Day 57, Aug. 11 (Monday) Toppenish to Yakima, WA

We didn't rush getting up, but when we did the first task we set to was fixing my front tire. I then discovered that the back had a flat to. And the culprit? These doggone thorns! And there is not just 1, but several in each wheel. Even the ones yet to have full flats. So after fixing up both tires. Realizing we have 1 patch and maybe 2 good patched tubes left, we made for the laundry.

We took the rest of the morning pretty easy. After our wash, we ate at their cultural center, which was surprisingly inexpensive and tasty. They had Huckleberry everything that they made on premises, from sugar free soda to tea and pancakes. I think I forgot to mention this place is directly across from the big time casino that the Yakama tribe runs. (Why there are different spelling of Yakima, I don't know.) Then we enjoyed the pool, hot tub, and sauna for a bit, hoping to clear our sinuses and chesty coughs up a bit.

Around 11:30, we thought we should probably get ourselves going. So we headed back to pack up, only to discover that there were more flats to attend to. We were pretty much at the ends of our wits with this stuff, and after a couple of failed attempts and no remaining replacement supplies, we kept our fingers crossed that the thorns would keep away for at least the ride to Yakima.

(I literally did cross my fingers on the ride.) We were scared to stop, but we kept having such gorgeous views of Mt. Adams, that eventually we held our breath to stop and take a picture of this gorgeous mountain. The last 8 miles or so we even stayed on the interstate (legal here) just to cut back on time.

When we finally pulled into the Valley Cycling shop (about 3 miles into town), we were so happy to be there. The shop carried thorn proof everything. We had never seen some of this stuff even to fend off NYC dangers. Thorn proof tires (yes, 3), thorn resistant tubes (no), tubes that release goo when they get a flat (yes, 1), and on and on. We dropped about $175 on this (last week of our trip and still), but we figured it was worth it to get us through "goathead" country (as the thorns are called). We sat outside the shop and changed out our tires, I put one on backwards, Andy gave one a pinch-flat, so it took us a goodly amount. Our gear is strewn everywhere and we are sloppily mechanicking our bikes outside their fine shop. Thanks guys.

Yakima wasn't the most "darling" town we had been in, or really at all, so our dinner turned out to be had at Red Robin, a west coast version of Applebees or TGIFs or something. I was feeling pretty bad and had some soup and salad to feed my cold. Andy dined on a big ole burger and bottomless fries. At one point he had 3 baskets in front of him.

The day was pretty much over and we were not feeling very "rested", we headed to the supermarket to get a few things, and then biked about 6 miles to the KOA across the river. We had been aiming for a S.P., but took the wrong road, and came upon this instead.

The KOA was ok. It was a little dirty (the kind you don't see until you already pay), the pond had a fiberglass figuring sitting in a john boat floating around creepily, and there were some kids practicing tricks on their bikes. They were not very good. We made tea, took showers, spoke to some nice motorcyclists from British Columbia who were debugging their bikes, and conched out for the night.