Day #62 - 5/12/2011 - Seattle, WA to West Spokane, WA - 223 miles

And then, reaching Seattle, the most northwest corner of the U.S., we made a right turn.

It was 223 miles from the Motel 6 in Issaquah to the more upscale Super 8 in West Spokane, WA.  The route was pretty straightforward but the scenery: awesome.  Click on the scenic photos for a better look.

Lani catches up on her Zine reading, brushing up on revolutionary women,
before we hit the highway.

We grabbed breakfast at the IHOP next to the Motel 6 (no breakfast at the M6!) and we were off, heading East on I-90 towards Spokane.  The scenery was pretty grand: pine covered mountains, some topped with snow and all draped with billowing cushions of clouds…magnificent.  

Wow...I was totally unprepared for the beauty of the Cascade Mountains just east of Seattle. 
Coming through the Snowqualmie Pass, we came across Keechelus Lake, a lake, reservoir and
source of the Yakima River.  This is a clickable photo.

We traversed almost 200 miles of rolling hills, farms and wind farms.  Rather than finding them to be an eyesore, the wind turbines had a graceful technological beauty that spoke to my inner geek.

While they are green, they are not harmless.  One study completed not far from here estimated that more than 30 raptors were killed during an initial year of operations.  The dead included kestrels, red-tailed hawks, short-eared owls and a ferruginous hawk, which Washington state lists as a threatened species.  Bats also take a beating.

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels, I occasionally feel the need for a cup of coffee or just a break.  This gave us an excuse to check out the next small town at the next inconspicuous exit.   How else would we have found George, Washington?

Population 528 with 0.6 square miles, George, WA, was the creative comic genius of one Charlie Brown who submitted the only winning bid to the area Bureau of Land Management to develop a town to support the farming and irrigation district.  The citizens of the town have named their streets after varieties of cherries grown in the area.

Did you know that Washington State is a leading agricultural state?  I didn't, but after traveling across the state it became pretty obvious.  Washington leads the nation in apple production as well as red raspberries, wrinkled peas, hops (for your beer brewing needs), spearmint oil, sweet cherries, pears, peppermint oil, Concord grapes, blah blah blah.  Anyway, the farm land went on forever.  And, it was quite pretty.

Scattered across the hundreds of miles of farmland where these ginormous center pivot irrigation machines.  Constructed of several segments of pipe and mounted on wheeled towers with sprinklers positioned along its length, the machine moves in a circular pattern, fed with water from the pivot point at the center of the circle. It usually rotates once every 3 days.  The standard 1/4 mile machine is most common.  Most now have drops that are positioned a few feet (at most) above the crop, limiting evaporative losses and wind drift.  If you've ever seen circular fields of green from your airplane window, this is why.  Clickable.

About 70 miles from George, WA, we decided to see what was off the highway.  We pulled into Ritzville, population 1673 and settled in 1880.   Like so many of the small towns we visited. Ritzville's early existence can be traced to the railroad, The Northern Pacific Railway to be precise, who actually had the land platted.

The grain elevator of the Ritzville Warehouse Company dates to 1883.  In 1901, Ritzville shipped more wheat than anywhere in the known universe.

Small towns like Ritzville usually exist as a simple grid, making it easy to explore, not get lost and return to the highway.  We headed to the downtown. 

Where people in Ritz go in order to "put it on", the new Ritz Theater dates to 1937.

The dining options in Ritzville are a bit limited and are largely limited to the frontage near the interstate exits.

The Whisperin Palms Restaurant closed in 2007.

If you can't go out to eat in Ritzville, at least you can go shopping.

What must be the most self-deprecating, uneffacing name for any establishment...anywhere.  You'd never see any establishment in Texas with a name like this.  C'mon, guys...grow a pair.

Even if Ritzville doesn't have Texas-sized pride, it is proud nonetheless and sports a nice website that touts its historic past.

The North Pacific Railroad Museum Depot was built in 1910 by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, this depot was the second for Ritzville. The original wooden depot, built in 1881, was located directly across the tracks.  The Ritzville Warehouse Company looms in the background.

And, with that, we pulled out of Ritzville and back on to the interstate, heading towards Spokane.

We arrived in Spokane, enjoyed one of the best burritos we’ve had (Neato Burrito) and stopped at a book store before finding the Super 8 motel ($5 more than the Motel 6, but offering so much more.)

We set about planning our return to cycling.  Just East of Spokane were 300 miles of mountains covering the Coeur D’Alene National Forest and the Flathead National Forest, leading us to the Montana plains.  The scenery looked great on the map and, in spite of the elevation, it looked doable.  Even more, I was desperate to get back on the bike.  Aside from the few runs in Santa Monica, I had not exercised in weeks…I felt bloated and deconditioned and was not happy.  But: the weather.  

Looking ahead, severe weather was called for what would be most of our time in the mountains: thunderstorms, flash floods, hail, snow and, generally, miserable weather.  I wanted to get back on the bike, but I was not feeling masochistic.   What do to? Sit here for a week?  Travel ahead by car to the Montana flatlands, skipping the scenic mountains (and the storm’s worst) and just deal with it on the plains?  All poor choices.

Did you know that Spokane can be used to rhyme with divan?  I'll bet you didn't...come back tomorrow and I'll show you.