Dang, it's been a while!

A little wrap up on my adventure:

Made it to Charles City, IA on June 29th.  I had a lovely ride into town and spotted access to the bike/pedestrian path so decided to keep riding (crazy, huh?).  After a bit I realized I was in the south part of town so I called my mom for directions (I didn't grow up in Charles City).  I was actually very close, about 8 blocks away.  I was casually making my way when I saw a woman running down the street right towards me.  It was my mother!  She was crying and nearly pulled me off my bike when we got to the house and I was able to give her a hug.  Nearly made me cry, too.  She took off and picked up my grandmother and aunt, and had already called other family members, so we had a little 'welcome home' party.  It was so sweet of her to do that!
The next few days were full of sleep, family (my sister, brother and sister-in-law and baby niece arrived the next day), and just relaxing. I really needed that. Seven straight days of riding and my bum was sore.  I had covered SD and IA in those days.
I had a wonderful time hanging out with my family and driving mom nuts.  It was quite a houseful with 6 of us and mom used to being by herself.  Little Kaylynn was so much fun to have around. She's 10 months old and full of smiles and laughs and it's such fun to watch her explore.  Even 'anti-baby' aunt Carmen had fun with her (though she won't admit it, not ever).  Almost makes me want one of my own, but then I remember that they grow up. Sorry mom, don't get your hopes up, I'm happy as an auntie.
Wednesday the 2nd brought a big surprise.  Mid-afternoon the doorbell rang and I received a flower delivery, delivered by Pete!  Apparently, my jaw was dropped for a few hours.  I think my vacation was 'made' that day.  I don't think I could have been happier.  Really.
My last two days in IA were spend getting ready for and partying with Grandma for her 90th birthday.  She can be a pistol when she wants!  I almost had to laugh at her and mom arguing about how grandma wanted her party space set up.  Grandma sure can stamp her cane!
Really, we had a good time.  Kaylynn was in the kids' parade on the 3rd.  My step-sis Debbie drove down from the Twin Cities to party with us. We all gathered to watch the big parade on the 4th. Tractors and cars, tractors and cars.  It's changed a lot from when I was a kid and it was floats and horses. I have photo evidence!
Grandma's party was fun.  I had a great time talking with my cousin Brenda and her husband Frank.  My male cousins were, expectedly, anti-social and non-helpful.  Maybe that's why.  We all expect it anymore.
I, and some of us other 'ladies' modeling some crazy hats in a 'fashion' show my aunt Bonnie put together.  It seemed to entertain everyone.  I think Pete thought we were all entirely off our rockers.  Oh, well.  In a small town you have to find interesting ways to entertain yourself.
I had another big surprise.  My grandpa Clarence (dad's dad) showed up!  I had not seen him in nearly 10 years, and I got to meet his new wife, Lucy.  That was a big treat.  I hadn't realized how much I missed seeing him, even on the rare occasion.
We wrapped up the day with clean up and Pete and I spent time visiting with Grandma and aunt Bonnie and uncle Jack. It was so nice to be able to just sit and have a conversation that grandma could mostly hear and in her own home.  It was very difficult to leave not knowing if I'll see her again, though she's in rather good health and I'll be back next July.
Finished out the day with a long walk, watching fireworks and playing with sparklers then grabbing a nap before Pete and I had to leave for the airport at 1am.  Arrived in Des Moines and saw Pete off at 4am while I waited around until 8am for my flight.  Funny, we arrived in Portland within minutes of each other.
I'm home!
What a ride.
What a vacation.
Was it all a dream?
What does it mean to me?
That's what I ask myself as I try to settle back in to Portland.  If you've ever had an extended time with no schedule, no deadlines, no one asking anything of you, completely self determining what you do, where you go, and how your times goes; then you understand how intensely difficult it is to suddenly be thrust back into noise, schedules, traffic, deadlines, demands, worries and struggles of urban life.  Maybe I don't like it as much as I thought.  I did see an ad for seven developed acres with a bale house in the Black Hills.  I did see lots of beautiful rural riverfront property for sale along the Clearwater river in ID. I did find the nicest small town ever, population 70 and the county seat. Maybe there's something to living small again...

