Heat Wave

Mon.  6/14:
Early (5:30) breakfast, then a 50 mile ride to Custer.  Arrived before noon, and it was already in the high 90's.  The day topped out at 104°.  Staying at the Junction City Saloon and Hotel, the only hotel and restaurant in town, but unfortunately, the restaurant is closed on Monday.  Lunch was a sad microwaved chicken burrito from the gas station / convenience store adjacent to the Saloon.  Custer is a 1 stop-sign town.

Denny, the Saloon/Hotel owner was very helpful.  He left me a large chef salad in the room's fridge for dinner.  I had discussed my Tuesday problem (it's 112° now in Forsyth, the next town east) and asked him if he knew anyone with a pick-up truck that would be interested in taking me to Forsyth.  He connected me with Doug,  a retired guy who was happy to drive me in return for $ for gas and time .  

Tuesday 6/15 - Forsyth

Breakfast consisted of Cereal, left over from Harlowton, which also had nothing open for breakfast, and Milk from the gas station.
Doug picked me up promptly @ 10 and we drove the 56 miles to Custer with no A/C.  By the time we got here it was already in the upper 90's.  I feel bad for Doug.  It must have been really hot by the time he got back. 

I checked into the Montana Inn, which had a 3.1/5 rating on Expedia.  This was hands down the worst motel I've ever seen... and I've seen a lot of seedy motels in my travels.  Bad smells everywhere, worn out and dirty carpet.  The room's lights didn't work, shower dripped, bathroom floor was wet.  Carpet was filthy, and it smelled bad.  Other than that everything was peachy!

I hightailed it out of there and checked into the Sundowner, which was twice the price, and worth every penny.

I'm writing this from the Custer / Rosebud library, which serves 2 counties and is a bright, modern library with good computers which allows me to remote into my computer at home and type on a full-size keyboard.

Accuweather says it's only going up to 86 tomorrow, and the winds are favorable (16MPH from NW).  Happy trails!

Big Sky, few people

Fri 6/11  to White Sulphur Springs (WSS)

A long day riding from Helena to White Sulphur Springs.   78 miles with 2850 ft of climbing.  The ride was pleasant, except for the headwinds which started around 10AM and lasted until I turned north after lunch.

Sat. 6/12  to Harlowton

It was pretty cold early Sat. morning, so I slept in, and didn't hit the road until around 11:30.   By then it was warm enough for shorts, but it still never got above 68 the whole day.  The 58 miles was easy... downhill mostly with nice tail winds.   

6/13 to Billings:

Weather forecast is turning hot, especially Mon.  (100+) and Tuesday (108) .   My Sunday ride was planned for Billings, 92 miles, but the winds were now going to come from the East... can't do that distance in 1 day with head winds, so I arranged for a pick-up at the half-way point (Lavina). 

The nice thing about where I'm staying is that there's a diner right next to my hotel which opens
@ 5:30 AM so I can get out early and get to Custer (56 miles, mostly flat) before noon.   The bad news about Custer is that the Junction Saloon, the only bar/restaurant in town, is closed on Mon and Tue, so it will be gas station food for dinner and breakfast tomorrow and Tuesday.   

 

Rain and snow... Let's Go!

Wed. 6/9 

After a morning of bicycle maintenance, haircut and other cleanup items, 

rode over to my cousin Bert's house and spent the rest of the day with Bert, his mom, Florence, and his niece (who he's raising), Isabella... catching up on family history and such.  Carol, Bert's wife, came back from work before dinner, and I cooked a chicken tajine.

Thu. 6/10 
It was raining on and off on Wed. night.  By Thurs morning it was really coming down.  To keep on schedule, I decided to rent a car and drive to Helena... but Missoula has no cars available, so I rented a U-Haul 10' truck.  It rained constantly, and by the time I got to Macdonald pass (6319'), it was snowing hard, but not sticking.

