After last night I was perfectly content to sleep in and hang out in the hotel a bit longer. Throughout this trip The Weather Channel and I were becoming good friends. For the most part the weather looked good for the trip as long as I did not get too far east or north.
I ht the road about noon headed after getting some gas. The next major city on the route is Newport, Washington, about 60 miles away. The weather is great, sunny and about 60 degrees. I arrive in Newport about 1:30pm. I head into Safeway to get groceries and was anxious to get to Idaho and on the road. I ask the cashier, “How far am I from Idaho?” She replies “Oh, it’s right across the street!” I laugh and head on my way.
The next major stop is Priest Lake. Priest Lake is in the extremely northern peninsula of Idaho. It’s similar to Lake Tahoe, but smaller and more pristine.
Ever since seeing a picture of this lake I’ve always wanted to go there. The lake is about 80 more miles away. The road to the lake has nice higher speed turns and is in a tight forest. Upon arriving at the lake, it was cooler than the pictures. It’s as cool as Lake Tahoe and warm. A lot of the lakes in northern Idaho are contaminated with arsenic as the area was heavily mined, but Priest Lake is still a pristine lake.
On the way back the bike and I do some off road riding around the lake. I come across a museum of the area that’s in one of the original ranger stations of the area. It’s run by a husband and wife who moved up to the area to retire from none other than California. Californians moving north seems to be a recurring trend the more folks I meet up here. At about 4 pm the weather is beginning to deteriorate so I gather that it is time to head to sunnier skies south.
Sandpoint sits on the northern end of Lake Pend Oreille (pond oh-ray) which was used for submarine testing as it’s almost 1200 feet deep.
I cruise into town and swing into Dub’s drive in for some huckleberry ice cream. Huckleberry is the fruit unique to the region. I get a small which is huge.
The lady behind me gets a large and the thing is literally three times as high! Just getting that much ice cream on a cone is a feat in itself, much less eating it! Looking north at 5:30 the weather deterioration is happening full force as big black clouds with large amounts of rain come falling from them. I take the hint that Montana nor Canada is going to happen today. I head to Coeur d’Alene (core duh lane) to the hotel. Only 200 miles for the day but once I check into the hotel, I realize that it was a good decision and appreciate the light mileage day. I decide to stay an extra day to hit Montana but will most likely not get to Canada.
Leave a Reply