Due to some rain during the night it took a bit longer than normal to get packed up and depart the Dragoon Creek Campground but before too long we were fueled up with our bags of homemade oatmeal and ready to roll. It was about 7 miles to the town of Deer Park and once we arrived we found one small coffee shop open that allowed us to grab a bit more nutrition to power us for the undulant roads ahead. Our journey would take us mostly north which provided a tailwind for much of the day. The road surface flopped from paved to dirt/gravel on a regular basis with one particularly nasty section of gravel about halfway through the day that had all three of us thanking our maker once it was behind us. Temperatures weren’t too extreme and the air was still breathable albeit increasingly smokey as we got further north. In the town of Colville we stopped and heisted some hot water from the gas station’s coffee machine to make a few cups in addition to grabbing some snacks and nutrion for the climb to come the following day. One last push to Kettle Falls and soon we arrived at the Rancho Grande Mexican Restaurant where Fernando and his nephew Giovani warmly welcomed us and provided some great eats, most importantly desserts; a peach churro-ish creation alongside some fried ice cream.