May 24th.
Kettle Falls was hotter than a Monday morning percolator so Janet and I got an early 6 am start; she would ride with me to Colville for breakfast then head back to Kettle Falls and grab the saggin’ wagon while I climbed up 1500 vertical to the lakes region along the Little Pend Oreille. We could not find a single breakfast place in downtown Colville so we asked a postman on his beat what was up? He said you have to go to the bars to get a full breakfast, so we did. In Colville, you drink all night, have breakfast, then sleep it off.
It was tranquil pedaling as we headed out from Kettle in the cool clear dawn. In the moment, I started thinking randomly of something I wrote for an 8th grade assignment and the memories came flooding back like the too short bell-bottom trousers I wore in those days. In junior high we had mandatory poetry writing in 8th grade English and as uncool as it was, I was a closet poet writing volumes at night in my room for a few months; until I discovered MD 20 20, pot and a girl named Penny. I hung with Penny most of that year but she liked the Boones Farm and Mogen David more than me and could often be found drinking in the park after school. One day I stumbled upon her and another boy embracing and drinking beer in the park. I realized then I was just a half-pence to Penny and approached the two of them. Penny took her full can of beer and chucked it at me grazing my head. I watch the can empty on the ground along with my feelings for her. I picked the can up and it said Ballantine Ale. Hmm… I had never seen that brand before. I thought as I was riding today, maybe this subconsciously piqued my interest in trying different beers. So…getting back to the poetry, here is the the simplistic dribble from Jr High I remembered while pedaling in the resplendent inception of daylight.
Blue Morning Road Turning
People Living Through changes
Sun Shines Light it up
Happy Bout Life Riding Lady Luck
So where am I going with this bubbling drool running down the corner of my mouth?…well, I named my bike seat “Lady Luck” today. Riding her hard and it feels good.
Ballantine upside my head…Circa 1971
Lady Luck, an English made Brooks Swift.
My other Lady Luck cranking out her own miles in the early morning fog along the Pend Oreille.
Crystal Falls along the climb up to the Little Pend Oreille basin.
Friday May 25th,
Janet and I were planning to get to my long-time Boise friends Curt and Gwen’s cabin on Diamond Lake near Newport/Sandpoint and recoup for a day over memorial weekend. I was still 55 miles away from Newport WA, our destination. Ok…once a again…just do it. After about 20 miles I felt like I was in my cycling groove. I was getting the first scabs on my shins from gravel being thrown up by logging trucks and a few pock marks on my face from bug splatter. All was good as I pushed on along the flooded Pend Oreille River cycling by riverside cabins that looked like floating docks along the overflowing banks. Destination achieved and the fine host family of Scott, Megan, the two girls and a dog named Mister welcomed us to a cabin still on dry land along Diamond Lake.
Ingenious, you can file your mail right on the curb. No need to even bring it inside. ” My baby just-a wrote me a letter”
Booze cruise, voted #1 hobby on Diamond Lake, WA.
Our decorous host family at Diamond Lake.
Sunday May 27th.
Breakfast at Audrey’s in Newport before pedaling across state lines into Idaho. Used my 60 year old senior discount for the first time. Getting old may pay off yet! Dennis and his two buddies in the restaurant said, “anyone dumb enough to pedal across America must be a Trump supporter” No clue where that came from but, the three stooges and I all busted a gut over that. They were very caffeinated, animated and likeable. Dennis did road grading part of the year, and ran a fracking crew in Williston, ND for the other 6 months. His buddies were local mechanics. I really wanted to talk with Dennis and get his true feelings on fracking as a method to extract oil and gas but it was not the right timing. I will save this issue for when I pedal through North Dakota.
Dennis to the right was a piece of work and proud of it!
Osprey and nest near Sagle, ID
City Beach in Sandpoint
More of those processed cheese, fist pumps, as I rolled into Sandpoint, Idaho and completed the 1st map set out of 12. Feeling like a Young Rascal today. ” Groovin’ on a Sunday afternoon.”
“The majority of people permit relatives, friends, and the public at large to so influence them that they cannot live their own lives, because they fear criticism.” Napoleon Hill.