Road Grime

Originally Posted July 4, 2004 by Mags

We've been passing through some timber towns the past couple of days- Kettle Falls, Colville, OldTown, Priest River. Generally the timber mill is located between a highway and a river and the town kind of sprawls out from the mill. The older parts of town are located closer to the mill while the newer parts of town are located near the highway. The older parts of town are mostly for sale and closed while the grocery stores and the live parts of town are near the highway. I was looking forward to getting to Kettle Falls because we had just climbed two passes: Wauconda and Sherman Pass, the latter which took us over the Kettle Range of Washington. Kettle Falls was a big disappointment: the only restaurant that was open served us recently thawed pizza courtesy of Sysco corporation from KD's diner. The town was just faded and treeless, flowerless yards, trucks jacked up several feet beyond normal and sarcastic glares from the lovely denizens. We rested a bit and then headed out of town back into the hills and camped illegally in a tree farm (Chad's idea- not mine) where mosquitoes buzzed my ears the whole night. Yesterday we did 108 miles- the longest I've ever gone in a single day on a bike. We apply sunscreen about 4 times a day and the grime from the road really builds up on our skin- Chad gets bugs sticking to his leg and arm hairs because of the goopy sunscreen. We really stink. Thankfully, today in Sandpoint, Idaho we're staying at a hotel and got some showers. The country is beautiful here, farms interspersed with large ponderosa pine forests- yesterday we saw a farmer's field where I LOVE U had been mowed with letters about 50 feet tall. When we rolled into Sandpoint last night at 7:30 every hotel in this town of 7,000 had been booked due to the fireworks and a Little League tournament. I almost cried- we needed showers so badly. However, the owner of the Meandering Moose Motel let us set up a tent on the motel's lawn and saved us. Today we have a room and we're taking the day off to recover and then are headed out again tomorrow. 

Comments: Road Grime

Mags--is the reality of what your in for setting in? Your adventures are both impressing and scaring me.
Posted by Funk at July 5, 2004 09:56 AM

 

Mags?? so is that what you go by now. Sounds like your having a great time as far as adventure goes. We were having a discussion at the crowther reunion how you were making these posts to the site. Are you carrying a laptop or something else?
Showers? 4 layers of sunscreen and you will probably have to take two showers. The first shower to get off the heavy dirt and the second to get smelling normal.

Aaron

Posted by Aaron Harris at July 5, 2004 12:07 PM