Friday, June 25, 2010 69.7 miles Republic, WA

Today was beautiful in every respect – weather, route, scenery. Jean and I pulled out at 6:50 am to try and beat the heat, but that didn’t happen. By noon it was really hot (maybe not by Memphis standards). We rolled into the quirky little town of Riverside and took a few pictures. . . The scenery was lovely all day – rounded hills, woods on the hillsides, green valleys, ranches, rushing creeks roadside – quite idyllic. Jean said once that someone should be yodeling! At mile 29 we began a steady climb up to mile 55.7 and the top of Wauconda Pass (4310 ft.). From there it was pretty much downhill for 13 miles. Except for being a little bumpy (winter road damage), I really enjoyed the ride down. I braked some at the beginning and then just sat back and enjoyed the ride, especially since the switchbacks were broad. . . . Early in the morning, I had a sweet incident happen. A deer walked to the edge of the highway on my right and after looking both ways and assessing the traffic, she hopped across the road right in front of me. I had slowed to a near stop as had the approaching car. The driver and I smiled and waved. Then, in the early afternoon as we were in 3 mile climb, a herd of about 50 horses wandered across the road looking for water on the other side. We flagged motorists to slow down and crawl through the herd. The horses had broken thru their fence. There were several foals, too. Long story short – the owner arrived, the horses ran back up the hill and the rancher repaired the fence. Exciting day. . . Getting into Republic, WA, I couldn’t wait to find ice cream. Bought a double dip of vanilla and black cherry. Garmin Jane reports 4559 ft. of climbing today and 3,144 calories burned!  I may add more pics later.  They're taking too long to upload!