Resting in The Methow, bike repairs, Nate!

Hi! So I made it successfully over Rainy and Washington passes yesterday (even ahead of schedule! I beat Nate to the cabin). It was a bit of a slog up Rainy, but I felt strong and up to the task. I also felt damp, as it had been intermittently pissing rain on me the day before, and my shoes were still soaked through. I was happy that I was able to set up camp in the rain and then stay toasty and dry inside. I fell asleep to the sound of raindrops, after reading the first chapter of my assigned summer reading on my new kindle (thanks Smith Lab, you guys are the best!).

Anyway, here are some pics from the passes. I was pretty pooped, so I didn't make much of an effort to get the best shots.





Rainy pass
After Rainy pass there is a quick and steep 1.5 mile drop before a 3.5mile slog up to Washington Pass-you can imagine how much I was cursing that downhill (knowing I was immediately going to have to go back up it, it's hard to enjoy it).
Here are some pics from Washington Pass:






After the passes was the steep descent into Mazama. I met Nate on the side of the road, and he walked the quarter mile with me back to the cabin that his family has partial ownership of. Nate proceeded to stuff me full of fresh wild-caught salmon that he cooked on the grill.


Me scrutinizing the wine (it was very good, actually).



Stretching out my tired legs.

Today I am taking a rest day with Nathan at the cabin. We stopped by the grocery store this morning and I restocked my clif bar store, as well as batteries for my SPOT. By the way, I don't think I'll be using the "track progress" function, as it requires my phone to be on all day. Because I don't know when I'll be able to charge my phone I prefer to leave it off. I'll turn it on in the eve for a bit so I can send out a check in/ok message. Sorry mom! Also, the SPOT uses more battery power than it advertises...

We also stopped by a bike shop today, where they tightened some screws in my brake levers. One of them was starting to point inwards instead of straight ahead-not good!

Tomorrow I'm planning on leaving town and heading over Loup Loup Pass to camp in either Omak or Riverside. The next day I'll bike over Wacounda Pass and camp in Republic, then the next day go over Sherman Pass, when I'll finally be done with passes until I reach the Rockies!

I'll post when I can, and you can check my the shared page for my SPOT to view my check in messages in the mean time (I think those get posted there, too?. See link in previous posts.

Onward!
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