Idaho Bike Trail Ride May 2007

May 5th, 2007

The Turtle, our old RV, is up for the drive having trained on a drive to Caldwell in April to visit Bec's Mom. As we leave Portland behind, we shake off the clouds. Blue skies and dessert lay before us for miles and miles. The desert changes to farm land and back again. We drive straight into a dust devil, who in a show of strength has collected a bunch of tumbleweeds that we in turn collect on our mirrors. As we near Spokane, the pine trees begin to crowd out the dessert to become a full forest on both sides of the road. Mountains replace the rolling hills of the desert.

We exit the freeway and find the Cedar Motel and RV Park, our home for three days. It is not quite the type of RV Park we like, having seen better days, but it is right on the Centennial Bike Trail, the trail that we will be riding. We go out for a walk to look for the lake, but expensive mansion type homes and small lake cabins use up every inch. It feels wonderful to stretch our legs after being cooped up in the Turtle all day. We stop to talk with a Senior Citizen who runs an antique bike shop out of his yard. He sells lots cruisers and many collectible bikes that folks cannot find in the regular bike shops. Louie drools over this red Shwinn Twin tandem very much like our old Green one we sold, but without the rust. He wants it, but we just don't have room for another bike. Sadly we leave it behind after Louie finishes inspecting all the other old bikes that lay about looking for new homes.

We head back to the Turtle, passing a Mexican Food establishment that is just booming with music and laughing. We think about stopping in, but decide we need to settle down so we can get a good nights rest for tomorrows ride.

50.1 miles, 1440 feet of climbing, 4 hours and 10 minutes, 12 mph average, 36.6 max.

We get a late start after sleeping in until 9:00! We only have 50 miles to cover today so we start out easy. First we warm up with an easy out and back of seven miles to Higgens Point, the official ending point of the Centennial trail.

Near the trail end is a life size sculpture of a turn of the century man taking a picture with an old camera. It is to commemorate recreational use of the trail.

The path follows both roads and dedicated lanes. We pedal along to our bike tunes enjoying what the path has to offer, forest, dedicated path next to a freeway, neighborhood streets, and busy roads with a bike lane. We have a little bit of trouble staying on the path, but Bec has a map that really makes a difference.

As we meander down the trail, Louie feathers the brakes, pulls off to the side and stops. Bec asks, "What up?" Louie says, "There are guys with machine guns, and I brake for machine guns!" Sure enough the trail fills with soldiers marching towards us with packs, guns, and all. Louie says, "Well I guess this bike path is safe!" "You betcha," says the lead soldier.

Shortly after our encounter with the Centennial Trail Militia, Louie stops to help a couple with bike trouble. The guy's hands are covered in grease because he has been trying to repair a broken chain without the use of modern bike tools. Louie dons rubber gloves, removes a link, and reconnects the chain. Their bikes need some work, so Louie tells them that they really need to see a shop before heading out again. We get them back on the road and continue on our journey to the border between Idaho and Washington.

We stop for coffee and chat with a local about our ride tomorrow. We want to travel all the way around the lake, but are not sure about our ability to do the ride. We know there will be a lot of climbing. The cyclist says that it would be a good ride and that we are in for a treat when we get to Harrison, as the bike path that goes across to Plummer is really nice.

We travel on a neighborhood road that goes behind a college right along the lake. Cute fuzzy baby geese crowd around momma goose and pick at the bugs in the grass. Signs tell people that no dogs or alcohol are allowed and that there is an area set aside where they can feed the waterfowl. Benches await the tired. Around a corner, some children sell lemonade. Louie stops for a drink.

We spy a bike shop and follow a sign that points to a door that opens to a gun shop with a bike sitting in the window. The owners ask us if we are looking for a bike shop and that this is not it. However, they would be happy to sell us a gun if we would like one. Actually, there are times we wish we had one, but we really think that it is best that we abstain. Darn, like some of the restrooms along the trail, sadly, the bike shop is closed for the season.We ride a bit further and cross the Spokane River and enter Washington. Time to turn around.

On the way back there is Police action at the old guy's bike shop. A kid stole a bike from a neighbor and left it in the bike rack at the bike shop. The police are there to help find the kid who is currently in hiding. Louie is drawn back to the antique tandem we spied the day before. It is such a shame we have no room for it.

