I finally bit the bullet and decided that this was going to be the year to do a test overnight trip on the bike. You see, I need(ed) to figure out logistics to make sure that I can get what I need for my leg on the bike.
I had invited three people to go with me, however, one by one they bowed out.
I even invited Akery if she wanted to follow in a follow/chase car, but she said "you'll be having fun on your bike and I'll be stuck in a car following you. I don't think so." (paraphrased)
So, in the end, this is a solo ride.
I had done most of the packing and loading onto the bike the day before. After doing some last-minute loading, I was bundled up and ready to go at 06:55 PT. There will be times that I put PT or MT after a time. PT=Pacific Time, MT=Mountain Time (or Montana Time which works in this scenario)
I headed up Lewiston hill, onwards and upwards (North) on 95.
I was only stopped briefly for the construction. It has been a long time since I have stayed on 95 all the way int Moscow. The new road is so much better than the old road.
Once I made it through Moscow, I continued north on 95.
I had planned on making it to Bonners Ferry to fill up, but as I monitored my milage, I was going to be short of fuel. So I decided to stop in Coeur d'Alene to fill up and then top off in Bonners Ferry. As I pulled into Coeur d'Alene, I turned off 95, making my way over to N. Government Way, stopping at a couple stations, but they didn't have ethanol free fuel. Eventually I found a station that did near Dalton Gardens.
After I filled up, I headed inside to use the facilities and there was a gentleman coming out of the store. He said that my rig had caught the attention of everyone inside. I said something to the effect that it does catch the eye.
When I came out of the store, another gentleman had just started filling up his truck on the next pump over. He came over and chatted with me for a minute before wishing me well on my ride.
I made my way back over to 95 and was back on my way.
When I was coming up on Sandpoint, I accidently ended up in the wrong lane and was taken off 95.
I had to make my way through a section of town before getting back on 95.
After arriving in Bonners Ferry, I made my way towards the highway 2 turn off and stopped at the Sturgeon Station to top off the tank. With a 20 cent price difference, I'm glad I stopped in Coeur d'Alene to fill up.
I was quickly back on the road, turning off 95, following US 2 to the east.
About 40 minutes later, I was pulling over at the Kootenai Falls parking lot.
I took a little time to remove chaps and jacket as well as getting out my water and light jacket. I thought about changing my shoes, but then decided against it.
Between the parking lot and the number of people on the path, I have decided that 13:00 MT was not the best time to visit.
As I was following a family, we came up on this "shortcut". The kids took it and the adults went around. I decided to follow the kids. Between my prosthetic with a fixed (non-moving) ankle and the bad knee on my other leg, I should have gone around. But either way, this brought us to the railroad overpass.
On the other side of the overpass, there is this three story stairs you have to go down. I took the picture from below to get the full effect.
At the fork in the trail, I chose to first go to the falls.
I wasn't very far, but upon arriving I thought to myself...
Maybe it's a good thing Brad didn't come.
He doesn't do well with steep drop offs and there are no fences to keep him from jumping/falling in.
It was pretty cool to see in person. Pictures don't really do it justice. That said, I took several pictures from different vantage points.
Now, I headed back to the fork (I keep hearing Stoddard in my head telling me to "take it") and going down the other trail, I headed for the swinging bridge.
It's a good thing I went to the falls first. The trail to the bridge was a lot further and much harder (comparatively speaking).
I was still able to make my way there without too much difficulty.
Ahead of me, there was a lady that was concerned about the number of people that were on the bridge, and gave it a little bit for some people to make it across before starting.
The wait wasn't even a full minute.
There was another lady in the same family that was just nervous about the whole thing.
As we started onto the bridge (me following them), she got about 5-10 feet onto the bridge, which was moving quite a bit and she couldn't do it and turned around.
Traffic was a bit slow on the bridge, so I had time to take a couple pictures. (only one worth putting here though)
Once across, a little way east of the bridge there is a good spot to take pictures of upriver.
After which, I made my way back to the bridge and went back across, this time alone. There was a group a kids that waited for me to get across so they could make the bridge swing a lot as they crossed.
