Look at me being responsible. I made it over the next pass to Mitchell and even though it was only 40 miles and I felt I could easily do more, I decided to call that a day and take things slow. The knee was cooperative but touchy. If I didn't do exactly what it wanted (which seemed to change every pedal stroke) it would get angry but at least it wasn't persistently worsening like it had been on Monday.
My timing on rain today has been flawless, and not in a good way. I took my time setting out this morning and started during a dry moment. Minutes later however it gave up its waffling from drizzle to no drizzle and just decided to pour. It did that pretty much all the way to the top of the pass. See what I mean about bizzaro? Climbing 2000 feet at four to seven miles per hour in pouring rain and gusting wind whilst getting overtaken by trucks and RVs who may or may not bother to find their way closer to the yellow line as they rip by, and yet I was having a grand old time. Of course now that I'm inside it's dry out there.
To be fair, as I came into the valley it dried out for a spell and it was as if I had gone from Western Washington to Idaho in less than a mile. It dried out and the foliage changed. The ride up felt like wet boyscout camp in the Cascades and the ride down felt like summer in Sun Valley. The vista was as beautiful as it was surprising. On a mental coin toss I followed the sign for the Mitchell Business Loop (40 more miles to the next sign of life but I was already soaked so I'd have been happy to carry on) to get some food and see what excitement could be found in the town of Mitchell.
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