The storm last night was fairly severe and did not stop until about 11pm. The tent, as usual, had no problems and the inside was not damp. The outside still needed to dry, ideally, before leaving the next morning. So we weren't the quickest to leave. We ate porridge (a microwave was available), we drank tea and packed away. I bought a copy of The Beekeeper's Lament - about the honey bee in the USA and some of its problems. We set off at about 10.15am, and headed initially for Napoleon (another town called Napoleon). That's the only town on the route today before we end up at Hazelton over 60 miles away. But it looked a pleasant place for lunch, perhaps a rather late lunch.
We met two west to east transAm cyclists on the road before Napoleon. First we met Eric Whettam from Seattle and doing big mileages most days - he's riding to raise money for a Polish orphanage - see gofundme. Today was an easy day - to Gackle's cyclist's accommodation. Then we met Amy and Charlie, doing the same route and also aiming for Gackle. They are both from the bay area near San Francisco. Notably we haven't seen a bike trailer on this transam - the pull along trailers used to outnumber panniers as the was to carry everything, they took the weight off the back wheel although the towing caused other stresses.
We met Amy and Charlie at a point where the road ran through rather uncultivated land and was becoming hilly. I photographed a rather gorgeous flower alongside the road. But what is it? Perhaps some sort of orchid [later: it is Liatris Punctata - see the wikipedia info here]. We've been seeing hives just a bit off the road for a while. These are hives that will spend winter indoors and go to California in Feb to pollinate almonds, plums and other crops We've certainly climbed a bit as we go up a bit more than we go down. The wind, southerly, has been a cross wind but sometimes there's a touch of East and for the miles from Napoleon to Hazelton we got a tailwind. Hazelton has evidently got smaller since its glory days - the local historical society has a useful board in the park. It isn't an old town - from circa 1900 with a post office from 1903 - and it still has a modest supermarket hanging on in the middle of town. It replaced Williamsport - only 20 years older and 3 miles away - that was bypassed by the North Pacific Railway and so came to an end... We camped in the city park's campground and read books but swathed in long trousers with towels around our heads - there are both mosquitoes and biting flies. The air is humid and warm, there maybe a thunderstorm... The photos are of hives on the sort of moorland that interrupts the soy bean and maize duoculture just here, and our meeting with Charlie and Amy - a photo that for once gets everyone in (I'm not a selfie sort of person...), and also a photo of the beautiful flower on the edge of the road. Only saw one of this type.