Keeping it short as I'm learning to do this from my crackberry. I've made it to Sanborn,IA. I might, cross my fingers, have a storm-free night of camping! I'm excited to be so close to my destination. If I can pull of two 65 mile days and a 40, I'll arrive on Sunday rather than Monday. I'm pretty sore after yesterday's 88 miles. Did 56 today. Vaseline is my new best friend. Works way better than any other chamois butter I've tried. The mosquitos are coming out. Time to hide in the tent. I hope everyone is well and happy!

OK. Just a quick update as the huge blog entry I wrote 10 minutes ago was lost when the computer died.
I had a fantastic week with Pete in the Boulder area and in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  We went to Carhenge in Alliance, NE.  Rode the Michelson Trail and picnicked.  Went to Wind Cave, Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore.  The Badlands were absolutely the best.  Now, I'm in Winner (yes, that's correct), SD and Pete is on a plane back to Portland.  Saying good-bye this morning was very difficult.
I'll be on my way again tomorrow and plan to make Charles City, IA by June 30th.  Send good weather my way!

Ah, Yellowstone.  We really didn't want to leave, but it was time.  Late in the day on Sunday we made our way to Cody, WY. Had not found much on the web that looked promising for dinner, but picked out a Mexican restaraunt and hoped for the best.
It was closed. Good think there turned out to be a fantastic Japanese place half a block down the street!  We were very, very happy!
Time to drive some more. Drove through the Big Horns that night and made Buffalo, WY on the southeast side. Spent the night there. It was about midnight when we arrived, so we slept in.
Headed to Gillette, WY Monday afternoon.  Pete was dropping me at Keyhole State Park.  We had run errands and had lunch in Gillette. Neither of us wanted to say goodbye to the other.  Pete was headed for Lafayette, CO, to visit family and work.  I started thinking about if it would be a good idea to go to Colorado.  It would mean missing Devil's Tower, but that hadn't been in my original plan anyway.  It would mean not riding the Mickelson Trail, but that also hadn't been in the original plan. It would mean not having to say goodbye for another week.  I liked that.  So far, the highlights of my bike tour had been time with Pete.  I wasn't really enjoying the ride, mostly due to the crummy weather.  (Yes, I keep using 'crummy' to avoid swearing about the horrid weather.)  It would be WARM in Colorado.  It was supposed to rain in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Hmmm...  So, I jokingly brought it up.  It wasn't long, the drive to Morecroft, before it was a reality and we were on our way!
The last couple of days have been wonderful.  We arrived at John's and LuAnn's (Pete's uncle and aunt) Monday night.  Visited a bit, and got some sleep.
Tuesday morning was lovely.  I slept in, hung out in my pj's and had breakfast while reading the paper on the patio.  There is an 'open spaces' trail that runs right behind their home.  I watched a wild rabbit and hung out for a while with Alaric, John and LuAnn's 6-year old son.  Cute kid.  Very excited to show me everything in his room, his worm jar, and find where we live on a world map.
Eventually I got around to going for a ride.  Enjoyed riding the 'open spaces' path for a while then headed in to Boulder.  That was a dangerous ride.  I wasn't able to access a bike map online, so just took a local road, Arapahoe.  Not the best choice.  At one point, it was so narrow that I literally pulled my elbows in to avoid being hit by a passing double-bottom grain truck.  At least the view of the Flat Irons was beautiful.
Finally made it in to Boulder.  Supposed to be a very bike friendly city.  It is, sort of.  Lots of connectivity problems with it's bike paths and bike lanes.  Not easy to navigate for new comers.  Stopped at a great shop, Full Cycle, and they gave me a fold out bike map (like Portland has!) and found me a better route to/from Lafayette.  Nice guys.  Even checked out my bike to see if there was anything they could find.  Turns our the two screws holding the stem to the headtube were a bit loose.  We'll see if that makes a difference with the never-ending-speed-wobble problem.
