Day 60 - Kettle Falls to Republic, WA

Miles biked for the day: 41
Total miles to date: 3,017
Cyclist passed: 5

After talking with my host for the evening, Janine, she asked if her boyfriend Paul could join me for the Mt. Sherman Pass. I exclaimed, "Are you kidding me? Heck yeah he can join me for my biggest climb!" I met Paul at 9:30 at a junction and went spent the entire day together. Paul is a true avid cyclists and has competed in all sorts of bike competitions and loves being on the bike as much as I do! It was a 22 mile climb that day bringing us to the summit at 5,575 feet.

In the middle of the climb I saw a truck pulled off the side of the road and as we approached the truck a man stepped out of the truck. I could not believe my eyes, it was my friend Roger from Ski For Light. He had been tracking my blog and snuck away from work to surprise me! I had no idea he worked in that area of Washington and had no clue he was planning to meet up with me. We made plans for later that evening to meet up for dinner.

Paul and I had 5 miles of the climb left when the temperatures dropped to 50 degrees and significant rain began. The rain actually felt good since we were working so hard climbing, although I was worried about Paul because he did not have any rain gear and we had a 20 mile descent ahead of us. When we summited I changed to step into dry clothes and put my rain gear on and could offer Paul nothing since he would not fit in my clothes. I felt toasty to begin the downward journey and I wish I could say the same for Paul but it was a chilly ride for him.

We made it to the town of Republic, took care of showers, laundry and had a celebratory beer just in time for Roger to turn up. He took Paul and I out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. I had such a nice time chatting with Roger since we typically do not have much of a chance to socialize at the Ski For Light event. What a great surprise he pulled off!

My abode for the evening was an adorable yurt which sat in front of Janine and Paul's house. I even had my own wood burning stove.

Day 59 - Colville to Kettle Falls, WA

Miles biked today: 14

Total miles to date: 2976
Other cyclists: 0 (it is funny when you sit in a coffee shop all day how few cyclists you see)

I woke up to a bustling house of kids getting ready for school, Angie making homemade pancakes and Dennis preparing to work the hay. After breakfast the black clouds began delivering water to the much needed dry land. I, on the other hand, did not need a load of rain, thunder and lightning on one of my biggest climbing days of the trip. I opted for a lay over day so Angie and I went downtown to the Talk n Coffee local shop. After a bit of time Angie went back home and I stayed. In fact, I stayed ALL DAY at the same coffee shop. The only time I left was to go to the library and to grab lunch. Not only did I befriend Scott the owner, I also got to know pretty much the entire town of Colville and all of the small town drama that goes along with it. Scott, the 29 year old owner of the coffee shop, knew the name of every single person who walked in the door. People would come into his shop and instantly feel welcome and would dump their stories onto Scott. I think he should have been paid as the town's therapist.

I arrived at the coffee shop at 9:00am and I finally left at 4:30pm. I met a local character by the name of Doug and after a long conversation and mentioning I did not have a place to stay in Kettle Falls, he offered up his couch for the evening. Before I left I gave some business advice to Scott as you can see in the photo. I also learned from a billboard as I pedaled from one small town to the next that "Marriage is good for your finances." Soon after seeing this billboard a truck pulls off the road in front of me. A young woman stepped out of the truck and held up a familiar looking blue rain jacket. She had just left the coffee shop and was on her way to Kettle Falls so Scott (the owner of Coffee n' Talk) asked her to deliver the jacket the forgotten jacket to the girl cycling to Kettle Falls. Karma must have been on my side!

After 14 miles of biking Doug (my host for the evening) appeared and asked if I was ready for a lift to his house. I did have a long, tough day of sitting in the coffee shop, so somehow I figured I deserved a 4 mile ride up the gravel road to his place.

Doug is one of the most fascinating characters I have met on this trip, not to mention somewhat of my hero, and deserves a quick blurb here. Doug is a semi-retired bee keeper and his work has taken him all over the world. He has converted his bee keeping barn into his home and lives on the property free of rent as a caretaker of the land (owned by Steve). Doug told me stories all night about his work and travels. He was a peace corps volunteer in Jamaica and also worked in foreign countries hired by the US government to train bee keepers. When he travels he picks a country, has no agenda or plan and when he arrives he looks up in the yellow pages the local bee keepers and makes his way around the country teaching others and helping out with the bee farms. That night I cooked him dinner (coconut curry - my favorite dish of the whole trip) and the owner of the property stopped by randomly. He ended up joining us for dinner. Interestingly Steve has traveled very little and worked as a college professor his entire life. Steve gave much appreciation for the dinner and company - I can imagine this was one of his most exciting nights of his week. After Steve left Doug and I had to fight going to sleep because we wanted to share stories all night and ask each other a million questions. Yet another kindred spirit.