As we pull back into the RV Park our neighbors say high and want to know where we were all day. We chat for a while before heading back to the Turtle to put away the bike and get ready for our really big ride tomorrow.

89.3 miles, 4320 feet of climbing, 7 hours and 43 minutes, 11.6 mph average, 59.8 max.

We are getting an early start today because we know the ride is going to be long with lots of climbing. Louie is still taking antibiotics for a tooth he had pulled so we are unsure if we are going to be able to do the ride in good form. Bec is confident because we have been doing some very difficult rides as of late and she is feeling so much stronger since her retirement. Bec decides that we should go out to the end of the Centennial trail and climb the fence to get onto the highway to avoid a whole lot of climbing. Louie is skeptical but Bec insists. Once at the end of the trail we pull and push the bike over the fence and up a steep incline to the road. An old guy comes by and tells us that it would have been easier if we had just opened up the fence 50 feet down the way as others do. We have to laugh at ourselves for doing things the hard way, but it does give us a chance to practice our cyclocross skills.

Highway 97 is a designated Scenic byway, which usually means that at some point the road goes straight up! It is quite narrow but we don't mind. We have lots of practice on roads like this.

We learn from a sign that the lake is a natural lake, made by glaciers.

The clear blue waters of the lake sparkle beside us. Fish jump up to take a look as we ride by.

Soon a deer walks across the road and then stops to look at us trying to figure out what the heck we are. We are sure we do not look much like anything he has seen before. The road hugs the hills on our left and the water laps at it on our right.

Lots of big trucks are going back and forth on the road. Sometimes Louie has to pull over into the gravel where we struggle to keep the bike upright and at other times we just have to stop and let the trucks pass. The road does not disappoint us in that we begin to climb up above the lake.

We stop at the cutest store for coffee. It is all done up as an old fashioned general store. We send off a few post cards and linger over coffee before mounting up and continuing the climb. We are heading for Harrison where we will catch up with the Trail of the Coeur D'Alene.

Finally we descend and see a welcome sign.

We stop in at the only place in town that serves food and take a break and have lunch. Louie visits with the local bike shop owner who tells us that the road we just came in on is too narrow and has too much traffic for bikes. "The cars and trucks just go too fast," he says. We did not think it was that bad, but we are seasoned riders. We have certainly been on worse.

We drop down to the bike trail. Bec picks up a brochure that is at the trailhead and reads it to Louie. The trail is actually constructed to cap with a think layer of asphalt and gravel barriers the contaminates that were used to build the original railroad. They used mine waste rock and tailings containing heavy metals in the original trail bed. We are warned to stay on the trail, not drink the water, and not touch the dirt as it is all contaminated. Some folks in the area do not believe that the capping actually works.

The reason for the trail may not be altruistic, but the trail is very nice. We even get to cross over the lake on one of the old rail bridges.

Not too many people are out on the trail today. We see one other couple going the other way near the lake. There are private residences along the way, but not along the edge of the water where the trail goes. If the area were not contaminated we are sure that it would be all private homes along the water rather than higher up in the hills to our left. Most of them have stairs down to the trail and boat slips in the water.

Soon the trail leaves the lake and climbs up into the hills. It is a gradual climb of about a 3% grade. There are lots of restrooms with solar panels on the top of them. We climb through the forest for a long time. We come upon an old guy weaving about on an old mountain bike. "Are you okay?" asks Louie. "Great!" says the guy. Bec fusses to Louie because the old guy has no water or food with him. But, there is nothing we can do. He did not want any help.

Finally we pop out of the forest into rolling hills and farmland at Plummer, the official beginning of the trail.

Plummer is a small Indian town complete with gas station, café, and cheap tobacco.

