Day 2

 Day 2: Centralia, Washington

Distance for the day: 419.6 km

Cumulative distance: 786.7 km

Top speed: 122 kph

Moving average: 76  kph

Temperature range: 13.8 - 29.2  

Outgoing weight update: 169 lbs. (estimated, after all that Mexican food yesterday)

Welcome to Wenatchee. 

Whew! we survived the invasion of Mexico yesterday. Get this: before the trip we each thought, SILENTLY and INDEPENDENTY, that we wouldn't go food crazy on this trip and keep it under control. DAY ONE, complete and utter failure. 

This morning, Nan fetched Starbucks lattes and we did manage to eat some motel breakfast: yogurt and raisin bran. We gave the waffles, sausages, toast, biscuits and gravy a miss. 

We had tried to get a room here but they were full.

Got a reasonable start without being in a hurry. Bike was loaded by 9:10 am and we were out of there. For about a minute. Then Nan asked me if I had the camera. I said "no" but I knew I brought it out to the bike. So we went around a large block and returned to the motel and where we had parked the bike. Looked around the spot (under the canopy at the front entrance) but didn't see it so Nan jumped off to have a look. There it was, on the bike seat behind her butt! Back on the bike and on the way out of town, with only two more stops: one to get gas and the other to sit in the sun while a broken down vehicle trapped traffic in the downtown. That was about 15 minutes. So by the time we had made all those stops, we had gone 3 km... in about an hour.

Yakima River

We were treated to some stellar riding, once we finally got out of Dodge.  Twisty but not gnarly, excellent pavement, along rivers providing outstanding scenery and then through the Cascade mountains. Sadly, we didn't get much of a view of Mt. Rainier as it had clouded in and threatending rain by the time we were in the neighbourhood but we were still treated to great scenery.

Tieton River

White Pass,  elevation about 4200'. There
was lots of snow along the side of the road.

Our only view of Mt. Rainier.

We stopped in Morton for a late lunch and had salads. And enchilada soup, which was outstanding.  We had managed to find our way to the back of town and avoided a roadside Mexican restaurant (no offense), prefering to find a place oriented to locals. We were richly rewarded, especially with the soup. We whined to the owner, who was wearing a Seattle Kraken t-shirt, that in about an hour we woud be looking for a sports bar so that we could watch game 7 of the Edmonton - Vancouver series. (Woo hoo!)

We rode the last 75 km to Centralia and checked into a roadside motel. I asked if there was internet (yes) TV (yes), ESPN (unknown) and if there was a bar within walking distance. Turns out there was ESPN on the cable package so we elected to stay in house to watch the Oilers and Canucks finish off the series. 

Watching the Oil win game 7 in our room with spicy peanuts and finest canned red wine.