Yakama’s forecast was for record heat approaching 100 degrees again today. We would be high in the Cascade Mountains where it was cooler by the time the heat was turned up.
The ride up to the pass has, for a few days, because of traffic concerns on RT12 been worrying the Team. RT12 is the only road going over the pass. We have been told it can be dangerous and potenially loaded with tandem semis hauling apples. The crew was mentally prepared for some white knuckle riding. In Maine it is logging trucks, in Washington it is Apple trucks.
But to our surprise RT 12 was nearly traffic free! After all the horror stories we were riding on an empty road. We had a few things going for us that we were unaware of. First the apples are about a week from harvest. All the empty apple crates have already been delivered to the orchards eliminating that traffic. Since the apples are still on the trees the trucks that haul the fruit are parked waiting.
And now the big thing that helped us, there is a road construction project going on near the summit. They can make traffic wait as long as 45 minutes to get through. All the locals and trucking companies know this so for now they are avoiding this route. PERFECT! We did have to wait a few times and once for over 30 minutes but it was worth it.
It was midday with bright sunshine when we reached the summit at White Pass.
All they way up we kept looking for Mt Rainier. Where is that big bump in the earth anyway? The road we were riding is buried in between mountain peaks so we could not see anything. As we headed on our 45 mile ride down the mountain we came around a bend and BOOM, there it was - Mt. Rainer. A monster of a mountain completely covered in snow. In fact we had planned to ride the access road to Paradise on Mt Rainer but the road has been closed since September 6th. They still have four feet of snow up there.
The wagon train rolled into the tiny town of Randle where we planned to spend the night at another B&B. Finding motels in these small towns can be impossible. The Hilton is not planning on building a motel in Randle population 350 or so for a while I guess. First order of business after we arrive in town was dinner. Randle had two small eating establishments if you do not count the gas station that had snacks. We sat at our table looking at the menu when one of the locals asked us about our trip. When we roll in with our loaded bikes all wearing the same jerseys it makes people curious. They all have the same question where are you going, where did you come from, is it for a cause, how many miles do you ride a day ect.
They offered us congratulations when we said tomorrow will be our last day on the road. We ate our fill and when it was time to pay the owner of the restraunt told us the people in the booth who congratulated us had already paid our tab! They slipped out before we could even thank them. How cool is that? Another great example of good people doing good things for people they do not even know. We were flabbergasted.
Tomorrow if everything goes as planned we should reach our final destination Seattle.
93 Miles
4816 Feet of Climbing
Temperature 65 - 90 degrees
4581 overall
86.4 MPD ave
very proud of all three of you.
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