Found a nice coffee shop, Laughing Goat, and settled down with a spicy chai and read the local free paper.  Boulder actually has sports coverage that goes beyond football, basketball, and baseball!  Wow!  Portland could use a lesson about that.  Nice to see great coverage about a triathalon and a run called the Bolder Boulder.
Headed to Leaf for dinner with Pete, LuAnn, John and Alaric.  Good veg food.  Pete and I spent the rest of the evening walking the Pearl market (yep, Boulder has an trendy, upscale area called The Pearl, too) and then walking along the river.  Checked out the library too.  It's beautiful, huge, and has a great art gallery, currently with a blown and beaded glass display.  It was a lovely day.  I'm finally enjoying my vacation completely.
Today, I'm hanging at the library, going to the Farmers Market, ate vegan fast food (yep!  VG Burgers is a vegan fast food place, all organic!), and checking out a cool tea house, all with Pete.  I like this, finally.

If you only go to one national park in your life, go to Yellowstone!  It was utterly amazing!  Pete and I spend late Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday in the park.  Awesome!  Awesome!  Awesome!
We didn't get very far into the park before spotting bison and elk.  Yeah!  It is so great to see animals that actually belong in that part of the country, not all those damn cows that are just living out a life waiting to be slaughtered for 'food'.  Ugh.
Anyway, we made our way to Old Faithful, taking every turn out and by-road along the way.  Took about 3 hours to cover only a few miles, but was completely worth it.  Had to wait for a small herd of bison to pass through the Old Faithful geyser area before we could approach it.  I love it!  Those awesome animals are everywhere, but people are really dumb around them.  They don't seem to get the idea that they aren't pets and are truly wild creatures that could do them some serious damage.  The ranger was practically yelling at people to get back and give them room to pass.
Made our way to the Old Faithful lodge.  What an amazing place.  Beautiful.  Sat on the upper deck to watch the geyser.   What a great way to end the day.  The geyser wasn't as spectacular as I thought it would be, but definitely worth it.  Finally had to leave and make our way to Canyon Lodge where we were spending the night.  Missed the turn and ended up at the south entrance, so had to turn around and go back.  Added an hour to the drive, but it was fine in the end.  Yellowstone Lake is gorgeous even in the moonlight.
Saturday dawned beautiful and sunny, too.  Spent part of the day checking out the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and did a couple of hours of hiking in the area.  What a phenomenal place!  Gorgeous waterfalls and the landscape changes continuously!  Hiked along the cliff, into the pines, between stinky sulfur pots, through a muddy meadow, and back to the car.  Enjoyed it thoroughly.
Drove through the middle section of the park figure eight .  Stopped to picnic as we were hungry after hiking.  Pretty marshy/meadow area.  Must be where some of the bison spend evenings, based on the amount of dung in the area.
Headed back to W. Yellowstone. We needed a place to stay for the night and the entire park was booked.  I also needed to pick up my bike from the shop.  I continue to have problems with a front wheel speed wobble, even though I've had it check out multiple times.  The mechanic couldn't help me.  He checked it out thoroughly, road it, took a lot of measurements, but assure me the wheel was true, the hub solid, and the fork straight and in alignment.  Argh.  I don't know what to do. I'll just keep the weight as light as possible in the front.  He did, however, locate the source of the very slow rear-tire leak. A tiny (like 2mm), thin, wire thread. Taught me to powder the inside of the tire to make it super smooth so I could find such problems.  Awesome guy. Wish I could remember his name.  Got it around here somewhere.  Easily in his 70's and used to be a frame builder.
Pete and I enjoyed the rest of the day in West Yellowstone.  Best coffee is at Free Wheel and Heel.  A local bike show/gear rental place run by two women.  Had coffee there several times.  Went back to the Chinese restaurant for dinner.  Had eaten lunch there the previous day.  Really, about the only place in town for two vegans to eat.  Rather a lack of diversity in dining, considering the international population that comes through there.
