Pant. Sizzle. Gasp. Burn.

I decided to endure the freeway for one more day, since it seemed like the easiest way to get to my chosen route. I'm going to head north on 17 to 2, so although at times it may look as though I am going slightly westward, I *am* going east, I swear. The map says 17 is "scenic," which I suspect may mean "hilly," but I need to get in shape to go over the rockies anyway, right?

After navigating the tangled morass of highways and freeways that all converge in the tri-cities, I make it out unscathed and head north. It's pretty smooth sailing on the freeway, giant shoulder, the hills aren't steep and the wind is less of a factor than yesterday, so despite the heat I make pretty good time. On a snack break I meet a really nice woman who is travelling with her husband in their RV out to visit their daughter near Glacier for the summer. She gives me her number and tells me to stop by and camp on her daughter's property when I'm out that way. Yay!

I turn off onto 17, and it is busier than I had hoped for, but it has a good shoulder and a ton of birds. I wish Stefany was here to identify them for me! I see a couple of baby foxes, at least I'm pretty sure that's what they are. They have that big-eared puppy-kitten look to them. I thought the plural of fox was "foxen" but Miriam-Webster seems to disagree. They wander out onto the road and look as though they are about to step out into the other lane, in front of an oncoming car. I say "what are you doing? Get out of the road!" They look up at me and then hop back onto the shoulder. Whew!

On a tip from a helpful woman at the Mesa grocery store, I find a beautiful, bird-filled place to camp. I meet some nice people from Seattle who are out touring in their RV. Seattlites: we're everywhere you want to be!

I just noticed I am getting a hopelessly dorky short fingered biking glove tan.

Plug of the day: the people at Scott's bicycle shop in Kennewick are super nice and helpful, and the prices there seem good, although I didn't really look at anything besides the tubes, patches, and goo. One of the guys fixed a minor thing on my bike and didn't charge me for it. I would like to believe I got the cute girl discount, but if I'm going to be honest with myself, I have to admit that it is more likely that I got the cute *bike* discount! Everyone in the shop was checking out my "well-built Surly." Yup. That is one foxy little piece of equipment.