Through the rain and into the sun

As I left you I was about to do my first floor flopping experience. I had pulled up a piece of floor in the gym and rolled out my sleeping bag. The lights were pretty much all out. At about 1:30 some ones cell phone played a nice little ditty for five minutes. The town air raid siren went off at 3;30 and of course the trains went by every 20 minutes and blew there whistle at the crossing in the center of town. it wasn't raining inside.

We climbed out of the little town of Skykomish in a cloud bank. I am not sure if it was really rain or just 100% humidity that was condensing on everything. The first have of the ride was up though Stephen pass which was made famous in the 1890's when a snow storm and avalanche killed 96 people. It was only 16 miles to the top of the pass at 4061 ft but it seemed to take forever. By time I got there my gloves were soaked and I was wet on the inside of my rain gear. So pulled on an extra layer of under shirt and headed down the other side. The road was wet and slippery. You could feel the rear tire coming around when you braked. It was 11 miles of really steep twisty road and my hands were freezing but I couldn't take my hands off the handle bars. However after about 5 miles you could see the clouds were now above you and you could see a tiny patch of blue sky about 20 miles east. Sure enough by the time we got to picnic the sun was out and it was warm and beautiful. The Swiftwater river was right there and it was a perfect spot for picnic. The ride wound up taking us though so rolling orchard country and into a high school in Wenatchee for a total of 75 miles.
That evening was rider meeting for the Coast to Coast riders. There are 45 riders doing the full distance and so when it got to introductions it took forever. The meeting started at 8:30 and took until 10:30. Certainly there were lots of interesting stories. Well let just say I was glad to hit the hay.

Terry