Day 69 Thompson Falls to Clark Fork, ID 7/17/14

STATS
Miles: 57.83
Calories: 4,442
Top speed: 27.7
Average speed: 11.1
Elevation: 2,129

I had a good night’s sleep and we all got up about 6:30am which has been the status quo.

I ate my last 2 packages of GF oatmeal for breakfast and got ready to head out to Newport, ID. Lisa was not “feeling the vibe” to ride so I went solo again.

Taken from bridge in Thompson Falls

The road was great, pretty flat and I made good time. My goal was to ride 25 miles before Jodee and Lisa caught up with me, I rode 20 miles, so almost met my goal.

As I rode along I spotted 2 fawns running down an embankment. I quickly snapped a picture then shooed them away as I heard traffic coming. (Click to view picture)

The terrain was beautiful but you can see the haze from the central Washington fires.

I followed the Clark Fork river all day. I arrived in the town on Noxon around noon. I did not actually go into Noxon as it was across the river. This shot is from the bridge. I love the second picture of the tree roots growing in the river.

By afternoon I arrived in the Idaho Panhandle Forest. I saw Jodee drive up in her car. She said Lisa was taking a nap and she came to check on me. She informed me that she and Lisa had gotten a hotel. They had stopped at a campground and they stated the mosquitoes were terrible. We visited a few minutes and then I continued on to Clark Fork. The rock cliffs were beautiful with colorful rock and what looked like slate which is part of the Prichard as discussed in the previous post.

Finally, I officially reached Idaho. The last 10 miles the wind kicked up and there were some hills into town. Because today’s ride was only 57 miles I got in about 3pm. The hotel room was nice and included a kitchenette. The only negative was they stated they had Wi-Fi but it would not work. That is so frustrating when that happens on the road, so I couldn’t post my blog.

After a great shower I settled on the bed to do some typing, at least I could type up some of the blogs. Lisa and Jodee decided to go out for dinner, I decided to save a few bucks and ate my  GF crackers and hummus.

As I settled my mind for the night I was experiencing a variety of emotions as the journey would soon be over after 11 weeks of traveling the country; the experiences, the people, the countryside, the riding, and most important the personal strength I gained pushing myself to the limit and coming back again.

Some historical signs from the area:

…I’ll keep you posted.