Snow to rain to sun

Wednesday 5/2 Day 12

Goodmorning

It was almost a dream, to look over the same forest in the morning that I saw before I went to bed. But this time it was coated in a white blanket. I noticed my watch dogs had disappeared as I slowly crawled out of my tent, or snow cave. It had snowed about two inches last night covering everything in sight. It was ok, I slept warm and I had the gear to deal with the cold weather. I put on my extra layers, my rain pants, and my rain jacket since it was still cold and still snowing. I was a bit worried that the main road was going to be covered in snow and that I would have to find a way to ride off the snowy pass. Didn't take me long to pack up and to take a few pictures of the beautiful land scape. Such an amazing way to wake up, to a completely different landscape. As I walked about a mile back to the main road I made fresh tracks in the snow, and then I saw it in the distance. The blackness of the road, I was so thankful. I did not want to have to try any make shift snow tires for the bike. I was also bankrupt that I road to the top of the pass yesterday or I may not have continued in this direction. The first few miles down the pass were pretty miserable with freezing rain hitting my face, my feet becoming wet, and loosing feeling a few of my fingers. I had to stop once to warm up my hands, they had one of the most sharpest burns when they woke back to life as if they were getting payback for putting them through that experience. Now the entertainment for me during this experience was looking at the drivers faces as they drove past, they either were thinking how crazy I was or how thankful they were for being in a car, or both. Once I was warmed up again I continued on to st. Marie's about twenty miles away.

Walking..

When I pulled into the city I was looking for a little cafe to get something that would warm me up. By this point I was able to take off my rain pants and de layer a bit. I did a pretty good job this morning staying dry, but I needed energy. I was unable to find a cafe so I went to a hamburger joint where I got the biggest hamburger to fill the void in my stomach. It was huge but I was able to finish it along with a mug of coffee and fries. That's it I'm a coffee drinker now the hard work of my friends Mike and Abbey have paid off, they helped convert me. Im able to get it down black now, though I do prefer it with cream. During lunch I talked to a few guys who said my up coming route was gong to be great. One made the joke that it would be better with a motor on my bike. Haha and I just remember these were the guys that made the joke about snow tires for my bike as they came in. They were good company.

Beautiful road around the Lake

It was still raining when I left but it was coming to an end as I was headed north to Harrison and highway 97, a scenic byway around lake Coeur d'Alane. The ride around the lake was amazing, a two lane road twisting and turning around the lake. It had its uphills but for the most part it was pretty mellow. The best part was there were not that many cars on the road. The lake reminded me of the fiords in Norway because behind the lake there were hills with snow on them and there were all these house around the lake. There was also a boy scout camp on the lake called camp Easton that I walked through. There was a verity of cabins and a climbing wall and all sorts of things found at camp. Very beautiful camp. It was funny there was a pole in the center of the camp that gave the distance to certain troops in the world. As I looked through the different troops I found one that was from Greeley Colorado, I giggled. Oh Greeley how I don't miss that city. The camp brought back memories of boy scouts and the summer camps that I was able to go to. I can't remember what our camp was called in Colorado, but there were so many good memories from it. I can't say I got my love for hiking or backpacking from scouts but I think I learned how to be adventurous and try new things. Doing my canoe trips, sailing, or snow cave camping, we're just a few of the trips I did. Well someday I will go to this camp, could be fun to get back into scouts as a leader.

LUNCH!

As I came off the lake I took a break and got a snack, it was about five and I called my warm showers host, Jennifer, who told me I had about thirty more miles left. So I put my head down and just road. It was a pretty flat ride besides my six miles on interstate 90. Ridding on the interstate is not that bad, the pull offs were the biggest I had seen in all of Idaho so far, you could fit another car between me and the road. Once i reached Coeur d'Alane I was looking for a bike path between Coeur d'Alane and Spokane. When looking for it I found these ladies that helped locate the start of the trail and gave me some doughnuts :). So good. The path was great, just for bikes and walkers and it goes along side the highway. As I crossed the boarder back into Washington I went over the Spokane river which had so much water in it and moving so fast forgot to get a picture since I was getting tired.


When I rolled into Jennifer & Zach's house I had a hard time walking when I got off the bike, just because I had been on it so long today. I went 105 miles today, new record! I took a shower, had dinner, talked with my hosts and collapsed in bed. It was a day full of Everything.