Pedaling Pilgrim Blog Home

I really didn’t think I would write much more than that title tonight. And I think this will be relatively brief. Because we were going into the day thinking we had a 71-mile ride to an overnight stay at the LaCrosse town park, but instead we road 95 miles over multiple sections with over 9% grade to arrive in Washtucna, 28 miles shy of our destination.

Last night we debated about the day’s route and what was showing on Strava as 71 miles with 30% paved, 36% unpaved, 34% unknown. The possibility of 70% gravel did not adhere to our credo. So we called an early morning audible for an 88 miles shy route with 54% paved, 17% unpaved and 28% unknown (though we felt good about most of this unknown being paved). Strava, Apple, Google… all seemed to suggest this was the way for us. We knew there would be hills in both halves of the day, with crossing the Snake river at Little Goose Dam as just past the midpoint of the day.

We had a lovely breakfast that Kristin prepared, and we rolled away a little after our planned 7:30 departure, but we weren’t that pressed for time. Shortly after leaving their driveway we had to travel 1/2 miles on the horrible basalt rock gravel road that seems to be favored in eastern Washington (some basalt rock supplier oils in some Washington politician’s pocket somewhere). As is to prove our credo as correct, Geeto got a flat tire in this first half hour. This also reconfirmed our route choice: minimize gravel; bikers and basalt don’t mix!

The morning miles were difficult, but relatively routine. 30 minutes later heading up desolate roads, a biker (Kevin) headed the other direction waved, then turned around to chat with us. From his riding gear and chiseled legs, his biking prowess was obvious. Usually when we tell folks our destination is Rhode Island, we hear words like: wow, awesome, so cool, jealous… Kevin’s response was more like we were trying to cross at Check Point Charlie before the wall came down. He looked us up and down to check our lights, he questioned how much weight we were carrying, what was our planned route, what did we have for tools… At first it was cool that he turned around to chat with us, but he left us with some doubt and trepidation; he killed our bouyant mood (and he may have put a hex on us).

Shortly after Kevin left, we heard thunder. We’ve hardly seen a cloud, let alone threat of rain. We enjoyed a long uphill climb (3+ miles of if I remember right) then had our first rest from the saddle at Preston Ranch Road (my daughter Sarah married Jacob Preston!) There the wind started to blow, we heard thunder again, and departed under a few raindrops.

The rain drops grew more prevalent as we were faced with a difficult decision in Waitsburg WA: we passed a sign that read, “Warning – Brewery Ahead”. 🤔 Day drinking and hire a pickup to drive us to La Crosse, or ride onward. Thankfully the decision was made for us as they were not yet open.

We went from Waitsburg to Dayton, then north on Highway 12 to 261 west, then 1 mile east of Starbuck WA we were onto the gravelly Riveria Road – it was a light downpour from Waitsburg to this point; and here we were 47 miles into our 88-mile day. We stopped a little ways onto Riveria Road for PBJ and pickles(and we did not readdress our map.

Now, the hard part began: 3.5 miles up, and 3.5 miles down a steep gravel road. Two sections here Apple suggested we may have to push our bike (we rode). And, while the uphill was exhausting on lungs, heart and legs, the downhill was equally strenuous on nerves and taxing on brake grabbing muscles. We were exhausted getting down the back side, a short mile or so from Goose Island Dam.

We had a quick ride up to the Goose Island Dam to find…. Locked gates, and a sign that stated you can only cross the dam once an hour, on the half hour mark, from 7:30am to 4:30 pm, on Monday through Thursday. Today is in fact Saturday. I picked up a phone at the call box and made my meager plea to the dam operator, he said, “You’ll have to come back Monday.” We should’ve gotten some photos at this scene. But after a few PG-13 profanities, mostly aimed at our mapping apps, we were calling an audible and headed to the next bridge. We traveled 10 miles up and down some long climbs by the Snake River, to find ourselves having now traveled 62 miles, and we were 1/2 mile west of Starbucks (3 hours ago we were 1.5 miles away from this point!)

All photos stopped. Dialogue was limited to questions about distance and elevation change or warnings about traffic. With unspoken agreement, enjoyment was outlawed. We now had one mission: travel another 61 miles to La Crosse – do your job and get to work.

As you already know, we came up 28 miles short of that target. There would be no shaking hand of the mayor, no marching ban, no exception made for us to stay overnight at the park, no dinner at Pass Time Tavern.

But we found Sonny’s Family Tavern in Washtucna and had a lovely meal. We had some laughs looking back at our miserable moments – we got a good chuckle out of recalling how Geeto bought us two liters of “emergency” water in Waitsburg – lemon-covered sparkling emergency water. We indeed needed this water, but it warm and not satisfying.

But, through a little effort and some phone calls, we got booked into a B&B 2 blocks from Sonny’s (The Palouse Falls Inn). Catherine and Scott made up the Garden Room for Geeto, the Maid’s Room for Lecy, and the Red Room for me (Red rum, red rum!). We have breakfast scheduled for 8, and our plan for tomorrow is to ride until we quit. We don’t think we can add 88 miles to the 71 planned for tomorrow; but we have 4 days to travel 280 miles to our hotel in Missoula to be back on track.

I’m not going to provide a Strava Map for tomorrow as we’re preparing our litigation against them. Sorry. Maybe in a few days.

There’s only one song that comes to mind for our day of extended exploration on the Palouse. The Climax Blues Band did the excellent original of the song in 1976, but I like the more obscure cover by the Un Lovin’ Criminals in 1999: Couldn’t Get It Right. And if you’re a late blog joiner and have checked out the playlist: Pedaling Pilgrims! It’s not everyone’s tastes, but it fits my geezer groves and moods.