Day 4, Odessa to Spokane, 77 miles, Living in the Dorm

Best: Riding around with different groups all day, Nobody wanted me.

Worst: Third chicken dinner in a row tonight

Most Unexpected: Last night it was balmy, this morning it was downright chilly.

Last night in Odessa we had dinner in the school cafeteria sitting at tables for little people.  I felt very happy that my knees didn't quite hit my chin.  The dinner was pasta and parmesan chicken cooked by volunteers at the school.  Unfortunately the chicken was very very dry.  We slept outside on the school lawn on grass and it was a very nice night.  I pulled my fly off the back side of the tent, and then in the morning my tent was wet from the dew due to the cold temperature that somehow came over the night.  Notice the use of dew due in the previous sentence.  I woke up at 1:30 feeling like I had a great nights sleep and seeing the time realized I had to try to go back to sleep.  This did occur when at 2:30 the train came into town with a very irate train engineer who tried to play boogie woogie bugle boy on his horn.  

Breakfast was back in the cafeteria where once again I avoided cramping up on the little tables.  The eggs were cooked in some kind of souffle like thing. We left lovely Odessa and it was downright chilly.  Everyone was really feeling the last three days and the riding speeds were low.  Of course this did not last, but a tailwind quickly helped equalize our different riding speeds.  The temperature stayed low the entire ride, but not like last year's near freezing temperatures.  I left my vest on the entire ride.

Lunch was the left over souffle like thing, left over breakfast from two days ago, french fries and pasta from last night, and your typical peanut butter and jelly surprise.  Plus pickles.  Be still my stomach.

My mind kept having the following conversation all day;

Butt:  Hey fat boy, you need to get off me.

Triceps:  Yeah, and stop using me to keep yourself from falling forward.

Brain:  Okay legs, time for you to stand up and take the pressure off the butt and triceps.

Legs:  Hey fat boy, sit down.  

Repeat ad nauseum

Not a lot of climbing today, mostly some small hills and one long grade with not much of a slope.  There was a nasty climb before getting to the far outskirts of Spokane that was made famous by Liz of 2012 Big Ride fame for dropping me like a boulder on the climb.  One of the pictures shows this really crappy climb.  Then a lovely descent into Spokane and we found our way to the Gonzaga dorm where I took a shower, did laundry, and didn't get mixed up between the two tasks.  No spin dry for me.

We ate at a cafeteria for Gonzaga which was recently built near our dorm and I fully expected a similar dinner to two years ago where there was quite a bit of variety for dinner.  What a surprise when there was a single main course for dinner and of course it was CHICKEN.  Fortunately we had gone to Wolfies diner before dinner (after I had spun dry myself) and I had a chocolate malt.  

I am writing this from my dorm room which has a bunk bed and two desks.  I do not have to share my room, nobody does, and so I have a decision on which bunk I use.  Probably not to difficult seeing as the lower bunk has sheets and a blanket and the upper bunk is naked.  I feel like I am back at college with the exception that I never stayed in a dorm.