Day 15 Change your pants or you'll be tazzed

A very sluggish morning started with a free breakfast at the hotel, consisting of waffles, biscuits with gravy, and juice. Having our fill of the buffet, everyone took a nice dip in the hottub as Hank packed up his gear to meet an old friend. Living in Sandpoint five years ago, Hank had a couple of people in mind he wanted to visit, one of them being Bob Staton. Currently working at the Bonner Mission Gospel, Bob invited us to stay in one of the rooms under the condition we followed the mission's rules. Having a nice reunion and lunch, Hank rode back to Sandpoint were the rest of the guys were taking care of Kane's most recent mishaps; the cracked rim. The local bike shop placed a order for a new XT hub and spokes which will add 4 more spokes to his rear wheel, incresing the weight capacity. To our surprise the order will arrive by the next morning, and the wheel built by the evening. Kane now bikeless, we started our three mile walk to the Gospel Mission. Walking on the 6 inch shoulder of the highway for a good half mile, the rain started to crash on us. Taking shelter under a tree at the Sandpoint vistor center, Kane called for a taxi, and the rest of us put on our rain gear. Arriving at the mission we were greated by Carl sitting on the front porch. Once introductions were made, the boys got a tour of camp. Three buildings connected together by added hallways dived the kitchen from the office and dorms. The Kitchen also housed the commons area for daily bible study, and a room for Carl, who managed and lived at the Mission. Wayne, a older small stout man reminding us of Popeye showed us the dorms. Another small commons room filled with christain reading material, and a closet filled with donated clothing for vistors who were in need. Behind, was a large restroom with showers and laundry facilties. Across the bathroom were the bunks, four lined in a row with very colorful quilts were going to be our beds for the next couiple of days. Setteling in, we sat outside for fresh air before the 7pm curfew. From the corner of our eye's we see a man with a very flamboyant stride walked towards the Mission's gates."God, I hope this guy stays here" Kane said in a very sarcastic tone. And in he walked. Long hair pulled up with a makesfit yellow hairband, a bright pink transloucent scraf, a v-shaped gray shirt, and tight, very tight jeans. "Whats the score?" his first words went straight throught our ears as we sat in shock as what just entered this mission. "I don't know, but someone's winning" replied Evan. Pulling out a railroad spike, he asked if any of us were a Blacksmith. Not satisfied with our answer he pointed to eac h of us one at a time. "Mr. Smith?" he asked Kane, "Nope, just Kane" he replied. Donald was next "Mr. Smith?", wrong agian. Changing the name slightly he pointed to Hank, "Mr. Smitthers?". Giving up on trying to guess our names he introuduced him self as Daniel. Sitting in the grass he began to play with it by running his railroad spike into it. "Gargomel!" he shouted when a gray and white cat strolled up into his lap. Questening if we knew the refence, he lost intrest with us as Kane guessed the answer and Carl walked into view of Daniel. Instently giving Carl the finger as he walked to his seat on the porch, he started curseing his name and so on a so forth. Mumbling under his breath he bagn to talk about pig latin, stating he has been studying it for years. Im sure at this point we all were trying figure what drug he was on. Seeing Daniel, Carl asked him to come over and talk to him. Ingnoring the request, Daniel sat playing with his cat. "I told you to change those pants two days ago Daniel!" Carl roared. This caught Daniels attention, standing up he walked over to Carl. The argueing began. "Im not goinjg to change this pants Carl!". "If your staying here you are!" Carl barked back. "Shut up Carl you just dont have any stlye." Carl gave up and got on the phone to call the police. "Im real scared now Carl" Daniel mocked " I have a phone too, but I stuck it up my ass and set it on vibrate." Watching with large smiles on our faces, we sat enjoying our first night at the Bonner Gospel Mission. With the police arriving we stood up and walked around the corner. Daniel began to plead with the police, asking for him and Carl to sort out matters for themselves. Carl insisted that they remove him from his property, the police began to do so. From behind the corner we couldnt see what was happening but we did hear it. "Dont do that sir", the police warned him, "we will taz you sir, do not do that." A load crack and a shrilled scream sent us rushing around the corner. Daniel laid on the floor screaming as the poilce held him down after tazzing him. Sreaming how it hurts and he never wants that done ever agian the police started to handcuff him. Our first night at the Bonner Gospel Mission ended to be the most exciting and funny night of the trip so far.

