Day 48: To Bellevue (Sat 12th July)

I set off from Seneca at 6.45 am. This morning I have a stiff northeasterly breeze blowing over my right shoulder. THe temperature and humidity is down a lot from yesterday as a cold front moved in overnight. If these conditions last I'll fly today.

I spin along happily. The only thing to dampen my enthusiasm is a large bank of dark clouds that appear approaching from the north. Down the road a storm breaks out to the northast. I stop and watch lightning fizz down about 5 miles away. Then I see another set of lightning due north. I hesitate, waiting to see what happens, unsure if the clouds now over me are going to kick off with something. It became quite dark. I spent the next 45 mins stopping & starting watching the clouds, waiting for a storm that never came. I could see clearer skies a couple of mile away so I pushed down the road, getting caught in a brief cloudburst as I pushed through the front edge of the stormfront.

From here to Marysville, 20 miles down the road I had an easy, carefree ride, wathching the odd storm to the South and enjoying the breeze at my back. I stopped at an old 50's diner in Marysville for food & ended up stating for over an hour. I left under heavy rain as heavy, leadn skies closed in. For the next two hours to Washington the rain tipped down. To be honest it was fine. There was no wind, it was cool and the cycling was easy. I was in a comfort zone, it was like home. To be honest the whole day felt easy. It was an enjoyable day. I was able to do 90 miles without digging into reserves. In the cool temperatures my energy wasn't being drained.

The countryside was really nice. The plains really opened today. It was easy to imagine the vast herds of buffalo that used to roam these lands and the Pawnee, Cheyenne and Sioux tribes whose way of life depended upon them. In places there were no fields as such, just an expanse of grassland, interrupted here and there by isolated stands of trees. The lands just rolled away into a far horizon. In the afternoon the skies cleared and the sun came out. The air was still fresh after the earlier downpour. I was able to stop for a break on a side road without looking up at the sky and wondering what would happen (I seem to have done a lot of that on the trip). By late afternoon I rolled in to Bellevue. I got a cheap room, happy after a good day on the road.