Although I wouldn't choose to leave a campsite early simply because of an influx of early arrivals in huge caravans trying to get a good spot ahead of the crowds, it did at least give us a 9am start on a fairly long day of cycling - initially over a low pass - the Wauconda Pass, which is a mere 4310' so not quite a full Ben Nevis, and, of course, we started at about 2000' at Republic since it is a fairly high up town. It didn't seem a tough climb at all. Then down past Wauconda which is hardly a town at all. After Wauconda the road continued down but amongst some sad poverty - shacks or trailers sat amongst a mess of broken old cars and pickups with a few dogs loose behind (we hoped) a decent bit of barbed wire. The descent was great and our 40+ miles to Tonasket was done by about 2pm in spite of food shopping at the start and a long, if gentle, climb. The map warned us about a dangerous section of road - 0.8 miles with a poor surface, winding, no hard shoulder to allow traffic to overtake - but that whizzed by on our downhill hurtle. If we had done the section uphill - going east) it would have been much more difficult. The land looks parched since the moisture from the Pacific lands on the Cascades and doesn't reach here. After Tonasket the bottom of the valley is quite green with fruit trees due to an irrigation scheme - but the hills above the valley remain arid and parched, a strange contrast (made me think of an old man wearing a brunette wig - the odd contrast). The valley has a rather austere beauty. Barren hills running above the fertile fields. We saw more poverty going from Riverside, our next town, to Omak - two or three houses where the entire contents of the house were scattered around the wrecked building, with a broken vehicle or three added in usually. This was a Native American reservation. Fortunately there were some well kept areas where people were taking some pride in their neighbourhood - though a few roses or shrubs would not have come amiss - they need a gardening project. We reached Omak, noted the overpriced motel, opted to camp at the RV Park. The snag is that they require online only reservations when the mobile signal here is very weak and they don't give you the wifi password to help you. It is the most absurd thing. Eventually a very kind camper in a nearby caravan told us the wifi password and I could reserve our spot (the booking system worked best with the chrome browser - and the tent had been up for ages by then). And the showers are locked up a bit before 9pm, just a bit before you would want to take shower to remove the dust of 70 miles cycling. There's evidently a reasonable fear of vandalism and theft - the supermarket checkout man said 'bring your bike inside for safety next time'. The area has a fair and reassuring number of police around - and the bikes are locked up right by the tent. At moments it was like cycling through dear old Bradford, West Yorks. We did meet a fellow resident, at the moment, of the RV Park. Scott is moving in locally with his wife and is here until the house is ready. He is the person who helped us log in to the wifi so we could reserve our spot and gave us a couple of very welcome beers - a super beer called Night Owl from Elysian Brewery, a pumpkin ale. Well I love pumpkins. That is exactly what we need, it was nice talking to a fellow cycle enthusiast too, La Vuelta, the Spanish bike race, is on... We saw no bicycles out on the road today though Tonasket to Riverside could be a nice easy journey for a fun day out - with a cafe stop in Riverside. Scott has Scottish roots - going back to the Lowlands some considerable time ago - Roxburgh. The sprinkler system seems to be on at near midnight, hmmm, hope it doesn't reach our site.... We are here. [Later] The sprinkler system did not reach our tent, sleep was not too bad though we are about 200 yards from a busy road.