Macdonald pass on US 12

Spokane to Missoula - dodging rain

 Sat. 6/5 - Wet ride to Sandpoint

Starting my day with part of a healthy breakfast (the unhealthy part)

After breakfast, rode through about 30 miles Northeast past Rathdrum Idaho, and the rain started.   Took shelter under a roof in front of a garage, and it just kept coming for almost an hour.  After it let up, rode another 15 miles to Athol, and stopped into Country Boy Cafe, remembering the great burgers there from 2012.   When I went to pay, the waitress told me that the couple in the booth behind me had already paid for my meal.  This has never happened to me before.  I asked the guy, older gentleman who walked with a cane, why?   He said that someone did that for him a few weeks ago and he figured he'd just do that for me.   Go figure!

Several downpours later I arrived, wet and mud-spattered to the Cedar Street Hotel, which used to be a La Quinta, and got in the shower with my bike.  About an hour later the bike and I were cleaned up enough and I headed out for dinner at Baxters, followed by an evening of laundry 

and some light reading..  Gotta love Idaho!

6/6 to Trout Creek

Uneventful ride, except that my plan for lunch at the Hereford Bar and Grill was not to be because the Hereford Bar and Grill burned down 2 years ago, and Google Maps still showed it as being open.   I fixed  the Google Maps entry when I got to a place with cell service, and checked into the Lakeside Hotel and Casino, where I had dinner among the deer, elk, bobcat, bear et. al. that were mounted on the walls.

6/7 to Plains 

Good tail winds, scattered showers, and arrival at the Dew Drop Inn around 6:00 due to delayed departure to avoid some morning rain.  The only restaurant in Trout Creek is closed on Mon and Tue, so I had to make due with a muffin from the Sinclair station / grocery across the street until I got to Thompson Falls for lunch at the High Lead Saloon, Smokehouse and Casino.  Arrived in Plains just before the Butcher's Nook (a Mennonite restaurant and bakery) closed, so picked up a Sticky Bun before proceeding to the Dew Drop.

6/8 to Missoula

After a fine breakfast at the Nook, more rain avoidance.  78 miles and 2,000 ft of uphill for the day.  Unfortunately, both Windmill Bakery and the adjacent cherry stand in Ravalli (about halfway to Missoula) were closed.

Drying Out in Western Washington

 6/3

Onward to Wilbur.  Just north of Ephrata is Soap Lake, where I had stayed during my first x-country ride of this century in 2012, on the way to visit Grand Coulee Dam.  A shining example of what we can do when we put our minds to it.   Below is a shining example of what we can do when we lose our minds;

'nuff said

Landscape looks more like desert.  Without irrigation from the Grand Coulee it would all be...  Otherwise uneventful ride with nice tail winds.   Not as hot, but still in the mid-90's

6/4:  To Spokane

Cooler.   Only mid-80's.  Nice tail winds and a familiar ride.   This is the 4th time along this stretch of road for me.  Dinner at Clinkendagger overlooking Spokane Falls was the high point of the day.

I'll have the Scallops

Spokane Falls from my table.

Cherries hot as hell!

Today's ride was long and very hot!  After a quick breakfast (donuts) at Don's grocery (opens at 5:30) ,
I left Leavenworth at 6:30AM to try to minimize the heat.  

Don's parking lot:  Tesla charging hits Leavenworth, big time

The morning's ride was lovely.  Some US2 riding, but mostly the ride was on side roads along the Wenatchee river, which cascades down, sometimes with violent rapids, sometimes slow and easy.  The entire day's ride was lined with fruit trees (apples, pears and cherries).  In the town of Wenatchee, the "Apple Capital of the World", a dedicated bike trail called "  Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail"  runs about 10 miles along the river.  A smooth,  paved ,dedicated bike path with rest stops about every mile.  