I made my way back towards the parking lot, encountering an elderly gentleman which I had encountered earlier. I said, "nice to meet you again". As we made our way the final yards down the path, he told me that he had lost 50 pounds but still had several more to lose. I congratulated him on the 50 and gave encouragement to continue.
All in all, it was an enjoyable hike with beautiful scenery.
Before getting on my way, I first took a couple minutes to change my nylon sleeve and dry up the sweat on my stump and then putting myself back together again. Something the king's horses and men couldn't do. (Sorry, it just popped in my head.)
I made my way the next 30+ miles into Libby, where I stopped at Brad's Burgers for lunch.
It's a small place, but the food was good.
And then another 30+ miles to Pleasant Valley Campground.
When I arrived, I thought the place was empty, however, as I wandered between camp sites trying to decide which would be best for my needs, I kept smelling cigarette smoke, but couldn't see or hear anyone.
Once I decided which spot I wanted, I drove around the loop to get to it and lo and behold, there was someone just setting up their camp on the back side of the campground.
I then setup my camp...
There were a lot of service berries all through the campground, perfect for bears that want a pre-meal snack. There is a long running Family joke that me sleeping in my hammock is just a ready to eat burrito for bears. After camp was setup, I wandered a little and I picked and ate the berries as I did so.
Once I was done wandering, I decided it was time to wash my leg/stump and prosthetic sleave. Since I knew there was no water at the campground, I had brought approximately 128 oz of water with me. By the time I was done, I had used about 32 oz. I set the sleave to dry, and put on my spare sleave so I could put my leg back on.
This is about when I got out my little notebook to write down the events of the day.
I also decided to try an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) that I've had for a while.
I wrote while I tried to heat it, first with an old heat pack that didn't work. (must have been too old)
Then by setting it in and heating water with the sterno.
For as old as it is, I expected it to be worse, I even had backup food in case it was.
But it was edible... Unless I wake up with food poisoning... Oh, the suspense!
After eating, I changed into my sweatshirt and sweatpants to sleep in. I did this in the vault toilet, and I have to say, this was the cleanest and nicest vault toilet I've ever been in. I don't know if it had just recently been cleaned or what, but it was very clean, smelled nice and could have recently been painted.
I then arranged things for the night and finally climbed into the hammock. It was still a little early, but after making some final adjustments, I was able to rock (swing) myself to sleep.
Well, now it's morning, but first... At about 02:00 MT, my bladder woke me.
I climbed out of my sleeping bag, put on my boot and leg and got up.
There was quite the view of the moon.
Getting back to sleep was a struggle, my mind kept wandering and wouldn't settle down.
I did doze a little here and there and I think I did fall asleep around 04:00 and then woke up again at about 05:30/05:45.
Now I decided that it was time to actually get up.
First thing I did was to put some water on the sterno to heat up for hot cocoa.
While that was heating up, I started tearing down camp.
I had pre-measured the cocoa mix with an added candy cane and a few small marshmallows in a small Ziplock so, once the water was hot, I added that to the cup.
By the time camp was down, packed and reloaded on the bike, the cocoa was gone, and I was ready to go. Just before pulling out, I typed a text to Ed, letting him know what time (07:38) I was leaving and hit send. I didn't have signal at camp, but I figured I would get signal early enough along the way, that he would have prep time.
Oh, I guess I should mention that I had pre-arranged to meet Ed in Kalispell for breakfast. I let him know it would take about an hour to get there from camp and that I would send him the time that I left so when he got it, he could calculate what time I would arrive. He had offered me his guest room if the weather turned bad, but it turned out to be a nice cool night for a camp out.
So, many years ago, I made a wind guard, for lack of a better term, that sticks up into the helmet and goes down into my jacket, keeping the wind from coming up into the helmet and off my neck. It has been sitting on the shelf for several years and I never thought I would use it again, but with the chilly mornings, I'm glad I had it. (It's just some faux leather with some batting sewed inside)
As I was headed in, I passed by the McGregor Lake Resort/RV park area and, thinking it was the McGregor Lake Campground, I was very glad I wasn't camping there. Way too crowded. You see, I had planned for Pleasant Valley campground, but if it was full or didn't work out for some reason, my backup plan was McGregor Lake Campground. The actual McGregor Lake Campground, that I had passed earlier, might have been nice, but I'm still glad I camped where I did.