Found a smoke free bar afterward and enjoyed a local brew and playing foosball and pinball.  Just a really nice, relaxed night.  And, the Moose Creek Inn had THE most comfortable bed ever!  I slept like a baby.
Sunday we slept in, as usual, and did a couple of errands, including getting more yummy coffee. :-)
Headed back into the park to make the northern loop before heading out the East entrance.  The best day yet!  It was sunny and gorgeous.  It wasn't long before we were stopped in what we thought was a traffic jam. It was, but the cause was a herd of bison with calves!  Yeah!  I took tons of photos and video as they passed on either side of us.  They were so close I literally could have stuck my had out the window and touched them.  We could hear the calves and cows calling to each other.  Noticed that some of the cows were wearing collars.  Probably with radio transmitters. Some had tags in their ears.  One cow and calf even stopped to nurse right near us!  Really got great footage of the entire procession.  It really made my day to be that close to them.  Still lots of dumb, impatient people.  They just couldn't wait to let the herd pass and were trying to get by them.  What were they there for, anyway?
Once the heard passed, we made out way to Mammoth Hot Springs. Stopped at the visitors center and got some food in the cafe.  Totally disappointing.  Again, millions of visitors from around the world and all they serve is crappy fast food. Took the time to fill out a comment card about that. Nothing changes if you don't say anything.
Left Mammoth for Tower-Roosevelt.  Stopped to let a coyote run down the road. He was tagged.  Looked to be limping a tad, too.  Never thought I'd see one.  It just kept getting better!
Not long after that we came to a turn where people were stopping haphazardly.  We couldn't see why, but knew it had to be a big deal, so we pulled over.
Bears!  Two black bears!  Really close!  Of course, we grabbed our cameras and binoculars and got as close as we could.  They were just down the incline of the steep grade off the road.  Spent quite a bit of time watching them rest, eat, root around at tree stumps.  Created a traffic jam.  Why do people take tour buses through a place like that?  You can't stop when you want.  Can't look at most things.  All those people missed out on seeing the bears.  I felt bad for them.  We enjoyed it tremendously.  It was the best way to cap our time in Yellowstone.

Oh, man.  It's been so long since my last post, where do I start? I guess where I left off.
So, Thursday the 12th I left Ennis, MT after a 2 hour search for my cycling glasses.  Visited every business I had been to.  Never found them.  Damn!
Turned out to be a decent ride for a while.  Gray, but not really windy.  Got to a tiny place called Cameron and stopped just for a bio break and to check out the Cameron 'Jail'.  A painting on a door. Kinda funny.
Kept going.  Not sure how far it was to Earthquake Lake, but it was a bummer of a ride.  Constant uphill haul and it hailed on me, 3 times.  That last time pretty steady for about 15 minutes.  I was frozen and none too happy by the time I reached the visitors center.  I hung around for about an hour reading about how the lake was created in 1959 due to an earthquake, watching the historical film, and getting dry in the restroom.  I love those automatic hand dryers that have the swivel head!  I just turn it upright and pull my shirt over it to dry out and get warm.
Finally, it was time to go. I still had 30 miles to get to West Yellowstone.  Out into the gray and rain I headed.  Got hailed on, again.  Fought the fatigue of the constant climbing and cold.  Had been told that I should see big horn sheep along the road, but didn't.  That was disappointing.  I was really looking forward to seeing them.
I finally made W. Yellowstone about 7:30pm, after 70+ miles.  I am honestly sick and tired of the crummy weather and was ready to give up the tour.  It's just not fun to wake up every morning and think "Gee, will it be gray, rain, hail, sleet or snow today?  Maybe all?  For how long?"  I let it go for the time.  I found the motel that the ranger had suggested.  What a dump.  I should have turned tail and pedaled away after stepping into the 'office' which stank of cat (like, 'I haven't cleaned this place in 20 years' stank), but I was too tired to really notice.  Got into my room (which needed to be CLEANED) and just changed and went to find some dinner then pass out for the night.  I just didn't care and was glad to get some food and sleep.