We are on our way back now, on highway 97. At first we have a nice shoulder that soon turns into only a white line. The scenery is very different now with rolling grasslands and farms.Big trucks try to pass us as politely as possible. But, we have to resort to riding in the sand and stopping again a few times so that they can pass. Soon we come to the reason for all the activity. A new road is being constructed. The truck activity lessens after we pass the construction. The last part of the ride has us on a nice wide highway with a big shoulder. It is a good thing because we have several climbs in front of us. We go up and up and then dive down only to go back up again. At the top of one climb we pass an Elk farm. Louie wants to free them, but Bec thinks they are better off because they have all the food and water they could want without having to hunt for it. But the down side is that they will end up in someone's freezer eventually.

Finally we dive down to Coeur D'Alene matching our previous maximum of 59.8. Whew! We stop in at the local IGA for groceries and pass the Bate's Motel (and we thought our RV park was bad).

As we roll into the RV Park we pass a camp site and ring the bike bell signaling our return. Our neighbors, who knew we were doing a big ride, greet us with cheers.

29.4 miles, 510 feet of climbing, 2 hours and 41minutes, 10.9 mph average, 18.6 max.

Today we break camp and head towards Cataldo, Idaho. On the way we see Old Mission State Park and cannot help but stop in and visit the oldest building still standing in Idaho.

The Mission was built at the request of the Coeur d'Alene Indians. The native people heard tell of a medicine man with great powers and decided they wanted this magic for themselves. They sent out word that the blackrobes, Catholic Jesuit priests, would be welcome among their people. So the Jesuits came into north Idaho. The designer, Antonio Ravalli, combined his skills as an artisan with the materials at hand to build the church in the European style. We liked that he used huckleberry juice to stain the wood of the ceiling blue to match the sky.

Ravalli fashioned tin cans into elegant chandeliers. Statues of saints in the Mission were hand carved from native white pine trees. Even though the Mission has undergone renovation several times, when you walk inside, it looks and feels as if it has been this way throughout time. We spend a couple of hours exploring and taking pictures.

Our campsite for the next couple of nights is situated right along the Coeur d'Alene river. We have an unobstructed view of the river and mountains because there is only one other camper. Even though we have an RV, Louie still calls it camping because we don't have cable and internet.

Todays ride is short, but steeped in history. We reaffirm that everything happens for a reason. At every trailhead there is a sign reminding us to stay on the path and not touch the soil or water because it is contaminated. We come to Smelterville and learn all about the contamination.

The paved trail we are riding on is actually a cap for contaminated waste called mine tailings. These rocks contain lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals. We stop at the Museum in Kellogg and learn even more. The ore processing plants had spewn sulfer all over the mountains. It caused the trees to die.

After the mines played out local high school students helped to replant trees. Now some of the mountainside is used for skiing. Resorts and hotels are springing up in Kellog. The trail that we ride on would not be here today if it weren't for the contamination. The same can be said for the skiing. It is a perfect example of taking ecological disaster and turning it into a positive thing for people. Everything happens for a reason.

We stop at several businesses that exist solely because the trail is here. One deli is even putting in some RV parking to accommodate folks who are riding the trail. We stop at a bike shop that is right next to the trail and buy souvenir jerseys.

The clerk said that the owner moved the shop here from another location. These businesses are thriving because the trail is here. All along the path we see businesses that are embracing cyclists and the trail. In just one town event rides are said to have brought $48,000 additional annual revenue to the regional economy. This is significant to small towns that struggle on the brink of extinction. We hope that townsfolk along Washington State's Iron Horse Trail see this example and work with cycling advocates to finish what could be a historic achievement.

As we ride along the trail we keep an eye out for moose. The locals have told us that the best time catch them is in the early morning or late afternoon. Louie thinks he spots one across the river. It turns out to be a stump with moose horns! Perhaps on our ride tomorrow we will spot one for real.

The late afternoon temperature is above average for this time of year. Even though we are bucking a twenty mile per hour head wind on the return trip, the trail grade is slightly downhill making the ride quite pleasant. Louie rings the bell to warn a man ahead of us who is taking pictures. He must have had the wind in his ears because when we pass and say, "Hello!" it scares the beejeebase out of him.

Bec fusses, but only for a moment, when Louie offers to buy her the ice cream he promised her yesterday. She hates the calories, but loves ice cream. We toddle happily into camp riding the tandem eating ice cream bars. It doesn't get much better than this.

55.5 miles, 440 feet of climbing, 5 hours and 00 minutes, 11.1 mph average, 15.7 max.

