That'll git 'cha on Cee eN eN...

For those of you who would like to check out our route, here is the address: http://www.adventurecycling.com/routes/northerntier.cfm

Also, we would like to extend an invitation to ANYONE who will be in the area along our route and would like to visit or pedal with us for a day or two or five. We would absolutely love the company.

Anyway...

So we were outside the grocery store in Colville, WA -- in what we consider normal biking clothes but most everyone would consider outrageous, and a guy asks us whats up with the bags on our bikes (not the first time asked). We tell him our usual story and then get the response, " Holy cow. That'll git 'cha on Cee eeN eeN." No joke.

Yup, CNN indeed.

The real good one is when we asked an old guy out mowing his eastern Washington lawn "is this the road to Maine?"

We have bumped into some super nice people and of course some VERY colorful people. For instance, while eating lunch at the Beaver Creek "Resort" Angus and Caleb saw a kid fishing on the dock who had just caught a small perch and didn't know how to remove the hook. Gus nonchalantly unhooked the fish and tossed the fish back in the water, to which his younger sister replied in disbelief, "Did he just unhook it? Uncle Billy usually kills 'em!" So awesome.

Now for the details of our travels --

In Tonasket, WA, on the hotter than hot day, Gus grabbed a photo of the two young love birds after she said to him, " Honey, you know that one day, if we saved up, we could get a double-wide..."

After a scorching day in Tonasket, we headed over Wacounda Pass and met the meanest woman on earth. We now have the phrase, "Don't pull a Wacounda!" We lunched in a small town called Republic, which was to be our stop for the day, but we then met a lady who told us about a bike hostel up the road about twenty miles. We all proclaimed, "whats another twenty!" and then headed up to Curlew, a town of 200 people. What a beautiful ride --

The hostel turned out to be the backyard of a couple who really liked to bike a lot. They had hosted transcontinental riders for the past eight years and had anywhere from ten to fourty visitors per summer. The next morning we had to put the test to our "waterproof panniers" as the clouds opened up and dropped two inches of rain. No more heat, but gushing water instead. It was spectactular -- the low lying clouds in the forest, with the sun periodically peaking through. Quite the day for a bike ride. That day we finished off the final mountain pass -- Deer Creek Pass -- our fifth one in six days. All said we had completed our final pass 420 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. We finished our day's riding in Colville, WA. The only camping site within 30 miles was at the Colville County Fairgrounds. So, we pitched our tents right next to the calf roping holding pen and arena. Although the night lacked beautiful surroundings, we more than made up for it in cuisine and drink. We promptly prepared some italian sausage spaghetti and mojitos. After a long day of riding this was exactly what the doctor ordered. The following pictures are from our ride out of Colville the next morning.

The following day was our longest by far -- 73 miles in total. We took the long way to Usk, following the Pend Oreille River (pronounced Pond O' Ray) for some thirty miles of scenery. We landed in a DNR campground right on the river and met Margie and Anna (Kelly's mom and sis, Gus's wife and daughter) for pizza, which they toted up from Spokane, beer, salad, and angel food cake. The food was amazing and it was great to see some familiar faces. Kelly excliamed, "it tastes so good when it hits you lips!" as we all took in the scenery along the river. The sunset was amazing and the animals seemed to think the same -- we saw a coyote, turkeys, deer, a beaver, a grey heron, at least a baker's dozen of mosquitos (on each leg) and heard wolves howling in the distance.

The next day we pedaled into Sandpoint, Idaho. What a beaut. Sandpoint is a town of 10,000 ish people, nestled in the mountains on Lake Pend Oreille. We found a splendid RV site near the city beach and a nice little slice of heaven right inbetween a rather permanent resident of the RV park and a chainlink fence bordered by the busiest section of freight train tracks in the West. Gus was pretty sure he heard a few more than 5,000 box cars last night. Yup. ever hour on the hour, never failing. line. The bonus of it all is that for $25 we have complete access to the Best Western hottub, sauna, pool, showers, and complimentary coffee stand. Also, we are only a few blocks away from Mick Duff's Brewery. Yeah for Duff beer... Fresh Duff Beer... The guy gave us a funny look when we asked if we could fill a growler or two, using our nalgenes. Yeah, we are that classy.

Eight days later and nearly 500 miles behind our rippling calf muscles, we decided to kick it in Sandpoint for the day. We did some (and by some we mean everything we own) laundry. Turns out four people + triple digit temps + two pairs of clothing = ultra fresh. That is after three loads of laundry and extra strength detergent...

We are continually amazed as to how much food we consume while biking. Yesterday, as the three men of the expedition sat down in the grocery store and ate an entire box of granola. Kelly then asked, "you guys still hungry?" Although skeptical at first, five minutes later, as we walked out the grocery store and strolled to our bikes, we tossed an empty box of Cinnamon Life into the garbage...

until next time,

Pedaling along (not today but for sure tomorrow) ---

Caleb, Elizabeth, Kelly, and Gus