June 5, 6, and 7

June 5: 88 miles from Clarkston, WA, to Kamiah, ID.

I forgot to mention after the last posting that we finished our first map out of the cross-country set that Adventure Cycling puts together. This map ended in Clarkston, and is a nice marker of progress in my opionion!

Clarkston (WA) & Lewiston (ID) are very warm cities. In the summer they have temperatures between 95-105, and summer has come early to this region. It is because of this dramatic temperature that Larry and I left around 6:30a to avoid the heat. The route calls for an 11-mile climb over which we gained >1000 feet to an elevation just under 4000 feet in Winchester, ID; this followed a less-steep elevation gain of around 700 feet from Clarkston. We ate lunch at a great restaurant in Winchester (it was also the only restaurant there), and enjoyed the sight of evergreen trees for the first time since Monday, as we were entering the Blue Mountains. There may have also been a brief stop just before our 11-mile climb for strawberry-frosted donuts... The scenery was absolutely gorgeous from the top, and we were riding country roads that undulated atop the mountains before finally descending again into Kamiah, ID. The area was pretty remote, although full of farms growing possibly wheat or something similar. The temperature at elevation was perfect - around 75 degrees - and then got warmer - to a bit over 90 degrees - as we entered Kamiah after a long descent.

After some showers at the Kamiah Inn, we walked over to Palenque, the Mexican restaurant in Kamiah where we had an awesome dinner. Larry ordered a "macho" plate that looked like a 20-inch hubcap filled with Mexican food, which he devoured like a true champion! After dinner, we stopped at the grocery store to grab some ice cream, naturally. For those who don't know, cyclists are actually just ice cream fiends who use cycling as an excuse to eat this delicious and high-calorie food.

June 6: 94 miles from Kamiah, ID, to Powell, ID.

We decided to move on to Missoula for a rest day instead of taking one in Kamiah, despite the 40% chance of showers on Saturday. So Saturday morning we got breakfast at the Hearthstone Bakery, picked up a package of sticky notes and Ride for Jim flags for our BOB trailers from Perfect Tire that were sent by Pam @ Massey, and headed to Powell, ID, to stay at the Lochsa Lodge. Let me first say that if you are ever in Kamiah, whether cycling through or checking out historic Lewis & Clark landmarks, make sure to stop at the Hearthstone Bakery. The food was delicious and the restaurant is beautiful. It is an old western pharmacy that was renovated in 2003, and retains much of the charm of the old west. Large chandeliers hang from the tin ceilings, which must rise to 20 feet or so, and the old woodworkings for the counter are still in place. The food was fantastic and the bread selection to choose from as a side is great (it is a bakery, after all). Larry and I have both commented that we are likely gaining weight as opposed to trimming down. Apologies to his wife and my girlfriend.

After this wonderful breakfast, however, lay a tough ride. We gained about 2000 feet in elevation over the entire course of the day; the road gradient was imperceptible by sight, although our legs were certainly aware. We followed route 12 along the Clearwater River the entire way to the Lochsa Lodge (which is essentially synonymous with Powell, ID), and were rained on twice. We actually put our rain jackets on, as well, after Lowell, ID, which was a bit over halfway there and the last place for food and water. We also watched several boats full of gutsy whitewater rafters coming down the river, who we later found out were sortof headquartered out of the Lochsa Lodge. Between the rain and climbs, this was easily the second-hardest day after the ride from Lyle to Umatilla, and a close second at that. It was cold, too, at the high elevations, and around 50 degrees by the time we arrived in Powell around 7pm.

Nevertheless this was a good day despite the hardships of the ride, because we finally ran into some other long-distance cyclists. There was a group of 3 recumbant cyclists and one person in a sag van riding from Portland to "wherever we feel like in Montana" and then back. In Lowell we were all stopped and one of them wanted to show us his recumbant, so I took it out for a spin but was not doing well. The restaurant had a gravel parking lot so the only spot to ride it was highway 12, which scared me a bit, so after a few attempts I let Larry try. He just wanted to sit on it to see how it felt. We both agreed that it was much nicer on the be-hind and hands than a traditional bike. Those two sections of the body actually take the worst beating and cause us to stop much more often than from leg muscle fatigue, and these were the main reasons that those riders from Portland had become such big fans of their recumbants. The guy who let us try his out already has 18,000 miles on his! Apparently his first ride after purchasing it was from San Diego, CA, to Jacksonville, FL. They were very nice and were camping that night about 20 miles before Powell. I hope they stayed dry enough. One more thing: this section of Idaho is very remote and rural, so we had no cell phone reception after Kamiah until today in Montana. I'm glad those guys had a sag car.

Getting to the Lochsa Lodge was tough, but we were rewarded with a wonderful dining and lodging experience. The room was great and the food was even better...and also larger, dare I say, than the night before! I finally got a big Idaho potato, along was sauerkraut, fried apples, and pork chops that took all of my concentration and Italian genetics (mom's side) to put down. My brother Louie worked for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game last year and strongly recommended that I get my hands on a legit Idaho potato, and he was totally right. Larry's plates (yes, the second plate was just for the 1.5 pints of mashed potatos, and yes I mean 1.5 pints) were so huge that he saved half for breakfast the next day. This brings me to the other great thing about the Lochsa Lodge: they allowed Larry to save his leftovers in their kitchen's refridgerator and they reheated them for him the next morning for breakfast. Who could fathom such wonderful service?

June 7: 59 miles from Powell, ID, to Missoula, MT

After a long sleep to wait until it warmed up, we awoke for breakfast and then left Lochsa around 10a. Larry had his leftovers and I had pancakes, eggs, and spicy bison sausage. We continued east along highway 12, still following the Clearwater River, for 12.5 miles to Lolo Pass (5233 feet). This was pretty steep and was a little over 2000 feet in elevation gain. At the top of the pass was some snow (a temperature in the low 40s around noon) and the border with Montana, which meant that we crossed from the Pacific to the Mountain time zone. The weather was a mix of sun and clouds with no rain, so very much an ideal day for biking, and after this climb we descended the rest of the way. Oddly enough, there was still a wind blowing from east to west, which "never happens" as everybody says, but has persisted for the week where I've been riding. Every time I hear somebody talk about how weird it is that the wind isn't blowing west to east it gets on my nerves a bit, but I'll try not to become too big of a crybaby just yet. Also, we were moving downhill so it just means that you go a bit slower but aren't really working hard.

We stopped for lunch in Lolo Hot Springs around 2p (Mountain Time), where there was the Love Your Mother (Earth Festival) was being held. There was plenty of live music, booze, and some swimming in the hot springs. The crowd was exclusively hippies, and we chatted with a few guys about biking and the hot springs. It was good lunch spot.

The rest of the descent was very beautiful and followed by a relatively flat ride through Lolo and into Missoula. We passed several horse, steer, and cattle farms and got a couple of photo ops. In addition, we caught a glimpse of Lolo Peak, which is a bit over 9000 feet and very much snow-covered. I'm glad we were moving into Missoula where the temperature here is in the mid-60s.

Tomorrow I promise we'll take a rest day, and I'll also post some pictures of the past week. We haven't had access to any computers that will allow us to upload pictures so hopefully the Missoula public library will.