Sunday, June 27
Colville, WA to Bear Paw Camp (before reaching Newport)
Miles: 81.2
TOTAL ASCENT TO DATE: 20,234 feet!!!!
I think this was may favorite day of the trip so far. It was a neat confluence of the hills becoming more rounded and less steep, and my own sense that I've been getting stronger. So despite the milage, it was a good day.
We had our first sag stop of the day at Crystal Falls, which was just beautiful.
After that, I came upon a camp store by a lake, so I stopped for coffee on a deck behind the place, overlooking the lake. Three guys also made the stop, and they are Norm, Norbert and Ted, from Vancouver Island. We'd all been passing and catching up with these guys for days. They are doing a self-supported ride to Idaho, then swinging north and west back through Canada to go home. These guys are carrying 80 pounds each!! I guess Norm has a lighter, more high-tech bike and equipment, but he's not pictured here. Norbert, meanwhile, is even carrying a Coleman single-burner stove. Long ago, I used to imagine biking across the country in a self-supported trip, but no more!
I entered Pend Oreille County, and learned that it's pronounced "pondoray." I mention this, because we biked miles and miles along the Pend Oreille River, which is just beautiful, with lots of summer camps and houses along it. Loads of fir trees, a lot like Maine, to me.
About 10 of our women's group stopped for lunch at a place called the Cabin. Usually we just make PB & J's, but now and then on really long days, we do stop. Had a Reuben.
I found myself biking slowly, partly because I'm just slow, partly because I was in a grateful mood, kind of just noticing and appreciating everything, so it was jarring but funny, upon arrival at Bear Paw Camp, to have one of the women good-naturedly proclaim me "DFL," which she said her kids always call her on hikes and bike rides. "What's that mean?" I asked. "Dead F-word Last!" So that's what I was, and proud of it.
Bear Paw Camp is an overnight camp and retreat center, and our group took it over. Some stayed in bunkhouses, but I was delighted to have a little cabin all to myself, along with several others. Here it is.
DAYS 9 and 10
Bear Paw, WA to Sandpoint, Idaho
46 miles
Highlights: Nothing much, just getting to Idaho and adding a new state. There were some parts of the cue sheets that weren't accurate, so some of us added extra miles that found us on busier roads longer than we'd have liked.
Funny, some of the shorter days just feel longer, and this was one of them. Pretty scenery, but mostly the awareness that we were ending up at a place where we would have a day off was the motivator. We were all pretty tired after the previous day.
Anyway, we ended up in Sandpoint, a resort town, where the big excitement was doing laundry. We were all down to not much clean stuff to wear. We also had a terrific dinner of wine-poached salmon by the truck, on our plastic chairs in the hotel parking lot. Nice hotel, a LaQuinta with down linens on the beds. Here's our tired but terrific chef Linda:
Today (day 10), my friend Laura and I walked around town and scoped out the shops. Sandpoint also happens to be the headquarters of Coldwater Creek clothing, but no deals were to be found. First thing in the morning, I learned how to clean my bike gears and chain (with Simple Green) and my rims (with alcohol so the brakes don't squeal. I felt quite proud of myself. That's me on the right.
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