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!

Day 57 - Sandpoint, ID to Ione, WA

Miles for the day: 89
Total miles to date: 2920
Cyclists crossed past: 6

I woke up bright and early and took off by 7:00am. I got the variety pack of weather that day starting with some sweet strong tail winds. I cruised the first 40 miles until I saw my first cyclists. We shared some camaraderie and when I left the young couple I found the next couple only 5 miles later.

I stopped on the side of the road and ate lunch with those two gentlemen. We swapped hosts information and we will be staying with the same hosts but in opposite directions. When I left the winds shifted and I now faced some headwinds. Later down the road the headwinds stopped as the rain started coming down. Throughout the 89 miles that day I probably changed my clothes 10 times to adjust to the weather. It was quite the variety pack of weather.

I suppose nothing of significance happened on the ride that day until I reached my destination. I arrived to Clark Fork and the rainy clouds above me did not make camping an appealing option. I stopped into the first motel I saw and ran into two other cyclists, Ned and Kay. They are biking from Anacortes, WA to their home in Vermont. After weighing all of my options in the town I decided to take my parents up on their standing offer for one hotel room on the trip to avoid a cold and wet night. I went to dinner with Ned and Kay for the company because I chose not to eat from the all meat and fried food menu. This of course was not the preferred dining choice for Ned and Kay, but traveling through these small towns as I have mentioned these dives often are the only options. I did enjoy the beer and a dinner salad and they even picked up my bill. When I made it back to the hotel I cooked up a proper vegetarian dinner on my cook stove and crashed hard.

I am not sure how to interpret this but someone told me today, "The shallower the Brook, the louder the babble." Hmmmmm....I will have to ponder that one.

Day 56 - Clark Fork to Sandpoint, ID

Total miles for the day: 28
Total miles to date: 2831

I woke up and made some oatmeal and leisurely departed for Sandpoint. People have told me along the way that Sandpoint is a bike friendly town and when I arrived I learned that it was the first day of a bicycle festival.

I arrived to Sandpoint by 11:30 and landed at the local bike shop for a tune up before I hit the mountain passes of Washington. I called my couchsurfing host, Dave, to get directions and when I told him my I was at the bike shop he said, "Look out the window, my office is across the street." I walked over to meet Dave and he gave me directions to his house.

After hanging out with the dudes at the bike shop I made my way to the library to catch up on some Internet action. I biked to Michael (the wife of Dave) and Dave's house while they were still at work and showered, took care of much needed laundry and even took a nap because I was exhausted!

Michael and Dave came home from work and after talking in their yard for nearly an hour of chatting we made our way to downtown Sandpoint. When we arrived to the local brewery their friends' Meghan and James who are also on couch surfing joined us. We chose a great night to eat out because one of the local bands performed some wonderful jazz.

When I met Michael she gave me a huge hug! I knew this girl was my kind of people. We had an instant connection and had so much fun talking all night. Michael and I are definitely kindred spirits and I very much we lived in the same place. In the afternoon I got tickets to a free bike film to kick off the bike festival, but I had no interest in seeing the film after I realized how much Michael and Dave were. I must say I fell in love with the town of Sandpoint - lots of great vibes, very outdoorsy and healthy conscience people, mountain biking, winter sports of all sorts and even a beautiful lake!

Day 55 - LIbby Dam, MT to Clark Fork, ID

Miles biked for the day: 80
Total miles to date: 2803

I woke up very early and started biking by 7:00 and after 14 miles I decided it was time for a small brunch. Huckleberries are a popular speciality food around Montana and the cafe I stopped in told me people drive all over the place to get their huckleberry flapjacks. I chose not to argue and happily ordered an appetizing flapjack. While dining the waitress informed me that a fellow customer shared some concern about my bicycle trailer. As the 80+ year old man looked out the window to my bike set up he told the waitress, "That girl is not going to get very far, her trailer is dragging on ground and it will wear out." Once I told him I have traveled 2,600 miles from Maine with that particular set up his concerned dissipated as his jaw dropped in amazement.