PICTURES TO COME

7/1/2011
Sitting at nice quite cafe in downtown sandpoint, we are catching up on our blog. Forgetting our external hardrive at the Mission we are currently staying at, we will be adding pictures to each indivual blog later in the day. Thanks for following us, we have fun reading your comments. Hope to be able to read more soon. THANKS! And please spread the word about our blog!!!

Day 14 Hey Sandy you make a good Point.

With the wake of excitement, we all knew Sand Point was just about a couple hours away. We felt as if Sand Point was our first checkpoint for the trip, not only for the couple days of rest but for also finally getting out of Washington. Don't get us wrong Washington is a beautiful state but with all the mishaps we felt as if we'd never leave. Hank and Evan were the first to leave with Beau, Kane, and Donald following shortly after. Depsite Kane getting another flat nearly ten feet away from the camp exit, Sand Point was a quick ride with all of us eventually meeting a the La Quinta Inn. That's right, a night at the hotel for the celebration of making it this far. Once settling in the cozy motel we headed out and explored the town we much yearned for. Boutiques and little shops make up the town of Sand Point, with it also laying alongside lake Pend Oreille which makes for plenty of tourist to stop by for vacation. Making our way to a philly cheese steak house we grabbed lunch and continued our walk around town. With the night settling in at the motel the sound of glasses clanking against each other and a holler of cheers made for the evening. Not to mention the 5 man dance party held in the bathroom with Evan blasting the latest Kanye West album from his phone(which he ended up paying for twice, from the mistake of purchasing the edited verison first) then slugging our way to the bedrooms to finish off the night.

Day 13 Not what we would call a short cut.

After having breakfast in Chewelah we started heading to the Flowerly trail, what we thought would be a nice shortcut and save us some time. The road started to go uphill, then we'd take a turn and go up another steep stretch of road, then turn that corner and went up another. After about a half hour of this we all stopped, some of us frustrated and thought, "what the hell? Is this another pass?" It was hot that day too, first time so far this trip we've sweat that much. Evan got stung by a bee and kept getting chased around by them. Either you get off your bike and run away from them, or sprint uphill away from them and either way your tired. We didn't expect a shortcut to be climbing 3200 feet but we finally got to the top, Flowery Trail Pass, elevation of 4026 feet, and the steepest pass yet. We ended stopping for lunch in Usk. The huge breakfast burittos we ate literally made all of us fall asleep for at least a half hour on their front patio. Picture that though, five bikers coming in for a bite to eat and then all of them taking a nap on your benches outside. The lady that ran the place was cool though, we all woke up from her saying goodbye after closing up the place, meanwhile we were all struggling to wake up. After she drove off we thought it might be a good time take off, after resting our eyes for almost an hour. We took off down the highway and made another quick stop in Newport. The highlight of this day was definitely crossing into Idaho, not because the sign was another reason to stop and hang out for a bit, but because it kind of represented what we'd accomplished so far. It also meant we'd be in Sandpoint and get to have a few rest days. so we rode seven miles east of newport and found a place to stay there for the night.

