Only 26.39 miles (42.5 km) today, for a grand total of 639 miles (1028 km).
There was one serious climb over Brownlee Pass, 4131 feet (1259 m). Actual climbing from the campground was something like 2400 feet (732 m). The first 2/3 of the climb wasn’t too bad. I had stopped for breakfast at the cafe/general store two miles from the camp. I had pancakes that were way bigger than I could finish. Fueled with a big breakfast and extra Gatorade, I was off around 09:00 am.
As the altitude and temperatures started to climb, I started to look for shady places to take breaks and have a drink. The drill is pretty simple, look ahead for shade, pull over and rest the bike against something secure, take out the liquids, check the shady area for rattlesnakes and then sit and cool for a while.
I spotted a cattle loading dock right next to the road. They locate them there so the truck doesn’t have to get too far from the pavement. I decided to pull over and take a break and then changed my mind. It wasn’t rattlesnakes:
The dogs just gave me a sideways glance and I suspect I could have taken up space next to the brown one and he wouldn’t have cared, it was too hot. They didn’t even bark. I wasn’t about to tempt fate, I moved along.
Up the road, I eventually found a cement wall the Forest Service had built and took shelter there. You can see by my face that it is hot out.
Eventually, I did summit and had a mostly downhill ride to Cambridge, ID, and air conditioning.
It always feels so good to see that elevation sign, this means it is time for some well deserved downhill.
I just found your blog on Twitter, and will be following your trip with great interest, because I’m about your age, love to ride my bike in Colorado where we live, am also a ham (KOGUZ), have a KX3 and a Chromebook. I’ll be interested in learning just how you got PSK-31 to work on the Chromebook, and hope to be able to work you on PSK-31 or CW as you travel.
Hi Steve: I’m no genius when it comes to such things, but it turned out to be fairly easy to install Linux on the Chromebook. Do some sniffing around for “Linux Crouton Chromebook” and all sorts of things pop up. One site that keeps things simple is Howtogeek, start there. The whole thing actually has Google’s blessing, one of their employees came up with it. It actually runs encapsulated inside the Chrome operating system and you can jump back and forth between them. Let me know how it goes.
Oh, by the way, fear not, if you want to go back to factory default, it is very simple.
Good luck.
Dennis, K1YPP
Thanks 4 the update Dennis!