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<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nThe first part of the ride from Moses Lake to a town called Ritzville was lonely.\u00a0 The road started off with two lanes in each direction and a wide shoulder.\u00a0 As I pedaled out of town the road started shrinking.\u00a0 First, the road dropped down to one lane in each direction with a shoulder.\u00a0 Then the shoulder started shrinking.\u00a0 At least the large telephone poles with their nice mile markers were still there.\u00a0 Then the telephone poles shrunk in size before disappearing.<\/p>\n
I was soon on a two lane road with nothing else.\u00a0 No homes, no farms, no telephone poles, no cars, no trucks\u2026.nothing but wheat.\u00a0 A vehicle passed in either direction about once every ten minutes.\u00a0 I have not felt this isolated in my life.\u00a0 It was like being in a zombie movie where almost everyone in the world has died.\u00a0 For those of you worried about my safety, there was no fear for the first 45 miles.\u00a0 The only thing that would have killed me was boredom.<\/p>\n
After pedaling for three and a half, isolated hours in zombie land, I reached Ritzville.\u00a0 Ah, I thought civilization, however, brief.\u00a0 I was wrong.\u00a0 Ritzville looked like it was once ritzy but that was a long time ago.\u00a0 My guess is that Ritzville and many other towns around here thrived when farms were small, relatively close together and primarily used physical labor.\u00a0 Today, with giant farms, heavy equipment and relatively few farmers there is less need for many rural towns.<\/p>\n
I searched Ritzville for an open restaurant.\u00a0 All I wanted was a sandwich, but I couldn\u2019t find anyplace to eat.\u00a0 On my way out of town, I passed a bowling alley that had a bar sign.\u00a0 Under the bar sign it said, \u201cwe serve breakfast.\u201d\u00a0 If they serve breakfast in the bowling alley, maybe they serve lunch?<\/p>\n
I carried the bike inside the bowling alley and the place was dark but there were four people inside.\u00a0 It was not a good sign but what did I have to lose?\u00a0 I asked if they were serving lunch?\u00a0 One of the four people said, \u201csure, we can do that.\u201d\u00a0 Lunch (grilled cheese and a side salad) was excellent.\u00a0 Plus, they had clean bathrooms. Then the bill came for just $5.80.\u00a0 That was a real bargain given I am writing this from a restaurant in Spokane that just charged me $30 for a bowl of tomato soup, a bowl of mac-n-cheese and one glass of apple cider.<\/p>\n
With a full belly it was back on the bike for 30 miles to Harrington.\u00a0 The first part of the ride was great.\u00a0 The road was smooth, sealed and I had a tail wind.\u00a0 Then I switched onto \u201cNorth Hills Road.\u201d\u00a0 The wind now tried to push me over as it gusted.\u00a0 The road was not sealed and bounced me up and down.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, given its name, I pedaled up and down a lot of large hills.\u00a0 I arrived in Harrington, another semi-deserted town with a dying main street.\u00a0 They did have a nice park with a bathroom and a working water fountain so all was good.<\/p>\n
The final town before Spokane was Davenport.\u00a0 This was where I would pick up the \u201cpopular\u201d route.\u00a0 I hit Davenport 85 miles after leaving Moses Lake.\u00a0 It was a nice place and had a main street that was alive with shops, banks and a nice new park.\u00a0 I was excited.\u00a0 It was 4:15 pm and I had only 35 miles left.\u00a0 I was thinking, this is great.\u00a0 It is day 4, I don\u2019t want to quit ,and the easiest part of the ride is about to happen.<\/p>\n
At that point the entire day went very wrong.\u00a0 The \u201cpopular\u201d route from Davenport to Spokane was route 2, which was a graded highway.\u00a0 Graded highways are where the construction crews blast out parts of hillsides and fill in valleys so that cars go straight.\u00a0 It was also a busy highway. At this point I was trapped and had one choice; just to pedal onward to Spokane.\u00a0 The first 13 miles were not bad.\u00a0 The highway department had built a shoulder that was wider than a car.\u00a0 I hugged the far right side and had plenty of distance between cars and myself.\u00a0 There were relatively few trucks since long distance truckers use the interstate and the local truckers were all done for the day.<\/p>\n
Then I hit Reardan, the last town before Spokane.\u00a0 I stopped and had a milkshake to give me some energy for the last 20+ miles.\u00a0 The highway changed leaving Reardan.\u00a0 The shoulder was narrower, and it was no longer clean of garbage.\u00a0 The ride after breaking the 100 mile mark was becoming less than fun.<\/p>\n
At the edge of Spokane, at Fairchild Airforce base, the shoulder became filled with rocks, glass and other debris.\u00a0 My rear tire punctured.\u00a0 I was on a highway with cars whizzing by and the shoulder was not wide enough to fix the bike.\u00a0 I had done almost 108 miles and made it to Spokane, but not downtown Spokane.\u00a0 I thought to myself, \u201cI quit!\u00a0 This entire ride is dumb.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then I pulled the bike and myself off the road, mentally rebooted and stuck out my thumb to hitchhike.\u00a0 About 20 cars and trucks passed me before someone stopped.\u00a0 The man who stopped was named Roger.\u00a0 Sometimes saints come in baseball caps.<\/p>\n
He was part of the local Spokane Indian tribe and worked for the tribe as a tree scaler.\u00a0 The tribe owns trees that they cut down.\u00a0 To prevent lumber mills from ripping the tribe off tree scalers estimate how many usable board feet are available from each tree before the saw mill begins to cut.\u00a0 If the mills output and the tribe agree (within 2%) there is no problem.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t agree then someone has to figure out why.\u00a0 Who knew there was so much economics in cutting down trees?<\/p>\n
Roger said he was just going down the road to the gas station.\u00a0 I offered to buy gas for his truck if he was willing to take me the 12 miles I needed to go to get to my hotel.\u00a0 He drove me into downtown using many of the same roads I would have had to pedal.\u00a0 Getting a ride all the way was a smart thing.\u00a0 The last 12 miles into Spokane were not designed for cyclists since it was strip malls and fast food restaurants, plus a shoulder filled with more debris.<\/p>\n
I got the bike and myself into my hotel room and flipped the bike over to start changing the tire.\u00a0 The rear wheel was badly out of alignment and the rear tire had two deep gashes.\u00a0 It was almost 8 pm and the internet showed every bike store around was closed except one.\u00a0 REI was open until 9 pm.\u00a0 I called and the repair man said he had time for an emergency repair.<\/p>\n
The store was only a few blocks from my hotel.\u00a0 Randy the bike tech was amazing. \u00a0He spent a long time truing the wheel.\u00a0 He replaced the tire and tube with heavier, but more puncture resistant stock.\u00a0 He oiled and cleaned the chain and drive!\u00a0 By 9 pm my bike was like new again, ready for another day of adventure.\u00a0 After a shower and an expensive dinner (see above) my faith in humanity was restored. \u00a0I am looking forward to pedaling into Idaho tomorrow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When doing long trips like hiking or biking the third or fourth day is typically a problem.\u00a0 The initial adrenaline has worn off.\u00a0 The novelty of being out of the office, school or work has worn off.\u00a0 Most importantly, your body is tired.\u00a0 This is the time when you want to say; \u201cI quit.\u201d I … Continue reading Day 4: Moses Lake to Spokane, WA<\/span>