David and I rode our tandem about 240 miles in the northwest corner of the state and the Idaho panhandle. This was our first extensive self-supported tour, and the first one on the tandem. We carried a credit card instead of camping equipment, staying in motels and eating out of restaurants and convenience stores, which meant this was "loaded" touring, but not "fully-loaded" touring.
Generally, the weather was sunny but not unbearably hot (upper 80s to 90s), and we were either riding through pine forests or farm and ranch lands. Our trip was dominated by two waterways - the Spokane and Pend Oreille Rivers, providing shade, scenery, and swimming opportunities. We saw easily a couple dozen osprey, many other birds of prey, herons and other water birds, numerous chipmunks and ground squirrels, deer - but no bears or cougars, despite a few warnings.
We had no bad encounters with cars. People were uniformly friendly, and helpful when we asked for directions. We got lots of "tandem smiles" - the look you get from folks when they see you having a good time on your tandem bike.
While we occasionally ran a little low on water - defined for us as having less than about 12 oz. of water a piece - we always found places to refill our bottles. We always had plenty of snacks and food on the bike - really, too much, as we hardly ate anything we were carrying except for a few goos and bars.
I planned out the route, mostly using on-line maps, and scouted out markets, restaurants, accommodations, and road conditions where I could. I got some help from on-line friends from the tandem bike list. I made cue sheets and some maps - next time, I'll make more, as we sometimes got lost and sometimes the roads were dirt - but you'll have to read the details to find out more.
DAY ZERO
We loaded up the car with luggage, the bike, Emma, and all of Emma’s things for camp. We dropped Emma off at Fishermen’s Terminal so she could catch the boat for camp, and lit out for Spokane.
We got to Spokane in the afternoon. We checked into the Montvale, my favorite Spokane hotel, and changed into our bikie gear. We left most of our stuff at the hotel, and then drove out to Veradale. An old co-worker of mine now lives out in the Spokane Valley, and we dropped the car in his suburban cul-de-sac.
While we took a quiet street most of the way to the Centennial Trail, we still had to do a little bit on a busy suburban arterial. We also did a little bit of thrashing around, trying to figure out how to get from that arterial to the trail, which we could see running below us.
The trail itself is nice, but occasionally fades away in various neighborhoods and is poorly signed, causing us to lose our way. Still, we managed the 14 or so miles back into town.
Building temperature sign: 98 degrees that afternoon.
We then showered, ate a pleasant dinner at the Steam Plant, and packed up for the next day.
Total estimated distance on the bike: 12 miles
DAY ONE
We woke up at 5:45 AM and raided the hotel continental breakfast buffet for later consumption. With everything loaded up, we then pedaled over to Frank’s, a diner in an old railway car for a more substantive meal. We then backtracked to downtown, and entered the Centennial Trail again.
After we left the urban section, the trail became quite scenic, winding through river valley. It emptied into Riverside State Park, and here I made my first major navigation error of the ride, sending our team up Trails Road for 2 miles and 400’ of elevation gain. We inquired from a motorist as to how to get to Seven Mile Road, and her route would have taken us off road through an ORV park, so we backtracked (whee! down the hill) and rode further through the park until we intersected with the proper road.
We came up through a cleft in the basalt cliffs to a plateau. We stopped under some trees at the edge of a farmer’s field and ate our “continental breakfast” packed from the hotel, at about mile 20. However, the climbs we had done had drained much of our water, and we started to look for opportunities to refill them. We stopped at the Four Mounds fire station, and although the place was closed up, the spigot on the side of the building was not, and we filled up there.
We came off the plateau in a series of downhill runs. David said that it would be nice if there were a picnic area at the Spokane River. On a hunch, I had us take a side road towards the dam, which led, miraculously enough, to a shady picnic table in green grass overlooking the river, at about mile 35. We ate sandwiches and bananas that we had packed, then changed into our swimsuits. We swam and frolicked in the river, and refreshed, returned to the bike.
It’s good we had that break, because the climb out was long, hot, and with a headwind. By the time we had come out of the valley, our water bottles were again running low. I didn’t spot it on google in my trip planning, but it turned out that the tiny town of Ford had a small ramshackle mercantile. The floor was dirty patched concrete and tile, but it had cold drinks. We both slurped down 22 oz sodas, and refilled the water bottles.
I learned not to complain in my mind about the headwind, because it was keeping us at least somewhat air-cooled. Every time we got into a more sheltered place, it immediately felt so much hotter. When we finally made it into the slightly larger town of Springdale at about mile 55, we were both flagging. Springdale had an honest-to-goodness grocery – probably the nearest place to the Spokane Reservation with fresh produce. We bought ice cream bars and leaned the bike and ourselves against the grocery’s shaded wall. David returned to the grocery to buy a frozen strawberry lemonade cup. As we sat there, consuming our confections, the bike and the bikie gear we had on attracted attention like we were a pair of exotic birds. The rural white/Indian folks coming in and out of of the store generally at least checked us out and usually engaged us in conversation.
