Monday, July 29, 2013

Day 51 - Another Day. Another Pass. We Did Great.: Okanogan, WA to Mazama, WA

Last night we stayed in Okanogan. Nice town. Had lunch at the Caribou Hotel, a local landmark. Met the guy who owns the local bike shop. The shop was not open, but he, the shop owner, was having coffee across the street, saw us looking in the shop window, and came over to see if we were broke down and needed him to open special. Nice guy.

Also, our Okanogan motel was right next door to a rather large casino. Just for yucks, we walked over. You could cut the tobacco smoke with a knife. The place was nearly full on a Saturday afternoon. Yet, what a depressing place. It was like everyone there was being forced to be there. No smiling faces or big winners were observed in the 5 minutes it took for us to decide to move on.We came over Loup Loup Pass this a.m. It was 3,000 feet of climbing over a 17 mile piece of road. We took our time and had no problems whatsoever. After the pass, we coasted 12 miles down to lunch in Twisp, WA. Delicious food at the Blackbird CafĂ©.  We proceeded on to the next town which turned out to be Winthrop, WA. Wow! Winthrop was a happening place on a Sunday afternoon. The whole town is set up like an Old West stage. Shops everywhere. We went to the Mercantile for ice cream. The guy behind the counter had never heard of a blended coke float. Had to talk him through it. I'm sure he'll be spreading the news and blended coke floats will be all the northwest rage.  We're staying in a lovely camp village (The Country Inn) in Mazama tonight and tomorrow (a rest day). Lots of outdoorsy things to do here. They have all the amenities (except a tv - no SportsCenter). I think we're going to enjoy our off day. The weather also broke late this afternoon with a thunderstorm (fortunately, just after we got in). The temps have really cooled down. That will help a lot when we do our last two passes - Washington and Rainey - on Tuesday. It was the first rain we've seen in over a month. We've been really blessed with the weather since the first week of our trip.  
The Northern Cascade Mtn range. Breathtaking. Picture does them no justice.



An apple orchard. Washington Apples!! Hundreds and hundreds of orchard acres.
 

At Loup Loup Pass 17 miles and 3,000 feet of elevation later.
 

Neat bike rack in Twisp, WA.
 

An old cedar wood water tank. What workmanship.
 

Daniel (missed his last name) and Greg (Holmes). They're 3 days from finishing the NT. They've done about 4,500 miles. Ran into them in Winthrop, WA. Greg has a CGOAB journal. He and I have kinda been keeping up with each other the last several days since it seemed we had a pretty good chance of meeting up. And we did. Safe journeys and Congratulations on a long ride well done.
 
Martha and Barney checking out the wild west scene in Winthrop, WA.
 
   
 

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