Clarkston, Washington

What up! We're out of Montana, which is quite bittersweet. Sweet beacuse it means we're making rad progress and are almost done, bitter because Montana was so cool and we're almost done. We're 350 miles/a weekish from Portland (OMG). We've gone over all of our mountain passes (yay!). This last map will be fuuun but hard. lots of crazy hills and upcoming headwinds in the Columbia river gorge. We're going to try and wake up really really early so we can be on our bikes by 4 or 5 to beat the winds. But people keep telling us about how absolutely beautiful that area is, so that should make up for the difficulties.

So we sadly left Missoula 3 days ago (thats right, 4 days! this was our quickest map yet-250 miles in 3 days of riding) to cross over Lolo Pass. The pass was, once again, much easier than we expexcted. We crossed into Idaho and the Clearwater National Forest which is incredible! Everyone HAS to go there! It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been-really lush forests covering the surrounding mountins, and the road runs right along the Lochsa river which is my favorite on so far I think. There are little waterfalls and streams all over the place and everything is so so so green. And I suppose the fact that we went downhill for a good100 miles didn't hurt how much we loved it. We met several cyclists along the way, including a vegan couple around our age from Portland in Kooskia. We hung out with them for awhile and talked about how hard it's been to be vegan (and all our cheats) on the road. They are radical and we got their numbers and we wish them the best! They're going all the way across the country! The next day was no good. After that the terrain changed quite rapidly to desert. We biked 75 miles in 100 degree heat along a narrow shoulderless busy river road. We made the mistake of opting for a flat alternate route to Lewiston instead of going up hills and were punished with lots of cars and lots of bike hate from the drivers. But I suppose our other option would have been going up and down hills all day in that heat which might have been no better. We've been here for 2 days now, taking a break and eating and sleeping. It's not so hot today thankfully!

Ok my time is about up here...As usual there is much more to tell, but my little brain cannot sort all of our experiences while I'm sitting at this computer. I have lots of pictures too, which unfortunately will have to wait to be posted when we're finished, so stay tuned for that. Until next time, stay cool! Go swimming! eat some ice cream! Drink some beer!