No Jobs, No Home, No Worries. A Shared Journey by Bike and Support SUV Across the U.S.

Day 7 miles: 26 Day 8 miles: 57 Total: 325

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By bike:

Waconda pass. I was ready after more than adequate rest. Starting where I left off at Shannon’s, I biked with the best technique I knew how up the Waconda pass.

Lauren started off by meeting me at five miles, just in case my knee was preventing me from moving any farther. So far so good. Shortly after five miles in I saw Mark, the cardiologist we met up with in Omak, and his broken pedal. When I saw him riding to Tonasket I said Lauren could give him a ride. He was overjoyed when he saw that Lauren was parked 50 feet behind me after making sure my knee would hold up before I took off. Lauren earned her wings as a road angel today.

Some parts up the pass were sketchy and a truck blared his horn behind me and almost ran me off the road.

However, my knee pain got better with rest breaks and stretching.

I made it up the mountain pass with little difficulty! I had an interview at Geisenger, one of two job offers we’re considering, to discuss contractual information and Lauren unfortunately had to drive me to Republic where I talked over WiFi at the Knotty Pine restaurant. A lady at the closing Post Office/cafe in Waconda let me keep my bike there as we headed down.

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Before my interview we met our first Warm Showers host, Rob. He was the pharmacist in town. I never asked anybody for free lodging in my life. I first saw him sitting with one of his patients hearing her talk about her woes and he seemed like the kindest man.

He was. He asked if we wanted dinner and told us to come when we were ready.

After eating a full breakfast (second breakfast) and talking over WiFi with people at Geisenger, Lauren graciously drove me back up the hill where I left off in Waconda.

It looked like Jesus was definitely coming soon so Lauren waited despite me wanting her to carry on. We heard thunder and saw lightening. It began to rain and every time I was about to get on my bike it would get slightly worse. Being the patient angel she is, Lauren just sat in the car while I waited it out.

There was nothing to wait out. Over 20 minutes the temperature dropped 30 degrees.

Soon enough I saw a burgundy Chevy Tahoe come up covered in snow. When I walked up to the driver she looked absolutely traumatized. She had to stop over the side of the road twice due to blinding hail. We wish we had gotten a picture of this!

As soon as Lauren heard it was hail I heard her give a soft “OK,” do an abrupt about face, and she walked to my bike and started chucking my bags in the car. I didn’t even have a choice.

As we drove down the mountain it became very apparent that I may have died if I tried to trudge through. At least an inch of precipitation was on the ground and we would get sloshed every time a truck came up.

We went back to the pharmacy where Rob was and he dropped everything and just took us to his house.

Unbelievable hospitality. It restored my belief in small town America. I was able to shower and go in a massage chair for 45 minutes.

Later, we got drinks with Mark and Gary at a local Mexican restaurant and reflected on the great times we had.

Rob grilled up some Halibut he caught in Alaska and made mac and cheese. He was so easy to talk with and we learned so much about the other people he hosted. I’ll never forget it.

Rob also had two cats, or dirtbags as I like to call them, that were very kind. One had dementia but still meandered to me and made the scraggliest meows.

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I slept like a baby until the next day.

The ride to Colville up Sherman pass was everything Rob said it was. After the salt repository it was 12 miles uphill. Unlike Waconda, it was wide shoulders and pretty consistent.

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Lauren met me at top of the pass, amongst other places.

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We took selfies with her phone and I was overjoyed.

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No more large passes, at least for a while. The first 18 miles took 3.5 hours and the next 20 took one hour as I blasted to Kettle Falls.

I bonked in KF and we took a 2 hour break at Northern Ales and ate some pretty decent pizza.

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Afterwards, I rode, SLOWLY, to Colville to Benny’s Colville Inn and chilled out until the next day.

By car:

As Matthew had mentioned, I met up with him about five miles into his ride to make sure his knee could handle the incline ahead. We both were impressed with his progress! As I watched Matthew pedal off, I noticed another man on a loaded bike headed in the opposite direction and passing Matthew. They both stopped and talked to each other over the road.

Another bike tourer? I wonder where he’s starting from. If he’s headed west, he’s almost there! GAH what an incredible feeling!

I was surprised to see Matthew point to me, turn his bike around, then both of them ride in my direction. As they approached my car, I immediately recognized that face.

It’s Mark!

“Mark’s Pedal is stuck- could you drive him into Republic?” Matthew asked.

“It would be my pleasure!”

Mark couldn’t believe I would be willing to drive him 30 miles over the mountain pass into the next town over. How could anyone just leave someone stranded like that? He likened his biking with the broken pedal to canoeing without a paddle. I got out of my car and helped load his bike up on my rack.

“I’m actually biking for a charity that helps young women. It’s affiliated with the church, and the nuns prayed for me prior to this trip. I believe the nuns sent me you!”

For someone to believe I was sent by nuns is probably the greatest compliment I’ve ever received.

We rode up over the mountain and enjoyed the gorgeous low hanging clouds nestled in the valley. I slowed down for another doe and her fawn. I asked Mark more about his biking experience and why he chose to bike across several states.

“Riding a bike is the one thing that makes me feel young again. Every time I hop on, I just feel like a boy and couldn’t be happier. There’s just nothing like it.”

I really enjoyed driving Mark to his next destination, which was actually someone’s house. The ACA digital maps listed this as a place you could visit for bike maintenance, however it seems outdated. Mark was unable to get his pedal fixed here. He ended up going into town and just asking around local shops and restaurants.

In classic small town camaraderie, someone knew someone who had the right bike tool and could possibly even fix it himself. Mark all of a sudden had a new bike pedal!