day 12 Oh, Kane

Hank woke up early and left camp early. Metting cat and dog in kettle falls, they informed him of a shortcut off route that would save us a mountain pass and 20 miles. Instead of heading north to Ione then to Usk, we will ride south to Chewelah then cut east to Usk using Flowerly Trail Road. The group met Hank in a cafe called 103 in Colville. Finishing day 8 and 9 on the blog we started towards Chewelah. With fierce headwinds, we battled it with a 5 man paceline switching at 1.5 miles. 15 miles in a hidden nail punctured Beau's front tire. Eating a cliff bar and using the wrapper as a boot we road on. Stoping at a gas station to use the air compressor to get beau's tire a little higher psi, we also tried to lift kanes tire a little bit. Instanly the the tube popped. Pulling it off, we switched the tube and tried the compressor agian. It popped agian. Triple checking the tire for anything embedded, Hank found that Kane had manged to crack the rim right down the valve. A four inch long crack is what kept pooping his tire. Adding aother part to kane's broken part list, we wrapped it in electrical tape, put the tire on, and hoped it would last intill sandpoint. Losing day lioght and with 25 miles to usk we rode two miles up hill to a couintry golf club that housed a r.v and tent campsite. Muffins for dinner we called it a night, and hoped our shortcut was really going to be a shortcut.

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.

DAY 10 Omak to Republic

Trying to make up for yesterday's rest day we had a very early start. A quick snack at Mcdonalds for breakfast then a fast pedal through Riverside than Tonasket. A couple miles beofe the pass we once agian grabed some ice cream. (For our thoughts about the pass, please jump below to indivdual opions)
AFTER WAUCONDA: Rolling into the biker town of Republic, a dash Andersons, the towns grocery store, we stocked up on food for breakfast and snacks for Sherman pass tomorrow. Riding into the Ferry Fariground where we going to camp for the night, we found a motorcycle convention occuping the space. Awkard stares from the leather dressed motorist were thrown to spandex dressed cyclist. With a 125 entry fee to add to it, we decided to move on and find a spot on the side of the road. Right away we started climbing, we were on the foothills of sherman pass. Not finding a decent place to pull off, and not wanting to climb the 5500 foot pass, we pulled off into the driveway of a house with a large lawn. A older gentleman answered the door, donald and Hank explained our situation and offered 40 dollar to set up on the lawn for the night. Declining the money, he offered us to sleep for free. We have noticied that the locals in this area to be very kind; unlike the travling motorcyclist.

Wauconda Pass: 24 miles up
HanK: Our 4th pass, and my least favorite pass. It was a very slow and gradual hill, which does not fit my riding style. Looking at the grade and milage on our maps I thought it was a very easy pass. I ended up not drinking enough water and became very dehydrated. overall i would rather climb washington pass a couple times verses climbing wauconda. At a small diner, 3 miles from the top we had a very large lunch. That only made me extremly tired. Overall, screw Wauconda

Donald: The hill itself wasn't too bad for me, although before summiting the last 3 miles we ate a huge lunch and sat around for an hour which definitely killed my flow. I got so tired after eating I felt like I had no energy. not too mention the clouds started rolling in as we took off. Funny enough it started to clear up and about a mile in I was just sweating with all my layers and rain gear on. Fortunately we made it to the coolest town in the world, Omak!

Beau:
steady start
long up winding
exhausted by this point
ive played this game before
hills
nothing but hills all around
empty stomachs
sandwitches an eye couldnt eat
more climbing
republic of washington america
empty wallets
motors growling in the morning
a helping hand
green blades on a well kept yard
truned into a bed

Kane
ice cream then up we went up wahconda pass. nothing but rolling hills and cows. stop for a break at the half way point to watch a guy drink beer and drive his lawn mower. It started to rain, so we ducked in to a small whole in the wall diner. the rain stoped and we made our way up the pass. our camp site was over ran with dirty drunk bikers so we crashed in a old mans front yard...

Evan : he is asleep...alright now I'm awake. One thing about rides like this for me is you forget a lot about it. I was listening to Billie Holiday and staring at the road five feet in front of me for 5 hours, going 24 miles up a slow, gradual pass. So my mind is pretty blank then. It's when you reach the top that you think, "Holy shit we've been riding for a long time!" I didn't care that it was raining when we went downhill, I just like seeing those mile postings go by faster.