Day 90: Hot Day, Short Day

Today was a short biking day for a few reasons: take it easy on the legs after two mountain passes and before two more, it’s hot here, get us to the bottom of the next pass so we can start it before it gets hot.

We got up and had breakfast in the motel room. MJ went next door to the coffee shop to get some good coffee and ended up chatting with the owner for a while and closing some loose ends on the situation (yes, it is a sun-contracted DMV and also a church) while I was feeling lazy and had the in room keurig coffee.

The ride today wasn’t too hilly. There was a gradual rolling up away from the river and then we coasted back down to the river. We were back and forth between side roads and the main driving route. Overall, it was nice biking and the scenery is still so striking. It’s crazy how you cross one mountain and it’s like you’re on a different planet in terms of terrain.

We got to Omak a bit before eleven and quickly stopped by the visitor center. I finally found a few post cards after not seeing any since Glacier. We also learned a bit about the Stampede, a huge rodeo that happened last weekend and has been going on annually for ages. Every year there’s a suicide race down a super steep hill and across the river. There’s a huge stadium down by the river as well. The town was pretty quiet, but it must have been packed last weekend.

Biking through town we spotted a good looking cafe and stopped in for an early lunch. We both got sandwiches and MJ got a slice of cake for dessert. The decor was pretty cool and the food was excellent. A great stop overall.

It was never cool today, but biking post lunch was notably warmer. We only had about five miles to go and I’m glad it was only that. Okanogan is the next town over from Omak. It’s been a while since I left one town and immediately entered another. There’s been lots of unincorporated space between towns for the past month or so.

The motel allowed us to check in early and MJ went out exploring while I showered and rested for a bit. I went into town to the local brewpub and got a beer and nachos and read. MJ joined me there for a while - she had been at the library and then the cafe in the grocery store. I wandered back by way of the grocery store. I mostly just needed pita bread or similar, but no luck finding it. However, I did find slices of cake and a yogurt which I can have for breakfast instead and save my last pita for lunch tomorrow. Win! Hopefully, I’ll have better bread luck along the route tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Loup Loup Pass and then we’ll see how far past it we get. It’s a bit over 100 miles between here and Diablo Lake where we want to camp at North Cascades National Park so the longer we go tomorrow, the shorter our day the day after.