Flat

An epic day! We rode 64.5 miles from Biggs, OR to Crow Butte State Park in WA. The first half had a few large hills and some smaller hills, followed by a relatively flat stretch. After 40-ish miles of desolate nothingness and stifling heat, we hit a scratch on the map called Roosevelt at 5:30pm, where I thought we'd call it a night. But after chocolate milk & ice cream, we felt revived, and decided to go another 22 flat miles to Crow Butte State Park, since its website promised HOT showers, something Roosevelt's park lacked. Those 22 miles weren't so bad, although I started to drag in the middle because my butt is really sore on my bike seat by the end of each day. After about 20 miles, as the sun was fading, we could see Crow Butte. It looked like heaven. We dreamed of hot showers. And then I got a flat tire. Argh! Doug changed it pretty easily, but by the time we rolled into camp, it was 9:30 and getting dark. And mosquitoey. We ate veggie soup and Gatorade for dinner while swatting away bugs like maniacs, then made the trek in the dark to...COLD SHOWERS. Let me not downplay the degree to which the dream of hot showers got me through those 22 miles. It was my guiding light. And yet...at this point...even cold showers weren't too bad. We were each covered in the nastiest layer of sweat, sunscreen, and road grime. Today we switched sunscreens, too, and it's a more liquid kind with the gross side effect of pilling into grey squiggly, slimy critters on our arms & legs when we rub it on our sweaty skin. So disgusting!!! So needless to say, our desire to get clean overrode our desire to avoid the cold shower. I'm crossing my fingers for a motel tomorrow, though!

Doug started uploading our photos on Picasa. They aren't labeled, and are somewhat out of order, but you can check them out if you'd like.

http://picasaweb.google.com/doug.ricket