gravel trail.  And loose gravel at that, so their progress was slow.  They soon rejoined the Adventure Cycling route that we will follow most of the way across country, but a bit behind schedule.

Alea, Ken & Cary at our start point.

A champagne toast to commemorate the first day of our adventure!

The first day afforded our first chance to get to know our SPOT Gen3 a bit better (that's our GPS messaging device).   The MiFi worked well initially, but later in the day managed to find a cell tower that wasn't connected to the internet.  We also lost some tracking messages due to the steep terrain blocking the view of the SPOT satellite.  That was a bit anxiety-producing, until we figured out why we were out of touch with one another.

To limit our anxiety, we’ve adopted a leapfrog approach to our travels, where Loraine (the van) is driven ahead and stops along the route to wait until the rider(s) catches up.  That also means that the rider can easily resupply and not need to worry about where to get fresh water or snacks.

That approach was a godsend on the second day, when I rode 50 miles or so uphill from Marblemount (about 315’ elevation) to Washington Pass (5,477 ft elevation).  The total elevation gain was likely over 6,000 ft, since there were four significant downhills, the last about two miles long.  I did OK for the first 30 miles or so, but after that heat and fatigue slowed me down to a crawl.  I suspect I easily downed a gallon of ice water in the several stops where Alea and Carey stopped to resupply me.  Early in the day it was rare when I wasn’t doing at least 10 mph on most uphill sections, but by the last few miles of climbing I could barely manage 5 mph, and my endurance was about at its limit.  Thankfully, from there it was a fast downhill (max. speed 41.7 mph, at which point I started applying the brakes) to Lone Fir Campground.

A small sample of the scenery in the North Cascades.

Steve, on one of many refueling stops on Hwy 20.

The final summit on Day 2: into the smoke of forest fires.

Cary's vacation chateau at Lone Fir Campground.

Day 3 started with a mostly downhill ride for Alea and Cary for the first 30 miles, so we hit the road early and ate breakfast in a diner in Winthrop.  While there, we learned that the closing papers for our house would be ready to sign this afternoon at 4 pm in Okanogan, an added incentive to press on so that we could arrive there early in the afternoon. 

Alea and Cary ride through Twisp, WA.

illLana goes for a walk with the locals in Twisp, WA.

The route continued predominantly downhill until the ascent up Loup Loup Pass (about 10 miles long).  This was a significant moment for both Alea and Cary, as that was a far longer climb than either had trained for or anticipated.  That was at least an 8 mile climb (perhaps as much as 10 miles), and with the uphill and downhill (but most downhill) ride over the remainder of the ride added up to around a 66 mile day (a lot of time to spend in the saddle).  So we are officially ahead of schedule right now, but about 20 miles or so.

Alea and Cary take a break half way up Loup Loup Pass.

Cary at Loup Loup Pass.

We are camped at the American Legion Park in Okanogan tonight.  It's only $10 per night for us, plus another $5 for Cary.  There's lots of shade, plenty of access to the river (Lana needed a bath), free wi-fi and there are showers available.  The downside is that the locals use the showers, though we haven't seen any of them after 6 pm, so we are thinking there must be a sort of gentleman's agreement in effect in that regard.  There is no water spigot handy, so we also had to form a sort of bucket brigade in order to top off the camper's 8 gallon freshwater tank.  

Loraine and #531 at Okanogan's American Legion Park.

Right now we are running our generator to power the AC in an effort to cool off our camper.  We ran it initially to top off the camper battery and to recharge all of our electrical devices.  We restocked on supplies this evening, since there will be limited opportunities over the next few days.  Our goal for tomorrow is to camp near Wauconda on Hwy 20.

By the way, as much as Lana has always enjoyed camping, she likes it that much better with three plates to lick after each meal...