After packing up and departing the Gold Mountain RV park where we spent the night in a much degraded tent camping area towards the front of the park, we found ourselves back in Republic where we’d had dinner the night before. This time we visited the Ferry County Co-Op for some pretty good coffee and freshly made scones before dropping by the post office to pick up some more supplies we’d sent ahead. No hiccups there and soon we were on our way west towards Tonasket. The first order of business was another long climb, this one broken up into shorter sections but still totally nearly 2,000ft. The thermostat was already closing in on 90 by the time we left town so it was clearly going to be a scorcher. Once over the top a steady downhill helped counteract the headwinds but for the most part the uncooperative wind seemed to be winning the battle. Once in Tonasket it was yet another fueling station inspired lunch and away we went, now heading south down hwy 97. This part of Washington is very dry and desolate and with temps now in the triple digits things started to get a little dicey. Luckily in the tiny town of Riverside we spotted an RV park with some grass and water hydrants that provided ice cold water from the earth below. It was here we met Mack, a 6-month old puppy (not sure what breed) who took an immediate and total interest in the three rolling vagabonds that had distrupted his afternoon beneath the shady trees at the front of the park. His owner, Amanda was a traveling Nurse who as we would later find out was part of a larger group of medical professionals who had taken over the entire area for some sort of event. Once we’d cooled down and loaded up with water we said goodbye to Mack and Amanda and made our way up another short climb into the apple orchards of NE Washington. By the time we reach Okanogan it was nearly 5pm. With another 1600 ft of climbing ahead of us to the campsite we briefly considered finding a place to stay in town. It was then we discovered all of the area’s rooms had been booked up by the traveling nurses! With no good alternative we loaded up with as much water as we could carry and a bag of ice and headed out of town and towards the climb. When we finally arrived at the camp the skies were clear, the moon was rising and the entire campground, which spanned the entire circumferene of the lake, was all ours.