Dayton to Pomeroy, Washington Saturday, May 25, 2024.
OK, this fleabag wasn’t that creepy, and there were only 11 vacancies. But it was in the ballpark.
The office was behind the windowed door, and my room was the one just to the left. I didn’t see any peepholes. The proprietor was an older woman, not an intense young man, but it could’ve been his mother. I guess I’ll take a shower anyway*.
It was a cap-off to a slightly weird day. Dayton was having its Memorial Day parade, and the main street was blocked off. I convinced the sheriff to let me go through anyway; spectators lined the sidewalk but the parade hadn’t come through yet, so it was just me, going the wrong way. I sheepishly tried to wave, but had visions of a similar scene in Easy Rider. Those guys wound up in the hoosegow.
There was a strong southwest wind, 20 to 30 MPH with higher gusts, indicated by the blue arrow I drew over my Ride with GPS track for the day.
As you can see, mostly a tailwind, but sometimes a buffeting crosswind, that threatened to blow me right into traffic. The way it whipped around the Palouse hills reminded me of sailing regattas in the Charles River, surrounded by skyscrapers (at least there were no traffic helicopters hovering overhead). I had to keep an iron grip on the handlebars, and by the time I hit Pomeroy, I was pretty tapped out. As is common in this neck of the woods, there was nothing, nada, zippo, no place to stop for 37 miles. I thought maybe I’d go another 30 miles to Lewiston, but felt it best to stop here, even if the Pioneer Motel was creepy.
I arrived at 2:05 PM, the only restaurant in town had just closed. So I stocked up on groceries for lunch, dinner, and the following breakfast. Another string town, pretty dead, although the Garfield County Courthouse was interesting.
Distance 38 miles, 994 total. Time 5 hours with stops. Elevation gain 1,850 feet
©️ 2024 Scott Luria
*In one of my more egregious examples of bad parenting, I let my daughter watch Psycho at age 9. For the next 10 years, she would not take a shower unless our dog was in the bathroom.
The Ends of the Earth 