6/21/17 Ride C2C Day 4 Winthrop to Brewster

6/21/17 Day 4 Winthrop to Brewster
Miles: 51. Total Miles: 217.5
Elevation Loss: 550 feet

Wake up inside, casual morning, coffee on a saddle, then get pushed by tailwinds on back roads to Pateros. Salad lunch at the river, tailwind on the highway pushes us to Brewster - our new shangri-la.

Since we have a “downhill” day, we take our time leaving our pleasant hotel room. Breakfast sandwich and coffee at the coffee shop, and back to the room for a little planning and writing. When we saddle up we decide we need a little zucchini bread snack and a 2nd cuppa coffee - while on a saddle to get us prepped.

OH BOY! Huge tail wind pushes us south at about 20 mph - that is fast for fully loaded bikes! We are on beautiful side roads with little traffic that follow the east side of the Methow River to Twisp, then the west side to Carleton. Since Hwy 20 Loup Loup highway was closed due to a washout, we altered our route to go around ridge which added a day to our trip - but relatively flat. We practically sailed Carleton (“Mediterranean of the Methow” ?? What?) where we stopped for a snack by the river. Gatorade tastes awfully good in the heat.

On Hwy 153 for 21 miles was not too bad - 2 of the 3 WASHDOT big trucks were the WORST - they didn’t give us an inch and the shoulder was not always so great. We pulled off for a quick gel snack.

Back on Hwy 153 for the cruise to a  late lunch in Pateros at the Sweet River Bakery - highly recommend them! Big salad - we decided that having a salad at lunch is how we’ll get in our greens. It’s too hard to do that in the campground.

We now head north, along the Columbia River, toward Brewster and we had...a tailwind. What, going the opposite direction now? But we’ll take it. We find the RV park and campground right in town - open, exposed, and tent sites are on the gravel, next to the city swimming pool. $19 for a tent site seems way high - but it is our only camping option. Better to hear kids having fun than a motor home with its generating running for hours (like at colonial creek). The wind is hooting and we are both feeling wind-whipped.

Our friend Marie (who lives in Chelan) drove up for a visit. She took us to dinner at a place we never would have guessed had a restaurant - Mi Pueblo - grocery store out front and food service in the back. Had delicious Carne Asada and Doug had a burrito. Fantastico! Fun to see our good friend and catch up. We end the night with a walk around the City park (across the street) and beautiful sunset over the Columbia on solstice.