Well, like I said yesterday, I wanted to spend my birthday lazing around the river and Kettle Falls, but the idea was better than the reality. The idea of spending my birthday in Usk was even worse, especially once I saw Usk.
So I figured, how many people spend their 45th birthday riding their bike 100 miles hauling a 60 pound trailer? Well, at least one.
Had breakfast at the motel restaurant reading my book (Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich). I'm almost done with it. Such a good book. Really wanted to be on the road early. It looked like another hot day. But it was almost 8:00 before I got it all together.
Wove my way through Colville following the map's fairly complicated route. No pass today, but Colville's at about 1600 feet and the route gets up to about 3300 before dropping down and following the Pend Orielle River. I didn't expect all the 100-200 foot roller coasters right off the bat. Once the hills levelled out, I was really getting into it. The countryside was really beautiful. Dry land with Ponderosa Pines and rolling farm land. For the first time on the trip, a couple of dogs chased me. I pumped hard and left them far behind. The next place was a junkyard full of junkyard dogs chained up. Mean-looking Rottweilers, etc. (I don't care how many nice Rott's you know, they look mean to me.) I was really glad they were chained. A couple more miles down the road, something seemed wrong. I checked the map and I was on the right road. I didn't remember making the turn it talked about. Must have been when those dogs were chasing me. But the road was well travelled and must lead to the highway like it was supposed to, so I kept going - past the second batch of chasing dogs. Then the pavement ended and the road split into two dirt roads. I should have realized that the dogs chased me because they weren't used to weird bicyclists invading their territory. I turned around and carefully snuck up on and sprinted past (ever sprinted hauling a 60 lb trailer?) both sets of evil dogs. None were in sight. I guess they'd run me off before and figured I'd been put in my place.
Got back to a major intersection that I'd whizzed through before. I had clearly followed the written instructions, but not the directions on the poorly labeled map. It was the first time the map had simply screwed up. Good thing it only cost me about 6 miles.
Spent the next 30 miles or so on the highway climbing a lot more than I expected to today. The road started following the Little Pend Orielle River and the piney wood hills kept getting thicker and prettier. I kept seeing a couple of fresh bike tracks in the dirt when I pulled off, especially at Cascade Falls. I'm sure it was Wally & Colleen, but I never caught up with them.
My radiator was getting low so I stopped at the only place I'd seen since Colville. It was Beaver Lodge on one of the little lakes at the head of the Little Pend Orielle River. It was very cool. The lake was beautiful, there were several cute little cottages, and the restaurant in the store tempted me into a great sandwich and fries. I'd like to come back with a kayak & a car.
Eventually saw the beloved " truck going downhill" sign and started a 1500 foot drop through serious switchbacks to Tiger (2 buildings). The highway turned right and the route turned left toward Ione (any idea how to pronounce it?). Before reaching Ione, the route crossed the real Pend Orielle River. It was a cool bridge and I stopped to get a picture. Then I tried to ride across. It was 2 1/2 inch square grates with ridges running lengthwise. Its the closest I've come to wiping out the whole trip. (Except when I fell over at Wauconda Pass. I think maybe I forgot to mention that.)
N LeClerc Road paralelled the river for 50 miles on the north while the highway was on the south. It was relatively flat, fairly shady and gorgeous. Shortly after crossing the bridge, about mile 40 for the day, a bluebird flew along in front of me for a few hundred feet. It was beautiful and I considered it to be a wonderful birthday present. When I hit 50 miles, I began to believe that I could really make 100. I was feeling great!
I also noticed at about 50 miles that I'd put my bike shorts on inside out. Seems like if you're only wearing a shirt, shorts and sandals, you could get it right. Then I realized I kinda liked it that way. The seams on the pad were on the outside and couldn't irritate my incredibly sore butt. I've been wearing my sandals exclusively since Day 5. It was just too hot to trade off with my regular shoes, but my feet were getting sore, too. About mile 65 it was getting to me. I saw a rutted road going straight into the river. (I think there was usually a park or campground, but the river was so high the road just went into the water.) I pulled off my sandals and waded. It felt sooooo good. All the soreness vanished. I heard people across the river, but I looked all around and couldn't see anybody. I pulled off my shorts and waded in up to my belly. Heaven. Absolute nirvana. I stayed in as long as I could stand the freezing water. It felt like I had huge boils on my butt that were instantly healing and shrinking. (No it wasn't really that bad, it just felt that good.) I got dressed and took off feeling like a bike seat virgin. It was at least 10 miles before it started hurting again.
The only place on N LeClerc Road to cross the river or buy anything was at Usk, my original destination for the day. The store seemed to be at the crux of the local civilization. There must have been 50 pickup trucks that stopped while I was there. Some drivers didn't even get out. I guess they were just cruising. The campsites were all underwater and I didn't see the motel they were supposed to have. I was really glad I'd changed my mind about staying there. I was afraid that if I got anything to eat I'd start getting tired, so I got a big bottle of water to refill my radiator, a gatorade to drink right away (I'll never put that stuff in a water bottle again) and 2 Starbuck Frappacinos for energy on the road. I was still going pretty strong at 78 miles, but there were still 22 miles to go to make my goal.
About this time I allowed myself to realize that the next likely stop would be Newport, WA/Oldtown, ID. Unfortunately that would only be about 94 miles. Priest River would be about 100 miles, but that would mean packing up again in the morning and riding into Sandpoint and unpacking again. I allowed my self the possibility of continuing past my goal, but still counted down to 100 miles, tenth of a mile by tenth of a mile. I got to Highway 2 (Highway 20 becomes 2 in Idaho) at about 97 miles and was very discouraged to see that it was still 28 miles to Sandpoint. As I looked at the map, I also realized that the route wound around 8 to 10 miles longer than taking the highway. It was about 5:00 and I figured there would be light until after nine. I wanted a layover day bad enough that I decided to go for it. I stopped a couple of times for a Frappacino and cookies. (I've carried fruit and cookies ever since meeting the Hendersons. I've already eaten a peach orange and banana today, but I hadn't touched the cookies till now.) The road got really hilly. I watched my mileage closely. Every 10th of a mile was a major triumph. I also watched my speed and calculated how long it would take. I loved going downhill when I'd only have 20 minutes left, till I started back uphill and had 3 hours left to go.
It was exactly 125 miles to the motel that I knew had a great jacuzzi, but it had changed names, so I circled the block a couple of times before deciding that I'd stay here whether it was the right one or not. I managed to stay coherent long enough to convince the desk clerk to give me a room. I had to climb 7 steps to get to the room and I was too tired to carry the trailer so I just pushed the bike, trailer and all, grunting like a weightlifter. I'm amazed I didn't break a pin.
Fell into the bath and finished my book. Great book. Got to the restaurant for their steak and shrimp special a half hour before they closed. Picked up email and got tons of birthday greetings.
Wonderful birthday!
Stats: 126.4 total miles, avg speed 12.8, max 39.4, bike time 9:51 (8am to 8pm), altimeter read (since inception) 367.6 for 4600 feet today.