After this sugar-overloaded break, the remaining 15 miles into Chewelah felt relatively easy. The fields seemed greener and overall, it was probably downhill-ish into town.
Temperature sign as we rode in around 4:00 PM – 92 degrees.
We found our motel, took showers, and changed into street clothes. As we walked around downtown Chewelah trying to decide on where we should eat for dinner, I got overwhelmingly hot and dizzy. I stepped into the shade, where there just happened to be a garden hose and poured water on my head until I felt a little more normal. At this point, David decided that we should not delay any further, and led us to the Shanghai Restaurant. Often the sole Chinese restaurant in a small town is not necessarily a good bet, but we had huge platters of fresh hot food with lots of vegetables, laced with fresh ginger and garlic – I have no complaints.
We toddled back to the motel, and I fell asleep extraordinarily early.
Our odometer was not working consistently – estimate of total miles is 77.
DAY TWO
We got up again around 5:45 AM. We packed up and rode to Trefz Bakery in the center of Chewelah. We did some joking about how the food there would be all treif instead of kosher – and then laughed even harder when we looked at the menu and noticed simultaneously that all the smoked meats were either turkey or beef.
By the time we left the bakery it was 7:30, about the same time we had started the day before. It’s a good thing we were on the road as early as we could be, because our first task of the day was climbing Flowery Trail Pass. The overall grade was 4.5%, but this meant that there were many sections that were steeper as we stair-stepped our way to the top.
The road up was ideal: good pavement, wide shoulders, and nearly no motor vehicle traffic. It was still largely in morning shade. We took two breaks along the climb up to catch our breath, but otherwise made it up quite handily.
The descent initially was quite fun (my attempts to video it from over David’s shoulder came to naught), but the party was soon over. The road was completed a few years ago, but paved with the worst chipseal we were to encounter on the trip. Imagine an 8% grade, heavy vibration, and occasional climbs and stops to thread our way over cattle guards. It was quite a relief to leave that section of chipseal when we finally reached the floor of the Pend Oreille river valley.
We saw another couple pedaling along, and caught up to them, and inquired about the way to Usk. These were the first bicyclists we had seen since leaving the Centennial Trail. They were blown away at the notion that we had come that morning from Chewelah and were planning to be in Sandpoint by the end of the day.
We had a second breakfast in a diner in Usk (mile 30). I noticed on the community bulletin board in the diner on the way out an advertisement for a volunteer program similar to the one I run. I thought it was interesting that if you volunteer to drive the elderly to medical appointments in their program, they will pay for accommodations as necessary – points out the long distances people have to travel for medical care in rural areas.
We had a splendid flat spin along the river in dappled shade, mid-day sunshine and river breezes, and soon arrived at Oldtown, Idaho (about mile 50) for lunch. We ate at a diner overlooking the river, and then had a somewhat miserable climb out of town on a busy road with no shoulders in the hot sun. My cue sheet was a bit off, and we flagged down some guy in a black pick-up who assured us that indeed we needed to turn left where we were.
So we got off this awful highway, and did some ups and downs until we were back down on the Pend Oreille River. Just like the previous section, we would get relatively cool breezes off of the river, and dappled sunlight and shade. It was only when we got off of the river that it seemed pretty hot. We stopped by the side of the road and had goos and water, but we weren’t completely restored, and now our water supplies were running relatively low.
We stopped by another rural fire station, hoping to again find water, but they were on to wiseacres like us, and their spigot required a special handle to make it turn. We chatted there with some folks on ORVs who told us that our planned route ahead was partly on dirt road, and so we decided to just take the road we were on, Dufort, out to the highway.
As we were riding along – after seeing more osprey nests in a few miles than I’ve ever seen in my life – we came upon a roadside sign that said, “state park ahead”. Since originally I hadn’t planned to be on Dufort this long, I didn’t know we’d be by Round Lake State Park. We refilled our water bottles. Then we put on our swimsuits and ran into Round Lake. I could feel my body temperature just drop. I floated serenely on my back for some time. We came out, drank more water and had more goos, topped up the bottles, and hit the road again.
It was only 2 more miles, and we were on Hwy 95. The highway had the benefits and the drawbacks of these sorts of major thoroughfares. The shoulder was wide and clean, but the traffic was high speed and relentless, and there was a deep rumble strip between the shoulder and the fog line. The ranger at Round Lake told us about the bike trail that started in Sagle, and we took that rooty and bumpy route across Lake Pend Oreille.
Roadside temperature sign outside of Sandpoint at about 5:00 PM: 89 degrees.