Pete arrived about 6:30am.  He'd flown into Boise and driven all night to get to W. Yellowstone.  Oh, yeah.  I was very glad to see him.  Got some more sleep and then got up to sunny weather!  It was definitely going to be a great weekend in Yellowstone!

To pick up where I left off:
I left Jackson after a late, yummy breakfast of homefries and veggies, toast and coffee. I almost feel like a vegan cowgirl!  :-)
The ride to Dillon was beautiful, even with the climbs through Big Hole pass and Badger pass.   Made Dillon about 4:30pm and stopped at Bad Ass coffee for a soy mocha. Yum!  What a treat!  Coffee has become my best friend on this trip.  The weather was good, so I was planning to camp.  The only campground in the area was the KOA.  They wanted $27 for a tent site!  No way, got a great little motel for only $42.  Yeah, it cost more, but I just couldn't pay that much for a place to pitch a tent.
Dillon is a cute little town, with a huge museum that stretches for blocks. I didn't get to go in, but walked along the boardwalk and looked in at a lot of displays.  Including an outhouse with a flush toilet! That's luxury.
Tuesday morning I set out.  The winds were ferocious.  25 mph+ with gusts up to 40 mph.  It was so bad that I stopped for a while and tried to hitch a ride.  The road had no shoulder and every time a semi would pass me going the opposite direction, I would get blown back, sideways, and not be able to breath.
Ended up just sucking it up and continuing the ride.  Met a cyclist from Virgina on the Transamerica Route.  He was going ultralight.  I was amazed. He had a dry bag on his rear rack and two tiny front panniers.  That was is.  And, he was camping the whole way!
Made it to Twin Bridges and stopped at a small store with a coffee counter.  Had a fantastic time!  The proprietor is a British ex-pat. who came to Montana in 1972 'for adventure and stayed for love'.  Had great conversation with him and met four other cyclists.  Three from Fort Collins, CO, on their way to Oregon and one from Boston on his way to Oregon.  We really had a nice time together.
Finally left and made my way to Virginia City.  Had to stop in Nevada City, first.  It's a collection of historic buildings from the gold rush.  Didn't stay long as I was freezing, but met a cyclist from France.  Jean-Pierre. He was doing a crazy ride from San Diego and was on the loop back around to head to Oregon, but not Portland.  He wasn't interested in going to the 'big city'.  I informed him that it is a great city for cyclists.  Hopefully he will take the time to stop.
Finally made it to Virginia City.  Totally a tourist town, but really cool.  Stayed at the Fairweather Inn as the forecast was for snow.  No way I was camping in that.  Stopped at the Little Horse shop and met the proprietor.  Lovely woman with whom I had a fantastic converstion.  Her grandmother was born in the cabin on the smallest state park in Montana.  Her mother still lives on the bordering property and makes lovely jewelry and figurines from the local clay.
Wednesday dawned cold and snowing.  Yikes!  I bundled up and headed for the pass.  Only made it a little way when I has to start pushing my bike because of the wind and near white-out conditions when a little red car pulled up next to me and asked if I wanted a lift.  Oh, heck yeah!  Good thing, too, coming down the other side the road was covered in snow and had been sanded. Would not have been rideable.  The weather is wacky here!  Thankfully, Matt, the guy who gave me a ride was really nice and dropped me off in Ennis.  So, I spent all of Wednesday in Ennis.  Met great people, had a two hour conversation with two older couples while having coffee at the Blue Heron.  Waited out the snow, rain, and cold.  Now, I'm off to push for West Yellowstone. I've heard there is still snow coming down there.  Met a local father and son, Mike and Chris McCann, who offered me a ride if I get to the airport and the wind is too much for me.  See what I mean about nice people?

Hmmm.... where did I leave off?
Oh, yeah.  Lolo Pass.  Hitched a ride down the pass (rode up!) with a nice guy named Ryan from a small town near Crater Lake.  He's the regional programming planner for the National Park Service.  Cool job!  He gave me a lift all the way to the motel in Missoula.  Yeah!  Got dried out and warm.  Made a quick dash over to the Adventure Cycle Touring office to visit with them.  Nice bunch.  Free frozen fruit bars and internet access.  Then I headed to the Missoula Bicycle Works to find out why I get speed wobbles.