I pulled into Kalispell and made my way to Syke. I checked my phone and I had three texts from Ed... "Ok" (08:14), "On wait list for table." (08:27) and "Have table" (08:30) I replied "Just parked. Be in shortly." at 08:35. I took off my helmet, grabbed the GPS and went inside. When I sat down, Ed said that it took me almost exactly the hour that I had mentioned. I checked my phone after the fact to get the times that the messages were send/received. My original message final sent at 08:14, which lined up with the first message I got back from Ed.
When we ordered, the lady asked if it would be separate checks and I said one and I would pay.
Ed and I had a good time catching up. We chatted about things that are going on at work, about retirement and the pension, about Sykes and how popular it is for breakfast. We talked about my trip and how it has gone so far and my plans for the rest of the day. Ed told me he had gone on a few cruises and he told me about some of the cool places that he went. He also mentioned that he would be coming to Lewiston for the Roundup Labor Day week, and that I should arrange for Panda on Wednesday 9/3. (I put a reminder in my phone so I don't forget.)
When the lady brought the check, it ended up next to Ed, she then remembered that I said I would pay for it, and she picked it up to hand it to me and Ed took it back. I let her know that we were fighting over who got to pay. In the end, Ed "won" the fight and paid.
As we went outside, Ed came over to my trike and we talked about my setup. Then we walked over to where he was parked and chatted about his new car. At the end we said our goodbyes and went on our way.
As I headed south on highway 93, I finally found a station with ethanal free fuel and filled up.
Then it was on south to Elmo, where I turned west onto 28, taking me over to Plains where I turned north onto MT 200 to Thompson Falls.
Before my trip, Akery and I had chatted about Thompson Falls. She was still pretty young when they lived there and she said she could remember the Ice Cream and the carved bears. As I drove through town, I was looking for the little ice cream shop with the carved bears, which we had visited back in 2012 (pictured: Akery and Amara). But I didn't see it, however, I thought I saw a carved bear next to a building as I went past.
When I stopped to fill up, I asked the lady at the convenience store about it and she said, "You are probably talking about Little Bear, but the couple retired and sold it."
There was a section of the store that sold ice cream, so I bought a milkshake before I left.
I pinned the milkshake between my leg and the bike and I made my way back down main street and there it was, Little Bear, but now they sell a different kind of "treat". I pulled over, took a quick picture and then headed to the elementary school.
The last time I was here there were deer on the lawn (see 2012-08 Montana & Canada).
I finished my milk shake in some shade I had found and then made my way back to gas station and threw away the cup and then headed out of town.
I pulled onto MT Secondary Highway 471 and followed it up to Thompson Pass.
I pulled over at the Thompson Pass Trailhead parking lot.
There were a few bikers resting there and I chatted with them for a bit.
I took a pill and some pictures before saying goodbye and continuing on my way.
5.7 miles later, I pulled over, realizing the I didn't remember seeing my gauntlet gloves. Getting off and checking, sure enough, no gloves. I'm not sure where I lost them, but it must have been either Thompson falls, where I took them off, or Thompson pass. I'm guessing that with my mind on other things in Thompson falls, I forgot to secure them when I was running around town. Either way, I gave up and moved on.
When I pulled into Kingston, I was planning on taking the back roads over to Highway 3, but I was starting to struggle a bit so I took I90 instead.
Now on US 3, it was pretty straight shot forward. Only stopping for construction and in St. Maries for fuel. When I stopped in St. Maries, I took off my chaps and jacket. And after getting down the road a little bit, I started feeling much better. Turns out, I was just overheating.
I made it home at 16:23 PT totaling 676.1 miles over a very enjoyable two days.
Oh, I almost forgot... No food poisoning. Stomach feels fine.
"When you come to a fork in the road, TAKE IT!!"
ReplyDeleteLoved this. You have such neat trips.
ReplyDelete