Day 5 miles: 16 Day 6 miles: 0 Total: 242
By bike:
My left prepatellar bursitis was on fire and it took me 2.5 hours to bike 16 miles. I decided to take a break. It felt like a knife was in my knee. I’m pretty sure the passes and going through the Okanogan National Forest did it for me. Lauren had come up with a plan for my rest day, which was really nice.
We did eat Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen and stay at the Best Western Plus, which was great!
Lauren sampling my medium New York CheeseQuake 
His and Hers Pizza Hut. We toasted pizzas.
I didn’t bike day 6, so I’ll let Lauren share that info.
By car
Matthew’s knee was in serious pain, so of course a plan for a rest day was in order. He only made it 15 miles to Shannon’s, a breakfast spot the trucker we met had recommended. On my way out of the RV camp site, I couldn’t help but take photos of these church signs:
Also, we got another cinnamon bun, and it was worthy of a photo here:
Matthew following my guidance on how to *evenly* share this masterpiece
When we received our food we began to discuss our travels with the waitress. She had informed us that they see cross-country cyclists all the time, so they open up their grassy plot of land as a free place for cyclists to camp overnight. We’re finding that locals along these bike routes are usually very welcoming to touring cyclists and don’t hesitate to help!
Matthew was expressing his concern over his knee, describing how painful it was to just pedal 15 miles on flat pavement. I suggested we go back to Omak since there was a Best Western there, and he could both ice his knee and soak in the hot tub. The guy’s joints needed some serious TLC after crossing two mountain passes and surviving yesterday’s nightmare!
Sweet biker tan, bro.
After we soaked in the hot tub, we noticed a man in a small conference room with a fully loaded touring bike. We got excited and tapped on the window to get his attention! He opened the door to let us in.
“Are you touring?”
“Yeah! I’m biking to Glacier,” he responded. “My name is Gary- I’m actually biking with another guy, Mark. He should be here soon.”
“I’m biking across the country! My wife is joining by SUV.”
“I was originally going to bike,” I admitted. “But that was when we thought a designated cross country bike path was built. Have you heard of the Rails to Trails Conservancy?” I asked.
“Yeah! I’m actually a member of the conservancy!”
“That’s wonderful! I was so sad to find out the route is only 50% complete,” I shared.
Gary proudly held up his index finger and smiled. “Actually, it’s fifty-one percent complete!”
I love this man’s optimism.
Soon Mark walked in, and we introduced ourselves. Gary is a retired engineer and and Mark is a retired cardiologist. Gary and his son had actually biked along this route several years ago. Now he was setting off on his own. His load was much larger than Matthew’s- he had a trailer behind his bike to tote his CPAP machine!
Mark had never bike toured before, but was always interested. He took off on his own from Everett, WA and was making his way into Whitefish, MT to see his daughter by her due date. He was going to meet his grandchild by bike!
From left to right: Mark, Gary, Matthew. Gary: “Can you even see me in between these two?!”
They were headed in the same direction as us, so we figured we’d be seeing them again. Matthew explained his knee pain and we discussed our plans for tomorrow’s rest day, which included touring wineries in B.C.
“Mark, you’re a retired cardiologist. What are your thoughts on wine and the heart?” Matthew asked.
Mark grinned and gave the perfect response. “A glass of red wine a day is fine. Also, the older you get, the less time you’ll have to drink wine, so drink more!”
Day 6:
Matthew’s knee was beginning to feel better. We started the day off with our large complimentary breakfast then drove the hour and fifteen minutes up north into Cawston, B.C., aka Canadian wine country. Fun fact: Cawston is the warmest part of Canada.
We enjoyed two vineyards. Hugging Trees was the first vineyard we stopped by- I only chose this vineyard because I had read it was named after a unique tree on the property that had bifurcated and looked like two trees hugging itself.
Apparently it’s located at the edge of a sharp small cliff, so they don’t allow visitors to see it in person. Here’s a picture of a picture.
By the time we reached the second vineyard, they were preparing to give a tour of the site and wine caves. Of course we joined! Included was a sampling of wine straight from the barrel, dark chocolate, and music in the cave.
It was fascinating to learn about the owner of this vineyard and his impressive craftsmanship- both in wine making and architecture. He build everything from the ground up, including the wine cave (which he dubbed as “the man cave”) and a tunnel that connected his home to the winery so he would never have to step outside during the cold months.
We ended the day with a glass of wine, cheese and crackers. It was exactly what was needed for lowered knee pain and lifted spirits.
Tomorrow will be another mountain pass. I’ll be driving Matthew back to Shannon’s restaurant, where he left off. There are no alternate routes around this pass, and to be honest, if there were we wouldn’t be attempting them!
No Jobs, No Home, No Worries. A Shared Journey by Bike and Support SUV Across the U.S. 