Day 58 - Ione to Colville, WA

Miles biked for the day: 42
Total miles to date: 2962
Total cyclistst seen for the day: 11

I woke up in my cushy hotel bed, which was a gift from my parents, and took some time to enjoy the morning sun, the lake and the scenic mountains on the porch. I met up with Ned and Kay (the cyclists from the evening before) and we went out to breakfast together. We had such an enjoyable breakfast and as we finished our meal the restaurant became overwhelmed with Harley bikers. We went our separate ways as I tackled my first climb of 4 I will see over the next week.

As I continue to head west in Washington I will be crossing the Cascades and I must bike over some serious mountain passes. Since I only had 42 miles to accomplish and the weather was brilliant I took my time and enjoyed the perfect weather. When I made it to the top of the pass I stopped into a deli that had bikes sitting outside the shop. I walked in and found 3 cyclists enjoying a cup of coffee and with enthusiasm they invited me to join them. We shared stories and advice and laughed for nearly an hour. Out the window we saw 5 women pull up on their bikes without hauling gear. These 5 Canadian women are credit card touring - meaning they are on a 3 day tour together and hotelling and restraunting their way through the area. I found myself staying another hour and immensely enjoying their company and conversation. It feels good to see woman travelers as I usually only see men.

Photo of BIG bike: Todd pictured in the photo with the group of ladies stands at a towering 6'7". For a funny shot I took a photo standing next to his bike.

I finally motivated myself to leave and thought I would have a fast cruise to my destination town when I discovered some head winds. I had run out of food and felt a bit of hunger come on so I pulled over, set up my camp stove and made popcorn on the side of the road for a bit of a snack. I am excited to share my new popcorn recipe: Curry Kettle Corn. I addes salt, sugar and curry to the popcorn and I found heaven!

I continued the final 10 miles to reach Colville and my amazing host Angie picked me up as her house was 5 miles off of the route. Angie and her husband Dennis have 4 children and oodles of animals. They have quite the variety including but not limited to: 1 emu, milking cows, sheep, goats, 1 donkey, ducks, horses, dogs, 1 cat, pigs etc. They grow hay, milk cows and goats and many other tasks. The family pulled together to clean the house for my arrival, one of their daughters made cookies, homemade bread and butter. I tried raw cow's milk, raw goat's milk, homemade goat cheese and homemade yogurt. It was quite the dairy fest and I hope I do not have to pay the price. After dinner they gave me a tour of the animals and showed me how they operate their farm. I had so much fun asking tons of questions and hanging out with their beautiful and amazing kids!