The trail was gravel in several sections through road construction. We were pretty beat and so dismounted and walked through these. We finally made it into town and found our hotel. Since David had had some difficulty putting the derailleur into the big ring, we dumped the luggage and rode a few blocks to a local bike shop. At this point, they were 15 minutes until closing. The mechanic was garrulous but uninterested in looking at the problem, just telling us what he would do if he had more time, and what might be the problem. We then rode back to the hotel, stripped off our sticky, reeking bike clothes, and took blissful showers.
I knew exactly what I wanted – Italian food – and there was an Italian restaurant in the downstairs of the hotel. I sort of insisted that we eat right there, and we did. The antipasti arrived – a platter of crostini, cheeses, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, and it tasted so good I nearly burst into tears right there. We hoovered up this up, and our salads, and two baskets of bread, and then some lovely entrees – I had a chicken breast rolled in fontina cheese and prosciutto, while David had the veal saltimbocca. I also managed to put away a couple of glasses of wine. We toddled back up to our rooms, and somehow I didn’t have the wherewithal to pack up anything for the next day – just brushed my teeth and went to bed.
Total estimated distance for the day: 81 miles.
DAY THREE
We got up at the usual time, and got to Panhandler Pies for breakfast right when it was supposed to open. It hadn’t, quite, but some locals banged on the door for us, and we all tumbled in.
We then took off out of Sandpoint, re-threading our way back on the bumpy, rooty multi-use trail, more willing to ride through the gravel sections because our legs and our brains were fresher. Again, it was the remorseless high-speed, high-volume traffic, wide clear shoulder, and rumble strip. The worst of it was when a rumble strip continued when the pavement quite narrowed. This was in the midst of a downhill section, and we were sailing along at about 30 mph when David had to brake madly, bring the bike to a halt. (I have the mile marker noted, and I’m going to complain to the Idaho State DOT.)
We were more than 25 miles down the road from Sandpoint, after we took a brief water/pee break, when we noticed that the rear wheel was flat – our first flat of the entire season. We pulled off all the luggage off the bike, squatted by the side of Hwy 95, and proceeded to replace the tube with really little difficulty. We then proceeded into Athol (mile 30). We had an extended stop in the little grocery there, getting a variety of snacks: an orange, two yogurts, peanuts, fritos, cheesy popcorn, and sodas.
We then took Old Hwy 95, a deserted relief to the busy road we’d been riding, and turned on Brunner Road. We were then going to take a left on Diagonal Road, which, true to its name, was going to cut across the grid in a southwesterly direction, cutting out some miles. Except, when we got there, the road was dirt. We flagged down a little pick-up truck, driven by a tanned young man in his 20s, with marijuana leaves on his earrings and the back filled with flagger stop/slow signs. He suggested that we keep on Brunner to Ramsey Road. Since Diagonal was going to connect us to Ramsey Road, it meant just a few more miles, and was most satisfactory.
Ramsey Road turned out to be one of the little highlights of the day – it was a slight downhill grade and a tailwind, very few cars, and pretty. We flew down Ramsey Road, often at 25+ mph, until it was no longer pine forest along the base of a small mountain, and it had opened up into farmers’ fields.
We rode through a housing development outside of Rathburn, and the little left-right-left that I had routed us along had one section that was not paved, but it was short, and we rode through it no problem. Now it was a long run down Huetter Road – again, slightly downhill, with a tailwind, but straight as an arrow through fields of wheat and very few cars. I had somewhat dreaded this part previously because I knew it would be open and late in the morning, and I feared it would be broiling hot. But the tailwind meant we were air-cooled as we flew down the road.
We could tell we were approaching the Spokane River, but couldn’t see how the Centennial Trail intersected. We went to the very base of trail, then decided we’d use a paralleling road to connect to the trail later. We found the trail, but decided then to have lunch (about mile 52) in Post Falls.
After food, we got on the Centennial Trail for our final leg home. As we found on the trail a few days before, there were problems with signage and finding the thread of the trail, but we managed OK until we accidentally got on a spur to Liberty Lake. When we got off the spur, we rode on a bike lane through Liberty Lake and then did a little dead reckoning and found our way back on the trail.
The trail was quite pretty through this section. The river rushed through smooth rocks, and the path threaded its way through the pine trees.
Soon we were back where Sullivan Bridge ran overhead, and we left the trail. I lost one of my water bottles in the middle of a suburban arterial (squashed flat by a car) but we were nearly done, so no harm. In a few blocks we were back at the car, left in the cul-de-sac where we parked it. We stripped off our stinking gloves and helmets, removed the bike shoes (ahhh!) threw the tandem on top, and returned to the hotel where we started three days before.
We had some sushi downtown, stayed up until 9:00 PM and watched TV in the air-conditioned splendor of our Spokane hotel, and went to sleep.
Estimated mileage for the day, what with detours and getting lost – 78 miles.
AFTERMATH
The next day we drove out to Eastern Washington University, in Cheney, near to Spokane, and saw Rose perform after her week of band camp. We then got some Mexican food in town, and did the long drive home.
