Thursday, June 26, 2008 – Day 4

Start: Odessa, Washington
End: Spokane, Washington
Miles: 81.99 Total Miles: 342.50
Time: 5 hours 24 minutes (avg 15.1 MPH)

Today, the wind was our friend.

After a wonderful breakfast provided by the great people at Odessa High School, we loaded up the truck and were on our way to Spokane.

I didn’t hear a weather report before leaving, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was a mild morning and I like that for riding. The first town we reached was called Harrington. Not a lot going on there so I continued on. Shortly after leaving Harrington, I met a friend. He was watching me as I was riding by so I stopped to say hi.

After leaving my friend, I rode a bit more until I just wanted to stop and take in all the beauty around me. As I was resting on the side of the road, the silence was broken by a couple of riders coming up the hill.

I also wanted to show what we still had ahead of us on this stretch of the road.

The next town was Davenport. It was a neat little place. We then had to take on a 9 mile gradual climb. It was not something I was looking forward to, but it had to be done. Once I started up the hill, I realized I had the wind on my side. There was a tail wind that pushed us all the way up the hill. 9 miles uphill at between 17 and 20 miles per hour is just fine with me.

After the long climb, we entered Reardon. Another small town. We stopped at the local library for a water bottle refill. I thought it was funny that the library didn’t open until 5pm. Where I am from, the libraries are open all day long.

Further up the road, after a short detour due to a motor home fire on our route, I stopped to give an idea of what we are looking at for most of the day.

This is what looks like up close.

If you turn and look across the road, this is a good example of many of today’s miles.

I reached a sign that said Spokane County and it was amazing how the scenery changed. Instantly there were pine trees all around. That is what has amazed me most…the way the landscape changes from one area to the next and how fast it does so.