Today we are riding East back to Harrison. We had planned to make this a loop ride, but we both agree that we should ride it as an out and back so that we can fully enjoy the path. At first the path is a tunnel in the forest with trees closing in over the top of us. It is dark and cool. The stream beside us talks to us even though we cannot see it. Soon the forest opens up into a vast wetlands that we enjoy for the remainder of the ride. It reminds us of the Swamps in Louisiana, but without the alligators.

Birds are everywhere and come in many different varieties. Right alongside the trail a robin made a nest on a post. All at once Louie exclaims, "Bec, there is your moose!" Sure enough ahead of us about 1,000 feet is a nice fat moose. We stop to look at it and try to figure out what to do. A couple more cyclists come by. Bec says, "Moose up." To them. "What?" says one. Bec repeats herself and they stop. Louie starts to move closer so he can get a picture but one of the riders says, "I would not do that if I were you. Moose are very cranky and have been known to charge a pick up truck and do real damage." Bec holds Louie back. We begin to have a committee meeting to try to figure out what to do with the moose because he has no intention of getting off the trail. He is happily munching on the low branches of the bushes that grow beside the trail. Finally the committee decides to send "Joe" out to scare him off the trail since Joe can ride the fastest of anyone in the group or so he says. Bec makes Louie turn the Blueberry around because should Mr. Moose decide to charge us we would not be able to turn around very fast. Joe moves forward and yells. Louie tries to get a picture, but sadly it does not turn out. Bec made him stay too far back. Finally Mr. Moose lumbers off the trail and all four of us gingerly and quietly ride by. We could not even hear nor see Mr. Moose in the brush because he moved so quietly and blended in so well.

The swamp lands blend into Bull Run Lake.

And then changes back to swamp, but this swamp is a sea of green grasses.

We have found that mostly turtles hate the tandem and always jump back in the water, but today we come across a turtle that gives us no never mind. It could care less. It sits on the trail and poses for a close up picture. Brave Turtle!

We pass under a bridge and a horde of birds flies out of mud structures at us. We see them after this under almost all the bridges. In fact, there is one bridge that was in the process of being constructed by humans, but the birds had already constructed their mud homes without waiting for the bridge to be finished.

We take brakes every so often at the rest areas along the way and read the signs posted learning a lot about the area.

Louie stretches out on one table for a short rest while Bec watches the swamp on one side of the trail and the river on the other side for animal activity. A blue butterfly comes over to investigate the bike since they are exactly the same color. Bec has never seen a blue butterfly before and wonders what kind it could possibly be. It certainly is not a moth, very curious.

Before arriving at Harrison we see a couple of nutria swimming in the swamp and pass what we believe is a beaver house. Well, it is either that or a pile of sticks!

At Harrison, we have lunch, then explore the town which is only a couple of blocks long. We chat with one of the locals who tells us that just up the trail she had seen a Momma Bear with two cubs. We are happy that we did not have an encounter with an animal that was above us on the food chain! Sadly the ice cream parlor went out of business, but the town jail is still in tact along with the sheriff who drives around looking for troublemakers.

We turn around and head back to camp. Just as we are leaving we see the only phone booth in town and wonder how one would ever make a phone call without a boat.

Soon we come right up next to a white tailed dear lurking beside the trail. Louie tries to get his picture, but he does not like that and runs away. Darn. No moose picture and no deer picture today. But we score big! Right in front of us is a pair of bald eagles complete with nest. Quietly we inch forward so as not to disturb them. Louie gets his photo.

Bec remembers how Bald Eagles almost became extinct due to DDT causing their eggs to crack before the chicks were ready to hatch. It is wonderful to see them make a comeback.

Todays ride ends with a ride along the river.