Further down the road I saw two cyclist heading in my direction. In my excitement, I crossed the highway and stopped my bike to have a chat with them. As they approached I started waving and they both FLEW by me at lighting speed and said, "Hi" and kept riding. I was disappointed, but only until I saw yet another cyclists, Butch, who crossed the highway to have a chat with me. We had a good time swapping stories and giving each other some important helpful information. Butch was traveling solo but met another solo cyclists, Dick, and they decided to travel together for a week or so. Since Dick was so far behind Butch, 5 miles later I met Dick and we chatted for a bit. Another 10 miles down the road I saw another solo cyclists and we chatted for about 15 minutes. Lastly, I went another 10 miles or so and saw another solos cyclists. I still had about 25 miles to go so I did not spend nearly as much time with him. I saw a total of 6 riders today all headed for Bar Harbor, Maine. I saw one couple and 4 men in their 50's/60's all traveling solo who all started their journeys two weeks ago.

The route I am pedal biking on is called the Northern Tier route organized by Adventure Cycling. Most people typically tackle this west to east and begin around May or June. This is the reason I went nearly 45 days heading west before I saw a cyclists heading east. I am also the first west bound cyclists all of the east bound cyclists are seeing (and may see for quite a while) and so many of them are thrilled to see me.

My mantra, "It will only get warmer" proved itself strong today as the temperatures approached 90 degrees. I found great relief in the many streams, creeks and lakes I past throughout the day for a brisk splash of water. I had to pay $.25 to fill up my water bottle today at a bar and for some reason I thought it was noteworthy.

I crossed into Idaho which put me in my final time zone. I chose a good day to tackle 80 miles since I gained an hour. I arrived to my destination and set up camp. Meriwether Inn is a local hotel allows travelers to set up a tent in their lawn and for only $10 they even provide showers! Bob and Frita, who manage the property, were the sweetest hosts and went out of their way to help me with whatever I needed. I cooked up a yummy lentil and quinoa soup with sauteed veggies with my camp stove. I love to cook outdoors and now that the weather is nice I feel more comfortable and anxious to cook.

I cruised down to the local tavern for a night cap and to meet some local Idaho folks. I have some bad news to report though, they allow smoking in bars in Idaho which I did not enjoy. The locals unsurprisingly took care of me all night and were just as friendly as all of the people in the other states. I finished my evening and headed back home to my tent for a peaceful nights rest.

Day 54 - Rexford to Libby Dam, MT

Miles biked for the day: 46
Total mileage to date: 2723

Donna made us a huge breakfast with veggies from her garden and fresh carrot/apple juice. I told my hosts that I only had until 1:00pm to play around and then I needed to hit the road. Greg and I took off on a motorcycle ride up a mountain pass. We made it to the top and hopped off of our bikes for a sit and took in the peaceful and serene mountains. As Greg and I sat on the top of this mountain with the sun beaming down, blue skies above us, and sounds of nature all around us he said, "This is where I find my spirituality." As I mentioned before in a previous posting when I approached the mountains of Glacier National Park I felt like I was coming home, not because I had ever been to those mountains before, but because I also find my spirituality in the mountains and it always feels like home.

When we returned to the house Donna made us homemade pizzas with even more veggies from her garden. I was spoiled with organic food and 3 great meals cooked for me during my stay with these two. I loaded Charlie and Bob into their truck and we took off for our next adventure. They took me down the Koocanusa River on their pontoon boat. We even crossed into Canada (you can see this on the photos where there is a strip of land without trees) on the water. With the completion of the boat ride we loaded up in the truck again and they dropped me to my desired location. My 1:00pm start time turned into 3:30pm start time, but it was all worth it! I biked a 45 mile, hilly stretch along side the Koocanusa. I was actually thankful for such a late start because the temperatures reached nearly 90 degrees but the cliffs and trees to my right shaded me from the rays.

I arrived to my campsite by 8:15pm and sadly learned that the only option for camping was a primitive site with no running water or showers (but at least it was free!). Thankfully the campsite was on the river because I was able to boil water for drinking as I had run out. The 45 mile desolate stretch offered no services or residences of any kind. During my 4 hour ride only 4 cars passed me. The highlight of my evening was I made fresh popcorn on my camping stove. I am just now getting the hang of my new stove and felt like making popcorn was a milestone. Before I went to bed I talked with a fellow camper and he scared me quite a bit because he told me about the prevalence of black bears in the area. The conversation made for an uneasy start to my slumber.