We have been blessed to have travelled to many parts of the globe. The allure of the American Experience has, however, remained within us. Now in retirement with plenty of time, we decided to see more of America at the leisurely pace of one spoke at a time.
In 2018 we travelled from Seattle to Savannah. In 2021 we rode/drove the East Coast from Canada to Key West. We are now crossing the U.S. to make our way from Vancouver, Canada to Tijuana, Mexico.
After Jay completed the third of the four climbs over the eastern Washington State mountain passes (Washington, Loup Loup, Wauconda and Sherman), he rested. We have taken a weekend respite in Republic, WA (population 1,073). Our planning in this section of the cross-country bicycle journey is three-dimensional: distance, elevation and weather. Rain this time was the big factor in getting off the road.
It was also a perfect time to be in Republic. This weekend was the Prospectors’ Weekend, celebrating the early 1900’s when the town was the center of local mining operations. The celebrations included a parade, a gunfight shoot out on Main Street, and Saturday night dancing in the street with live music.
Not to be outdone by Republic’s town fathers, we had our own adventure on our way to this mountainside town.
ATV Jamboree Attendees
On the day Jay climbed over Loup Loup Pass, we planned to camp in Tonasket. The next day was a 27-mile climb to Wauconda Pass and Jay wanted to camp in Tonasket to be as close as possible to the start of the climb. Helen drove to Tonasket and discovered that camping was in an RV gravel parking lot with an overflowing chemical toilet. We switched our campsite destination to the wonderfully lush Conconully State Park. Upon arrival we learned that this park was ground zero for an ATV (all terrain vehicle) jamboree. We enjoyed our chats with participants and wished them well as we drove out the next morning to drop Jay off at Tonasket.
Our 16 mile drive to Tonasket, per our car’s GPS, took us on a dirt road along the edge of the Conconully Reservoir. After 8+ miles of driving on a rough dirt road, an ATVer we encountered pointed us in the direction of an asphalt road. Yeay! But 200 feet from the asphalt road, we ran out of road, period.
A stream had flooded a section of the road and erosion had carved another section of the dirt road into
Driving into Flooded Road
oblivion. We admit our next decision was a bit foolhardy, but we were not about to drive back on that dirt road. We navigated the flooded road section and used rocks to build a ramp over the washed out section. ATVer…humph! We are Prius tough!
Jay was grateful to rest after three straight days of mountain climbing. Keeping the spirit of Prospectors’ Weekend, we stayed dry at the Klondike Motel as the rains fell.
The intent of this trip was to see America. Listening to a local high school student start the weekend parade by singing the national anthem as Boy Scouts held the American and Republic town flags could not be more Americana. Of course, there were fire trucks in the parade, and given this was a frontier mining town, one float included four pretty gals properly dressed for their can-can number.
On Monday Jay rides over Sherman pass and on to Idaho. After one day there we head to Montana.
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