Day 6 - Saturday, July 3rd

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Spokane, Washington to Sandpoint, ID - 76 Miles

This evening in camp, we started getting a light rainfall here in Sandpoint Idaho. It’s the 3rd of July and the town is hopping with activities including a parade this morning. We just witnessed a beautiful double rainbow in camp at the high school.
This was a fitting cap to a really fun day on the road. We left Spokane early this morning after a breakfast at the college cafeteria. They got up just to feed us on a holiday weekend morning.
The trail and roads out of Spokane were very pretty, going along the Spokane River for some period of time. The riding was so nice that the first 35 miles seemed to melt away in a few minutes, and by 11, we were in Newport. There we dined at a Subway sandwich shop, which has become quite a staple for us. One can get a decent healthy sandwich in there, and it’s convenient also.
The trip had been north along Highway 2 in the morning. The highway turns more to the east after Newport. It travels along the river, all the way to Sand Point, another 25 miles.
We had our 70 miles in before 2 pm, and many of us rolled on in to town past the camp, but not without a stop for ice cream on the way.
Shelley (my very supportive wife) called Scott on his phone (I’m having cell phone travails) and related yet another personal connection with a Big Rider. Hello Judy! It’s nice to hear that people are using the websites and following us on the ride.
Tomorrow we start getting serious about the mountains. A little longer day, 85 miles, to Thompson Falls, Montana,

 

Today was Campbell Soup Day. Can you read that the wearers above are Full of Beans? Here we are going in to our 2nd state, Idaho. Courtney is one of my favorite riders. She's trained really hard for the ride through the spring, and I've seen her on numerous training rides. She's riding really well and is fun to be around. Plus, it turns out that she knows my brother, and doesn't hold that against me, (smile Roger). Courtney tells me to remind everyone that she is the oldest woman on the trip, and that she is very proud of that fact.
I know these two pictures are big, but the rainbow is so beautiful I'm trying to show it well. This was after dinner in camp tonight with everyone outside fixing their lunch for the next day. It was showering lightly, with some sun as you can see. That's my shadow in the foreground, and I'm having to shield my camera from rain. A bit later, the rainbow turned into a full double rainbow from sky to sky. We were all out oohing and aahing, and talking about what a good omen it was. There seems to be general agreement that this is a nice group of people. We had a good argument and laugh tonight about what constitutes a flat tire. The person in question maintains that because her flat was caused by a faulty pump, it could not be credited against her as her first flat tire. She actually made it into camp before she had to change the tire. No final decision had been reached, but the consensus was fairly strongly against her.


The email I'll use this summer is brucesherman@mac.com. Send mail to this address to say hello and I'll be able to read it on the ride.

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