Team Gerty went big today. Got to where we hoped to get but it was way harder than I anticipated. Had to deal with another one of those things that starts with p and ends with ass. Have I mentioned that I’m really tired of those things.

Today started pretty poorly. The casino had a great breakfast menu that Dennis and I dreamt about. Problem…not open today. Devastating!

Then our navigator (me) missed not 1, but 2, turns getting out of town. 4 “bonus” miles.

Next town on the route was small and had nothing. We had no choice but to head to Tonasket. Then our luck started to change. Road construction. 1 lane with a pace car. The road crew loaded our bikes in the back of a truck and drove us 3 miles to end of 1 lane stretch. That took care of 3 of the “bonus” miles.

As soon as we arrived in Tonasket (32 miles in), we spotted Shannon’s. Breakfast we’d been searching for and the nicest people. They get lots of cyclists stopping there. It was great!

We left Tonasket about noon for Republic. 41 miles. 27 of those uphill to Wauconda Pass. Loupy Loupy was no joke joke yesterday and Wauconda was as difficult.

It was pretty hot and my water was so warm it was like drinking sand! We spotted a little restaurant a couple miles from summit. Unfortunately it has been closed for a while. We could see an ice cream machine through the window. That was a mean tease!

A couple more miles of brutal climb and we reached the summit. That’s 4 passes summitted in 3 days. Don’t try that at home.

We (primarily me) were exhausted and still had 14 miles to go. It’s usually downhill all the way from the summit. Of course, not this time. Definitely downhill but a couple of big ups thrown in to torture us.

We finally made it to Republic about 6:30PM. I am really tired and will sleep well.

Dennis thinks this first week will be the toughest part of trip. I REALLY hope he’s right. I can’t do much tougher.

One more big pass tomorrow and that will be the last for a few days.

Ride on.

Just Pete