Wheel's true.  Hub is good.  Bent fork.  Uh oh.  That's bad, bad, bad.  Said they could fix it.  So, I left my ride with them and made my way to the apparent center of Missoula hippie-dom, Butterfly Herbs.  Great place for tea and a bagel.  I was starving.  It was almost 6pm and I hadn't eaten since a ProBar for breakfast, and that yummy frozen strawberry bar.
Wolfed down my bagel as I head back to the hotel.  I needed a shower before meeting Pete at the airport.
I was so glad to see Pete it was kinda ridiculous.  I had a great weekend with him.  Ate a lot of good food at TiPu Tiger, Butterfly Herb, the Good Food Store, and some Thai place.  I was storing up, I think.
Got my bike back. Fixed the bent fork, so it seemed.  More on that later.
We didn't want to say goodbye on Sunday, so Pete changed his flight and got a car and we had a fun, wild day together!  After lunch at Butterfly Herbs, we headed out for a walk along the river.  Missoula has a great walking/biking path system along the river and other places.  Rode the horses at the restored carousel. Yeah!  I love carousels.  Had to ride twice as some kid beat me to the horse I wanted.  :-)
After grabbing some takeout at TiPu, we headed out of town, and quickly got distracted by a roadside carnival. Yep.  We stopped and road the rides!  Completely silly, and a whole lot of fun.  Less than an hour later we were back on the road.  An amazingly beautiful drive!  Took Hwy 93 to 278 through the Lost Trail and Chief Joseph passes.  I'm glad I didn't have to bike up those!
On we went into what really is Big Sky Country.  Amazing and breathtaking. Saw deer, elk (I think, no racks, so must have all been females) and antelope. Stopped at the Big Hole Battlefield visitors center.  Saw cranes, probably sandhills.  Just couldn't get enough of the view. So expansive.
On we went, and finally stopped in Jackson.  Tiny town, great little lodge with a hot springs, sort of.  They pipe the hot springs water to a 2nd story pool.  Totally enjoyed it.  Spend the night and had to say goodbye early in the morning.  Pete was on his way back to Portland and me, I was on my way to Dillon, MT.

I'm killin' time in Ennis, MT, waiting out a snow storm.  Don't think I'm going to get very far today.  Got a ride through the pass out of Virginia City.  Darn good thing.  The top of the pass was icy. Probably would have been impossible to ride down the other side.
So, I continue to ask myself, why am I doing this?
To pick up where I left off:
Last Thursday ( a week ago already!) I left Kooskia for Powell.  After a lovely lunch stop east of Lowell, I pressed on, and on, and on.  By the time I hit about 65 miles, I was trying to figure out how to hitch a ride to Powell.  There was no way I was going to cover those last 30 miles that day.  It had been a steady uphill climb the entire day and all I could think about was stopping.  So, stop I did.  I pulled into a wayside where a bunch of folks were loading up their vehicles after a day of whitewater rafting.  Here was my chance.  I walked up to one of the guys and asked if he was headed for Missoula and could I catch a lift?  "Sure."  Great!  Chucked my gear and bike in the back of his truck.  Rich, Doug, and a 3rd guy (never got his name) gave me a ride about 35 miles to the White Sands campground a bit east of Powell, at the base of the Lolo Pass. Nice guys. Rich was a professional river guide, and just does it for fun now.  Neat truck, runs on veggie oil (from restaraunts, not soy from the Amazon). Thank goodness for nice people!