I left Mark and had to drive back over the mountain and into Omak to check out of the hotel and barely make the free breakfast! While shoveling the food into my mouth as the employees began breaking down the breakfast bar, I kept my eye on the time so I could meet Matthew someone along the mountain to pick him up. He needed to be somewhere with phone reception and internet connection, so we planned ahead.

I picked up him right at the peak of the pass, which was impressive given his recent injury! There was just a post office/gas station in town, so we left everything there.

After Matthew wrapped up his Skype meeting and lunch, I drove him back up so he could enjoy the fun descent down the mountain. The weather was nice while driving up, however once I parked the car I noticed dark clouds rolling in.

Matthew had already walked into the store to grab his bike. In this time my eyes were drawn to the bolts of lightning, quickly followed by the cracks of thunder. This storm was not looking good, and it was clearly moving towards us. Not to mention the descent Matthew had ahead of him is steep!

I got out to find Matthew and asked him to sit in the car to wait with me. In classic Matthew form, he tried to convince me that he could make it. He eventually obliged.

Waves of rain showers hit with occasional breaths of silence. Matthew got out of the car each time the rain stopped, only to be getting another shower.

I expressed my concern, but this was difficult for me. I absolutely did not want to dampen (although he was already pretty damp, ha…) his dream by taking away miles of his ride, but at the same time I didn’t want to see my husband ride to his fairly certain death!

Matthew was about to get back out as the rain lightened up yet again when suddenly we saw a woman pull over. Her car was completely covered in slushy snow and hail.

Matthew already described this situation, and I can confirm: her face was heavily fear stricken and she almost presented like a stunned deer. Eyes wide, unmoving, and not quite sure where to go from here.

We ran up to he window and asked if it was snowing on the other side of the mountain- the descent Matthew would be flying down!

“Oh it was HORRIBLE. It suddenly started to snow and hail, and the wind. The wind was so bad. I couldn’t see. I had to pull over twice.”

Okay.

Without even consulting with Matthew, I had made the executive decision to break his bike down and load up my car.

This was unequivocally the greatest decision that could have been made.

Even my Forester was sliding around on the roads. Once we made it safely down the mountain, I had to take a photo of what we had just driven through, and what Matthew would have biked through if his “safety-first” wife wasn’t around!

We celebrated life with Mark and Gary at the local Mexican restaurant later that evening. Mark insisted on buying us drinks since I drove him over the mountain earlier today.

Gary provided us with some sound advice around long distance cycling and mountain passes. I’ve driven past him several times and witnessed him walking his bike up parts of the incline. Gary reminded Matthew that, “I’ve never met a hill that I couldn’t walk up.” I think Matthew needed to hear that.

Mark and Gary were staying at a campsite and invited us along, however we had found a free bedroom to sleep in for the night. There’s a website touring cyclists can sign up for called Warm Showers. Basically it’s like couch surfing, but for cyclists. People will post their homes or their yards as free places cyclists can stay. Usually these hosts are fellow cyclists and have their own stories to share. Once you’ve stayed as a guest, you repay the community by opening up your own home to future touring cyclists.

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This is how we met Rob. He and his wife are the two pharmacists in town- they own the one drug store in Republic. Unfortunately, his wife was in Florida, so we didn’t get to meet her. It didn’t take away from the hospitality, though!

She’s the cyclist between the two. Rob doesn’t like the idea of saddle sores and a sore butt.

He let us into his home and left back for work. Just like that, we could make ourselves at home. Matthew enjoyed the massage chair.

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We had our own bed and bathroom. Rob not only grilled us halibut that he caught in Alaska, but he also explained his prep and grilling methods. A free bed, free shower, free meal, free massage chair, and free cooking lesson? How did we ever deserve this much kindness from a perfect stranger?

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We bought him a new pack of beer from Republic Brewing Co. It was the least we could do!

Matthew left at 5am the next morning, and I took my time. Rob, being the perfect host that he is, left us a note and breakfast spread.

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The next day was spectacular. Matthew had an excellent ride, and I enjoyed the turn outs along the mountain to take in the views. I saw several trees that had been scorched from the 1988 fire while others have of course come back to life.

As I drove up the pass, I saw Gary walking his bike and Mark up farther along the road. I stopped at the nearest clearing to pull my car over and waited for Mark to ride up. We gave each other a hug and I asked about his ride. So far things were great- I also inquired about Gary, just making sure that he wasn’t walking his bike due to mechanical issues. Mark reassured me that he was fine, just working different muscles. We bid each other farewell, noting that this may be the last time we see each other since Matthew will be riding to a separate destination today. We swapped numbers to keep each other updated along the way.

As I drove on I eventually watched Matthew graciously make it up to the final pass, Sherman Pass, and we celebrated!

He made his way down the long and steady descent while I found a local brewery that served good pizza in town. We made time for Matthew’s siesta. Once he got back on the bike, I followed in the same direction to look for lodging and do more small town exploring. I found a local country store and couldn’t help but constantly feel like I was being watched….

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No matter where I walked…

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or how many corners I turned…

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I eventually left and we snagged the one motel that was available! It was nice to finally escape the stares of taxidermied wildlife.

What a fleeting feeling that was! We finally walked into the hotel, when suddenly…

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We found out that the grandfather of the owner caught every single fish mounted in the lobby. Apparently, we picked the hunting lodge. Even the welcome sign flashed “Welcome Hunters!” as we entered into the parking lot.

It was an excellent day, and I’m pretty stinking proud of Matthew’s accomplishments around these mountain passes, especially with the knee injury. We continue to grow together in ways we couldn’t have imagined. Ultimately, the unexpected nature of this journey has us laughing and learning in more ways than one. At this point, I don’t think we’d expect anything less than to be celebrating these major accomplishments with a room full of dead fish. We wanted to see the nooks and crannies of this part of the country, so nooks and crannies we get!