By the time I got to Ephrata it was almost 100°.  By 1PM it was about 93°.   The good news is that on the way to Quincy, there were lots of highway rest stops with bathrooms where I could soak my t-shirt to keep cool.  Quincy also has a nice indoor municipal market with fruit stands, bakeries, coffee etc. Nice stop for a lunch of Ice Cream, cookie, and Yakima cherries. 

Quincy to Ephrata is only 17 miles, but it was all over 95°, and all irrigated orchards.  Clear water ran alongside the farm roads I was on, so there was plenty of opportunity to keep soaking the T-shirt.  

It's easy to win first prize in wet t-shirt contest when you're the only contestant!

They call them "The Cascades" for a reason!

Memorial Day

Started out from Redmond to Skykomish.  About 10 miles after merging onto US 2 in Monroe, I noticed oncoming traffic was crawling.  A quick look at Google Maps showed that the Memorial Day traffic jam would cause the 28 mile trip to Monroe would take 1.5 hr.   Eastbound traffic was light.

unhappy campers returning from their weekend in the mountains

The Skykomish river runs alongside of US 2.  At times, raging rapids.  Reminiscent of Hwy 50 on the way to Echo Summit.  Skykomish is a nice little railroad crossroads.  The Cascadia lodge is an old hotel I stayed at 5 years ago.   Hadn't changed a bit.

June 1   Cascades of water!

First and longest part of the ride was from Skykomish to Stevens Pass, a 3200 ft climb over 17 miles.  

Elevation profile Skykomish to Leavenworth through Stevens Pass

Since US2 runs along a railroad line, the grades are not terribly steep, but it's a long slog up.

All the way up, and much of the way back down, water from snow melt cascades down the sides of the mountains, ending up in the rivers that run along US 2.  

Here's one from the descent about 6 miles below Stevens Pass.:

About 5 miles on either side of the pass, there was snow still on the sides of the road, making the air cool and pleasant.  By the time I arrived in Leavenworth (the faux Bavarian tourist trap town) around 3PM, it was about 93°.

What would a blog post be without a dinner pic?

Stuffed Cabbage with Purple Cabbage, Sauer Kraut and potatoes
They sure like cabbage!

Seattle

 Arrived at San Jose airport (Thanks, Sandy!!) 
Alaska took the bike in the oversized Amtrak box and only charged $30.   This is cheaper than using Amtrak`s package express, and so much faster.

Seattle airport has bike tools and pump in baggage claim!

Unpack and assembly was easy and pretty fast.  Was out of the airport by 12:30, and on the way to Chicken and Waffles lunch at Nue in downtown Seattle.

Chengdu Chicken & Waffles -18

Nue’s Signature Chengdu Fried Chicken Wings Now for Brunch! Green Szechuan Peppercorn, Fish Sauce, Lime, Chili, Basil, Mint, Thai Chili. Served with Real Maple Syrup and a Waffle

then onward to Redmond.

View from bridge (with dedicated bike lane) over Lake Washington

Bike Stolen... In emergency recovery mode

 

Specialized Allez E5.  Stolen May 23, 2021

My wonderful green 2021 Specialized Allez E5 Elite, which I only rode for 9 months, was stolen from bike rack at the back of Palo Alto Medical Clinic.   Yes, it was locked to the rack... but that doesn't seem to count for much these days.

Bicycle theft is an epidemic here in Palo Alto.

so... here is a brief rundown of the other bicycles that I've had stolen here in the past 5 years or so:

2015 Giant Defy II .   Stolen from Caltrain bike car Aug. 2020.

Giant Defy 2012 - Stolen from bike rack in front of Palo Alto City Hall, Jan 2015.

Recovery

Still planning to fly to Seattle this Sunday, May 30 with new bicycle in big Amtrak box.  

2021 Specialized Diverge E5

On Sunday, about 4 hours after the bike was stolen, I purchased the new bike above.  Luckily, the shop that had the bike also had a wheel with stronger spokes.  One of my requirements... since I have always broken spokes when riding on a bike with "stock" wheels.