Ah!  Finally!  I night of camping right next to the river.  Tiny campground, only seven sites.  Just me and a small RV in another site.  Was really looking forward to a hot meal and a good sleep.  Nope.  Not to be.  It started to drizzle, so I set up the tent quickly and stashed my stuff in the vestibules.  Got the stove going with some water on it (after 3 tries), when it started to rain.  On went the rain gear.  Just needed a few more minutes to cook up some pasta with tomatoes and mushrooms.  I was so hungry!  Ha!  It started to pour.  I grabbed my half cooked pasta and headed for the tent.  Let's just say my dinner was 'chewy'.  Waited for a slight break in the rain to stash the cookware at the picknick table.  All my food was in a drybag under the table.  Didn't need any bears, coons, or other critters trying to get in the tent with me.  Might have been warmer, though. :-)
Soggy night, soggy morning.  Waited until 7am for the rain to mostly stop so I could pack up.  Good bye lovely rainy river! Time to climb the Lolo Pass.
Twelve miles, uphill.  Made the top in just under 2 hours.  Went through every weather type.  Rain, sun, sleet, hail, and snow.  Snow, snow, snow at the top.  Spent over an hour at the visitor's center.  Really nice place, free coffee, great conversation with the staff and other visitors.  Nice exhibits, too.  Time to try my luck on the 6% downhill grade.  No way.  I was freezing and it was snowing and my bike was all over the place.  I was having a lot of trouble with speed wobbles ever since I crashed the bike the first day.
Time to hitch another ride.

Gotta go.  The library is kickin' me out.

Missoula, MT. Days 6 and 7. I made it! It's been a few crazy days since my last post. But, I'm fine and happy and having a great time hanging out with Pete. He flew in last night to visit me on my day off. To back track on what I've been up to: I made it to N. Lewiston, ID Tuesday evening. Got poured on as I made my way through the Alpowa Summit pass in WA. just over 2.7k ft., with a 6% grade going down. Hit 38 mph on that ride! The rest of the ride in to Clarkston/Lewiston was uneventful, just wet. I had wanted to make Myrtle, ID, but even the visitors center said there was no camping there. So, motel it was. Oh, well. Got to sleep out of the rain. Wednesday turned out to be a gray day. Headed out Hwy 12. No shoulder, fair amount of truck traffic, but flat and following the river was beautiful. Stopped at the Nez Perce National Historic Park and visitor's center. Absolutely worth the hour I spent there. Fantastic displays and beautiful park. Got to ride a stretch of road from the park to Hwy 12 that had not a single car as it was abandoned at some point. Sun was shining, birds were singing, and I was riding down the middle of the road. The rest of the day was a flat ride along the Clearwater river, but I didn't get to enjoy it much. Too much effort put in to watching my line and not getting hit by passing trucks. Most of them were great about giving me room, but the Swift Carriers drivers gave me no quarter, even when there was no oncoming traffic. Made it to Kooskia, ID. Had planned to camp in Lions Park. Didn't exist. I even talked to the local police and they didn't know anything about it. Oh, well. Got a room at a really cute motel. Wish I could have spent the entire day in Kooskia. Super cute and friendly. Thursday was my 'come to Jesus', 'what the f* am I doing?' day. I was exhausted. I had put in 135 miles in the last two days, and I was still 20 miles short of where I needed to be. I got a really late start leaving Kooskia. I just didn't want to pedal. It was a beautiful sunny day and I wanted to lay around by the river. About an hour out of Kooskia I found Bear Hollow. Bear Hollow is a gift shop and espresso cafe in the home of a couple with river front property. I had to stop. Caffeine was calling and the view was incredible. I spent some time visiting and shopping (homemade raspberry jam!) and drinking coffee on their front porch. Even got some dog love from their German shorthair, named... Bonnie! I didn't want to leave, but I needed to press on. 97 miles that day. Was I crazy? How was I going to make that? I just had to keep going, but I wanted to slow down and really enjoy the beautiful day and the river. The Middle Fork of the Clearwater was raging and I wanted to go white water rafting. No dice. Had to pedal. I made Syringa, Lowell and then had to stop for lunch. I needed to eat and a gorgous bit of beach was calling. Two avocado sandwiches, an apple, and time with the lavender butterflies later, and I was on my way again. .... I have to stop here, as I have to get to the REI in Missoula before they close. More later. I hope you all are well and happy!