Day Four - Quincy to Davenport, WA - 105 miles!

Whoa - we had a long ride today! Luckily the weather was beautiful - partly cloudy and about 60 degrees. And NO flat tires - amazing!

We left our luxurious room at the Country Cabins Motel and RV Park around 8 AM and hit the only breakfast spot in town - Mc Donald's. Its funny how the local diners have disappeared in these small towns. Now the hangout for all the seniors in town is Mc Donald's. All the old guys hanging out were giving us weird looks as we pulled up with our bikes. After a not so hearty breakfast, we were off for our long journey.

The road out of Quincy was wonderful - slightly downhill with a terrific tailwind. We averaged about 20 miles an hour to the next town of Ephrata. Ephrata looked like a neat town, much bigger and full of small diner type restaurants. Too bad we didn't spend the night there.

Today's ride took us down nice, quiet farm/ranch roads. It was great, especially after the traffic of Wenatchee. We rode past onion fields, wheat fields and the occasional cow or sheep pasture. Its funny how the cows watch you on a bike. I think that the cows see us as an animal or something. They watched us very curiously. Along the way we must have startled a family of badgers sitting near the roadside, as they all took off. It looked like they were racing us along side of the road but they were just trying to run to their den as fast as they could.

We stopped for lunch in the Mayberry-esque town of Odessa. I was like a celebrity walking into the post office and everyone inside wanted to know about our ride. It was cute.

So riding all day long- 7.5 hours of saddle time to be exact - wears on the body. Marc's moaning and groaning right now as I type this blog. I told him that I'd quote him in the blog today. As we were saddling up after lunch, he was adjusting his shorts and commented " Girls have it much easier in the saddle with their "Hoo-Ha's" instead of "He-Hoo's". Ok, kids we now have a new slang term for the male genitalia!

We rolled into Davenport tonight around 6 PM, and then if we didn't ride enough, we traversed the city twice looking for a motel and restaurant. After declining a room from the spooky clerk at the Davenport Motel, we ended up at the Black Bear Motel on the other end of town. A cute "old west" inspired motel - I'll post photos later. Unfortunately our room had some sort of sewer backup in it and smells like an old musty rag. Oh well, were both too tired to care. Luckily we only had a short walk to the restaurant/bowling alley/saloon across the street. The food was surprisingly decent and I even got a good slice of Marionberry Pie!!!! Finally! A marionberry is like a blackberry/mulberry fruit. It was delicious and yes I asked for it warmed up (Thank you, Mom). I have a new strategy with pie - I'm going to try to eat it for breakfast or lunch instead of dinner. It seems way to hard to find pie at dinner time. So maybe if I look for it all day long, I'll increase my chances!

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy again - boo hoo! At least we only have a 65 mile ride and then a rest day on Saturday in Coeur d'Alene.

37 days and counting...

So.. wow the big day is quickly approaching! We've talked a good talk about doing a cross-country bike trip for years, and somehow through all the ifs, ands, and buts... we are making it a reality. Never thought I'd be able to leave my baby (a.k.a - my beloved business)...ok, I'll miss my doggies too. But now the airline tickets are purchased, the Facebook status posted and the house rented, no turning back. May 29th it is.. Seattle, WA to Portland, ME or bust. (Can anyone explain the "or bust" threat? I've never understood it, but it sounds good. Will I actually bust if I don't make it to Maine...probably if I intend to eat that much pie.)

Let me start by introducing the "we" in this picture. My husband of seven years, Marc, will be joining me on this adventure. I don't think he's quite as excited about the pie eating as I am...but to each their own. What we do share is our love of the bike... road, mountain, cruiser - you name it we've got in hanging the garage. Our bikes go everywhere with us... hell, they have even been to Hawaii and back. So I can't imagine a more perfect vacation than touring the country on the seat of my Trek. (Plus the guilt free pie eating!) I know... I'm a bit idyllic with my thoughts here. (I'll probably be kicking my bike in the ditch around mile 500 or so. Screaming, crying, throwing a typical bike temper tantrum -as Marc can attest to.)