Day off riding

Today we are driving to a new campsite in Osborn. We plan on doing a small ride after arriving. We drive into town and spot an RV repair and sales facility. We look at each other and simultaneously come up with the same idea. Why don't we see if we can get the RV oven repaired. We have been without an oven from the very beginning of our relationship with the Turtle. We had tried to get it fixed once before, but the fix only lasted one day. We really, really miss having an oven. So we pull into Osborn RV. They are all over our RV just like in the 50's when a person pulled in for gas. They are terrific. Once the diagnostics are done, we decide to get a whole new stove and oven. Then we get a new fan motor for the oven hood. And then we get some strips to cover some of the rough areas on the RV roof. By the time we were done we spent over $500 getting things fixed. But, they only charged us $20 for labor. All the rest was parts. We highly recommend them to any RV in need of some attention. Off we go to find our campsite. Tonight we are living high on the hog. We have cable, Internet, laundry, everything. We dive into the Internet and email. Finally we put on our biking clothes and pose for a picture beside the Turtle.

We head out to the store and buy a pizza to cook in our new oven for dinner and bring it back to the RV. We look at each other again and decide that we are done riding for the day and climb back into the Turtle to play on the Internet and watch TV! We will ride tomorrow.

39.7 miles, 1370 feet of climbing, 3 hours and 35 minutes, 11 mph average, 23.2 max.

Today we will complete riding the full length of the Coeur d'Alene Trail. The trail travels alongside highway 90 and in some spots we encounter portions of the old abandoned highway 90. We have mountains on both sides of us as we travel up a forest-covered canyon. We don't see much wildlife today but we do see lots of evidence of old saw mills and mining operations. We ride past conctrete foundations built into the mountainside. We can only imagine what was built there, but it must have been big.

We come to the town of Wallace and really like it. It has many brick buildings that are very old. The neatest thing is that they built the new highway over the top of the town and left the bike trail under it.

They have many references to a huge fire that destroyed the town in the early 1900's. We believe that is why most of the buildings are made of bricks today.

We continue on into Mullen, the end of the trail. We hear tell that nine more miles of trail is to be constructed past Mullen. But for now it's just a dirt path. We explore the town, several cute homes and a couple of chuches dot the landscape. Main street Mullen doesn't have much going on. Most of the buildings are empty and the stores closed. We can't even find a restaurant open. Louie steers the Blueberry back to Wallace. It is a nice downhill run all the way there.

When we come back through Wallace we stop to shop and eat. We have a great time walking around looking at everything. We even take some time to write and send some post cards and pose for a picture. Wallace twnsfolk have done a wonderful job preserving the character of their city. Storefronts are full with antique stores, gift shops and restuarants. They have a rail museum and a bordello museum. Wallace also hosts festivals, events, and plays to draw visitors from all over. In fact the day after we leave there will be a huge car rally with many antique cars. Soon there will be hundreds of people in town.

All total we spent three days cycling the full length of the Coeur d'Alene Trail, both directions. We enjoyed every moment of it.

16 miles, 220 feet of climbing, 1 hour and 38 minutes, 9.7 mph average, 32 max.

This morning we drive the Turtle from Osburn to Calder stopping at many of the interpretive signs along the way. The Indians really liked the Blackcoats (Jesuit Priests) because they taught them how to grow crops and do many things they did not know how to do. The Priests really liked the Indians because the Indians embraced the Catholic Religion since it was very close to the Indians own beliefs and practices. We plan on staying at the Huckleberry Camp Ground, but once we arrive there, we decide it is too deserted for us to just leave the Turtle all day while we are out riding so we go back to an RV Park we saw in St. Joes.

Once we get all settled in, we take off to explore the old railroad. Youch! We have on some pretty hard tires to be riding on gravel. Louie stops and lets some air out, but it still requires a lot of skill to keep us upright. Poor Louie does not get to see anything because he has his eyes glued to the road to keep us from falling into some big hole or big pile of loose gravel. Bec, though she is bouncing along, at least gets to look about. All along the river, folks have bought land and put their own campsites. Most of them are very well groomed. We even see men out on riding lawn mowers trimming their campground grass. People are busy playing in about half of them. We think it is still early in the year for most folks to be up camping.

Soon we arrive at a road-closed sign. We decide to forge on because most times we can get through on a bike where a car cannot go. Sure enough we come to a burned out bridge. We are able to walk the bike over the bridge, as there is still enough wood left to be sturdy enough for a bike. After arriving in Calder, we stop for a soda at the only eating establishment in town. The waitress tells us that tomorrow would be a good day for riding because the logging trucks will not be on the road. A couple of women on Harleys tell us that the ride to Avery will be beautiful. We make an executive decision to ride to Avery on the road tomorrow and then do a ride on the railroad bed to St. Maries on Monday after first putting on softer tires.

