day 11 up, up, up, and down...

The Tents are wet from lastnights thunderstorm and we are right on the edge of Shermans Pass. After saying thanks to the man that let us sleep on his yard we immediately started climbing. 15 miles was not to intimidating after suffering two 20 plus mile mountians, it was the grade that got us huffing and puffing up Sherman. Motorcyclist after motorcyclist zipped by us, sometimes leaving us in peace, sometimes yelling at us to get off the road. Pedaling for around 2 hours, Hank summited sherman pass. Waiting for 40 minutes, Beau and Evan peaked over the hill with the biking couple we 've been running into since diablo. Another 40 minutes Donald and Kane made it to the 5575 elevation point of Sherman Pass. Snapping some more Ginyu Force Pictures and swallowing a couple cliff bars we started our 20 mile descent. Drafting behind Kane had us speeding down at 40 plus mph. Sprinting the straights and leaning into the tight corners as mile posts flew by, the clouds rolled in and started a light shower. Reaching the end of the glorious downhill we reached the bridge that will bring us into Kettle Falls over the Columbia River. With the rain not stopping we rushed up another hill to the nearest Resteraunt. Tired and starving, Beau ordered fish and chips with a clam chowder soup, donald had a 6 inch chicken bacon ranch sandwhich and Hank had the same except for a foot long. Kane ordered the kalzone, even after the waitress warned him how large it is. We also had a large pizza to share, with bread sticks and onion rings for an appitizer. When the main entrees arrvied, a football sized kalzone sat in front of kane. Already full from the apps, he begun the manly feat of devoring the monstrous-folded pizza. An hour later we moaned in pain with our plates empty. The t.v. behind us showed the spokane news talking about the flooding in Minot North Dakota. Planning to celebrate Hank's birthday in Minot, we got a little nervous if the water would recede in the next month. Leaving the restruant we briefly learned from the biking couple (who we are now naming "catdog") that there is free camping on the lawn of the vistor center. A small band had the lawn occupied, not wanting to be kept up for a couple more hours we started to ask the locals of places to camp. Some recommened us to a spot on the columbia, and one elderly man offered his 40 acre property to us. Taking him up on the offer we took off, tired from the pass and massive dinner we just wanted sleep. Passing a campground sign, we remembered we also wanted a shower from the lack of one the last couple days. Descending into the camp we found no showers, but did find a cheap campsite on the river. A quick camp set up, and visit to the river, used up the last of our energy and we one by one drifted into our peaceful deep sleep that only 8 hours and a mountain pass on a bike can induce.