day 89, Tonasket, WA 58 miles (3980 total)

Woke up to a very chilly morning, but got warmed up with the breakfast of hot oatmeal, muffins, and coffee brought out by our campground host. Soon we were on the road and warming up along the Kettle River on our way to Wauconda, with easy grades the miles were flying behind us. We stopped at the grave site of Ranald Macdonald, guess he ate one too many of those hashbrowns himself. Actually he lived back in the 1800's, and was best known by his adventures to Japan. At the time, the country was closed to outsiders, but he was so intrigued by the culture that he purposely "shipwrecked" himself close to the mainland from a whaling ship,(after he invented the "McBlubber" of course), as was taken prisoner by the Japanese. There he taught english for several years, before venturing on to Australia and eventually back to Washington State. His plan would have gone much smoother if only his high school had an "Eastern Studies Program".

Our turn onto "Toroda Creek Rd" started innocently enough, more good pavement, no traffic, and easy grades. About 12 miles froom Wauconda the road turned to loose, fresh gravel, not much fun on a fully-loaded tandem even with 35 cc tires. The grades steepened too and a headwind began to develop. Needless to say, by the time we collapsed at the Wauconda diner we were whooped!

After some great food, coffee, and dessert we decided to push on to Tonasket (another 24 miles but pretty much all downhill). Here we have checked in to the local motel and are living the good life!