I then spent the next few days ordering, or buying locally, the rest of the stuff I need to properly equip the bike for this kind of trip:

Serfas stem bag	Magnetic closing stem bag for my phone.
Rear Rack for panniers
Softer seat	Stock seats are horrible.  They will neuter you.
Topeak Road Morph Pump	Lightweight pump with foot holder that can allegedly go to 160psi
Cloth rim tape	Stock wheels have plastic rim tape that will produce flats after a couple thousand miles.
Schwalbe Marathon tires	World's toughest tires.  Have done x-country with this tire with 0 flats
Sigma BC5.16	Bike computer
Lock	Cable lock .   Not the most theft-proof, but not like lugging around lead weights
Rear light
Rear light mounting hardware	Incredibly, most rear lights don't come with rear rack mounting hardware.

Everything is in house now except for the Stem bag, which should arrive on Sunday.

Transporting the bike

Getting myself to Seattle there is easy.   Getting the bike there is another matter.  My preferred method of transporting the bike is Amtrak Package Express service... but Amtrak's website says:

"Amtrak Express shipping is suspended until further notice."

In normal times, you bike into your nearest Amtrak station that has this service (any station that handles checked baggage... here it's Diridon in San Jose).  Pay them about $85, take off the pedals, turn the handlebars 90° and drop them down (4 allen bolts)... and wheel the bike into the box.  Seal it up and they will send it to any Amtrak station that handles checked baggage in the country. 

Other options I considered:

1. Checked Luggage in smallish bike box: 
   This requires paying a bike shop to box the bike up in a box that was used to ship bikes from the manufacturer to the shop.   The Off Ramp in Santa Clara charges $65 to do this and it takes them overnight.  Alaska Air only charges $30 to handle checked baggage and treats bicycles packed this way as standard checked baggage. 
   The downside of this method is that it needs significant re-assembly on the other side, and that carries some risk that I might not have sufficient tools or skills to  do that at my hotel.  No bike shops in the area are open on Memorial Day weekend.   The other downside is I would need to take a shuttle that can fit the bike to get to my hotel in Redmond.  That costs an additional $45.
2. Buy myself a ticket on Amtrak to Seattle and take the bike with me as checked baggage.  Then get off the train and let the bike proceed to Seattle... meet the train at Seattle King St. station, unpack the bike and ride off into the sunset.   This method costs $91 for the ticket, and another $35 for the bike and box.  Carries some risk that if they discover you're no longer on the train they might throw the bike off the luggage car in Sacramento or some other intermediate city... although this is unlikely.  The other downside is that this train doesn't get to Seattle until 9PM... which would add 20 miles and 1000 ft vertical to Monday's ride as I would depart from Seattle instead of Redmond.  Also, Amtrak is notoriously late.. so it might not get in until midnight.
3. Buy a box from Amtrak and check bike as oversized luggage.  This is the option I chose.  
   Alaska air will accept oversized luggage up to 115 linear inches (L+W+D).  The Amtrak box measures 41x70x9 = 120 linear inches.  If I take off the front wheel, I can then carve about 8" off the length of the box, and therefore meet the 115 limit.  Boxcutter and tape.  Wish me luck!

Last challenge... box doesn't fit in the Prius.  To get the empty box home, I had to cram it into the back of the prius, and leave the hatchback door open.  and that was for a flattened box.  My friend, Sandy,  graciously offered to drive me to the airport in his van on Sunday morning after I explained my predicament with tearful eyes and trembling lip.. 

New bike:  Specialized Diverge E5.  Road Ready

New bike trip: Seattle to Boston

 Canada doesn't want Americans yet ... so I'm staying south of the border this year.  

This trip will be about 3,500 miles and 67,000 feet of vertical climb ... all of which will be offset by downhill eventually.  Trip starts with flight to Seattle on Sun. May 30.  Ride starts on Memorial day, May 31.

Map is here:  

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1KpZjD2K8jp5MejDG56Ham9OLJQIn5FY-&usp=sharing