We ride back to our campsite on the road taking time to stop for a picture of snow-covered mountains in the distance.

55.7 miles, 790 feet of climbing, 4 hours and 36 minutes, 12.1 mph average, 24.3 max.

Horrors! Bec wakes up feeling a bit under the weather. She decides to ignore it because she is on vacation and she is going to have fun if it kills her! Seriously, she does not feel bad enough to stop, only bad enough to make today's ride more challenging. The rain that began last night continues though the morning so we get a late start. We are riding out and back from St. Joes to Avery. We know it will be less than 60 miles so we have plenty of time.

We are not seeing any new animals today though we do hear some snorting in the bushes and see some little chipmunks scurrying about. The landscape is very rugged. The road is carved out of rock and follows every twist and turn of the St. Joe River. We see countless creeks and evidence of a large fire that ripped through the river gorge. Bec spots what appears to be an old mine. The mine entrance has a log and concrete structure built in front of cave like opening in the mountainside. Louie wants to go closer for a picture but it is private property. In fact much of the land next to the road and river is private property. Folks have parked their trailers with structures over them to keep them safe from the rain and snow in winter. There are not many houses, mostly travel trailers with out buildings.

We follow the road until we get to the Avery Ranger station where we have a meeting about whether or not this is Avery. Bec thinks it is, but Louie thinks not. Louie wins and we forge on. Louie is right! In a few miles we come to the cutest town called Avery. We stop and have lunch at the general store. The store is tiny but has an amazing selection of quality sporting goods, even bike helmets!

After lunch we mill around taking pictures in front of the store. There must have been a dozen or so of those ATV's parked next to the road. The are several signs that say, "NO DOGS!" Right next to the sign a dog sits on the back of an ATV waiting patiently for his owner. We remark to a lady, who is standing in front of the store, that often times the signs will say, "NO DOGS! NO ALCOHOL! NO BIKES!" Bec tells the dog that she knows exactly how he must feel. The lady remarks, "My friends must not be able to read." Bec tells her that the dog is very well behaved so we will just all keep quiet about it and let the sleeping dog lie. The lady tells us to stop at the post office to visit the fishpond, and old train car. We do and are very impressed. Bec feeds the "twenty-inch" trout while Louie tries out the movie function on the camera. We wander around inside the railroad car. It is a 100-year-old dining car with almost all the stuff is still inside it. Avery also has a tiny jail, a gift shop and a post office that is housed in an old railroad station.

On the return trip we have a head wind. Even though it is mostly downhill back to camp we don't get much in the way of a good downhill run. We see another set of nesting bald eagles and stop to watch them as one swooshes out from the trees to watch us. As we pass the turnoff to Calder, Bec gets anxious to be done. Soon we arrive back at the RV Park. Bec is not feeling well at all and needs to lie down. Louie also feels a bit under the weather. Maybe we will both feel better tomorrow.

36.4 miles, 520 feet of climbing, 4 hours and 23 minutes, 8.3 mph average, 22.8 max.

We both wake up feeling much better. Whew! That was a close one. We change out the tires on the bike to really fat knobbys because we are going to ride the railroad bed into St. Maries. It's a gravel road that the locals use to get to their trailers parked alongside the river. From where we are camped we see an occasional log truck on the railroad bed. We think they will turn off onto the main road at the point where we get onto the railroad bed.

Once again we have warm sunshine for our ride. Louie wants to hear what the trucks have to say about us so he turns on the CB radio and attaches it to the back of the bike before we take off. Sure enough, an on-coming truck passes us and tells the others that there is a bike up ahead with two people on it. "Do you think they are from California?" asks the one trucker. "Hope not, we wouldn't want to give them a bad name," says the other. This just confirms what we have always thought. It is not the log trucks that we have to worry about. They know we are there and tell each other. They know the size of their rig and how to handle it. It is the drunk drivers and careless folks that we have to watch for.

