It's a deer, right?

I've been sleeping really well in my tent till now (see last post) but was woken at about three this morning by, well, two sneezes inches from my head.  Now rabbits and chipmonks don't sneeze do they?  Wolves don't sneeze do they.  So it had to be a deer, right?  I put out of my mind the fact that there I was in the field all by myself with not another tent for miles and acres of mountain and forests around me.  Just the sort of place you'd find....deer, right?

A hard ride yesterday over Rainy Pass and Washington Pass.  Although it was never that steep (7%) it went on for a long time without stop (about 50 km).  As I topped out the dense forest with moss and kichen hanging from the trees and lots of waterfalls suddenly gave way to scrubby, dry mountains with scrawny looking Mediterranean trees.  I made it as far as Mazama and decamped at a cyclist-only campsite!  How about that!.  I was the only one there (hence the unease about the ....deer... at night).  It was effectively a big field with a solar heated shower hidden behind the bushes.  A delight!

Today has been a morning of big, big skies as I made my way down a wide valley with those yellow, scrubby mountains on each side.  Miles and miles of road by myself.    Lots of deer seen (see, I told you it was a deer last night) as well as squashed snake on the road.  I rolled in Pateros at lunchtime with 77km clocked up and was going to spend the night there after connecting up to the world couresy of the library BUT the library was closed on Mondays.  Little things like this can knock one's morale for six.  Grumpily I consulted the map and ?foolishly pressed on another 30km to Chelan in search of the library.  And here I am.   It was a hard 30km into the wind on a busy road.  It took me three hours.
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Legs feeling strong.  In need of some company (yep really!).  I savour the few little human interactions I have....like the family watching hay being harvested using a horse drawn harvester who waved at me and the lady who sold me a blueberry smoothie at Pateros.


Got 110km under my belt today.  In need of a hot shower, grub and rest.


Can;t get the top off my Trangia cooker.  This somewhat stunts my cooking!

Thanks to those who have been kind enough to give me their comments.