The Hoes in Idaho

The hallelujah bells are ringing throughout the state: I finally made it into Idaho! It took ten days to cross 510 miles from rainy Puget Sound to the sun-rinsed wheat fields of east Washington. And it was no easy trek. The clump of letters C-F is when my bum knee really started to bother me. It took a while for it to recover, but I finally started putting up the big numbers in the past few days:

Wenatchee to Lake Moses-75 miles
Lake Moses to Washtucna-77 miles
Washtucna to Moscow-79 miles

It feels strange to see my 300 mile detour through the most mountainous terrain of Washington reflected in terms of where I exited the state. It would have been much simpler to swing southeast from Seattle. But I met so many fantastic people up north that I don’t regret it at all. And my knee is feeling completely better so there weren’t even any permanent consequences.

Last night, I stayed in what is probably the smallest town I’ve ever been in (which is saying a lot). Washtucna, WA has an undetermined number of human residents. I only saw 2 of them. There was free camping in the city park, which was great. But it’s eerie to be near alone in such an isolated place. All of the businesses were shuttered and the town looked destitute. But 2 9-year-old kids hung out with me for a while and told me all about riding their bikes and building tree forts. God, I love kids.

Everything looked like this for 2 straight days :l

Other than that, the rides were mostly uneventful in the past few days. It was just wheat fields as far as the eye can see. They’re nice, but the sound of wheat blowing in the wind can drive you to insanity a lot faster than most things.

I’m staying with my friend Katy in Moscow, ID! We met at the airport in Anchorage, Alaska on our way to work in the salmon cannery last month. I faked needing to charge my phone to go over and talk to her and we spent the next month goofing off and dying to go home. And now she’s home and I’m in her awesome place. It’s satisfying to see insignificant actions thread people together so quickly.

I’m taking a day off tomorrow and maybe one more on Sunday. I don’t know about the second one. See yaaaaaaaaaaaaa.