Day 6 - Wenatchee to Ellensburg

This morning we opt to take a route Googled by Dick, since nothing else looked promising. We start on a beautiful bike trail along the river that's a nice city park with lots of joggers and biker out on a Saturday morning. When it's time to leave the bike trail, we head towards the mountains and are stopped by a guy with mountain bikes on the back of his car, many colored tattoos and toes painted neon yellow, asking were we are going. When we tell him he says you can't go this way because it dead ends. We tell him we are going over the mountains to Ellensburg and he says it starts out as Forest Service roads and then gets worse and that they have a big mountain bike race there every year. Since MapMyRide indicates it is an HC climb, we opt to take an alternative route. So we return by the main street back towards our hotel, which gives us an 8 mile warm up ride.
We take Route 2 and 97 west, and it is just like riding on I-10. Lots of traffic, climbs, headwinds, heat, etc. As we turn to the south up 97 we are greeted by a sign that says 51 miles to Ellensburg and we have already logged 24! We know there is a Cat 1 climb waiting but have no idea that it's the climb that wouldn't end. Finally, at about 47 miles (about 5 miles further than we estimate the summit), we crest Blewett Pass at 4,100 feet at about 3PM. (we had a picture to post but the Days Inn computer is still running IE6, so no luck. Maybe later)
After a screaming downhill made scarier by the crosswinds and heavy traffic, we make the turn east towards Ellensburg and are confronted by another 3 mile killer climb. At the crest, we see a windmill farm stretching out through the valley. Fortunately, they indicate a brisk tail wind, and we sail down the other side, not pedaling for 10 full miles! It is definitely, the longest downhill any of us had experienced. We make it to town about 5:30 after 10 hours in the saddle and opt for motel over camping (mostly because the only campground is 3 miles backtracking into a 15 mph headwind.) We find a Days Inn, load up on "muscle relaxants" (beer) and decide to continue the spirit of adventure by eating at the next door truck stop. Maybe more on that later...