We turn off the main road onto the railroad bed. It is slow going on the gravel with the soft tires, but much easier to ride than high pressure fat tires we had on before. As we plow through the gravel we cross many railroad bridges. Louie stops to take our picture at one but ends up taking a picture of his face as he is adjusting the camera.

He eventually gets the camera set up and a nice picture of the bridge and us on the bike.

At times we have to navigate through a few washouts covered with rocks. Louie drops us into granny gear and we plow through the rocks. It seems that we are creating quite a ruckus on the gravel. The local cows don't know what to think of us and stampede. We try to make them stop by getting ahead of them and then by stopping the bike, but they keep running right until they hit the creek that divides the large field in which they live. Finally they stop and stare at us after making an "alert circle". We see them again on our way back, but this time they know we are not a threat and just watch us ride by.

All along the road we see RV's and trailers set up on private riverfront lots. Most of them have nasty "no trespassing" signs. Up on the hill we see a few houses that are falling down, abandoned for one reason or another. Up on one hillside is a tiny cabin built in between many trees. We can barely see it. Bec watches for it on our way back but cannot find it.

When we get to St. Maries we stop for lunch and for groceries. While Louie is in the grocery store Bec chats with a local who says, "There are a lot of cars on that road. Don't you think it is dangerous?" We saw two ATVs and a pickup during the whole 18 miles of riding so Bec did not know exactly what to say to the guy. We cannot figure out people and their fear of bikes and cars mixing.

On the return trip we see a waterfall that we had missed on our way into town. This is our last ride in the area. Tomorrow we head south to Boise to ride famous greenway. It'll be a long drive albeit a nice break for our tired butts.

The Drive from Northern Idaho to Caldwell is grueling for us. For some reason we can ride all day on the bike and feel great, but driving all day is hard on us. The fun thing is that we get to drive some of the roads that we had ridden on the bike some years ago when we did our ride across Washington and down Idaho. Click here to see that story. It is in the 80's even in May, but the Turtle's air conditioning keeps us comfortable.

34.2 miles, 920 feet of climbing, 2 hours and 33 minutes, 13.4 mph average, 32.4 max.

We get up early so that we can do a ride that Louie really enjoys. The ride goes around Lake Lowell. Louie wants me to make a bike map of it so here it is.

The ride starts from the park at the lake and goes for about 20 miles. There is a buffalo herd and a wildlife preserve along the way. There are a couple of small hills to climb and a head wind and a tail wind. We stop at a local store for a soda pop. The local store for a soda pop. The mosquito control people drove up and gave us some deet. They tell us that the mosquitoes don't have west Nile fever yet, but they say it is coming. We dutifully put it on. When we get back to Bec's Mom's house we spend the rest of the day getting some window treatments up for her.

37.9 miles, 740 feet of climbing, 3 hours and 58 minutes, 9.5 mph average, 25.9 max.

The Boise Greenbelt is filled with many different types of recreational users. We see the usual runners and walkers but we also see a group of elderly people out using walkers and wheelchairs to enjoy the trail. Some even drag their oxygen tanks with them. It is quite remarkable to see. We see all types of comfort bikes some with big ape hanger handlebars. We have to ride slowly because the pavement is very bumpy from tree roots that have grown up through the pavement. Another factor that kept our average speed down was the serpentine layout of the trail. They engineer bike trails that way deliberately so that bicycles can't go too fast and scare the other trail users. We do enjoy the straight run out to the dam, though.

We get lost quite a bit, but that helps us find sections of the trail that we have not ridden before. The river is the only green spot around. The hills are brown and barren. A cool breeze comes off the water, which really helps since it is 90 degrees today. Our ride takes us to a dam and a powerhouse at the end of the trail.

We get to walk out on top of the diversion dam and enjoy the view before we head back. Below we can see a fly fisher trying his luck.

Although multi-use paths like this one aren't the best place for fitness level type rides, they do provide a sanctuary for a lot of folks who just want a place to ride and relax without having to compete with cars.

Today is reserved for putting in Bec's Mom's garden, visiting her sister, Mary, visiting her daughter, Amy, and visiting her grandkids, Emily and Daniel. Tomorrow, we head home.