49: Welcome to Idaho!

Well, seven weeks into our trip, and we have reached our fourth state - Idaho. This day provided two firsts for Roger: he'd never been to Idaho before, and never ridden for a full day in the rain.Yeah, rain.

Not so sunny today!

We knew we had a long day ahead of us, and planned to start early, but when we awoke to the sound of rain drumming on the roof of our cabin, it was hard to move too fast!  We got on the road about 7:30, and until 4:15 when we finally arrived in Sandpoint, we rode in the rain. Sometiimes just a drizzle, but still - rain.

The only time it stopped, and this was quite weird and convenient, was when we had a flat. Roger had stood to pedal a few strokes standing, and said, "we have a flat" and then the rain just stopped. We took care of the flat, and sure enough, it started to rain again. So that was really pretty amazing!

Starting out in the rain

We were riding along the Pend Oreille River most of the day (pronounced "pond der ray") and it was quite scenic, if soggy.

Homes along the river

There wasn't much to do but just keep turning the pedals; once you are wet, you're wet, and it was not so cold that it was really uncomfortable.  In fact, we prefer the cool and rain to the incredible heat that we had the past few days.

Fireworks for sale at the Safeway

Just before we crossed the border into Idaho, we stopped in the Safeway to get a drink.  Guess what we saw for sale?  Big packets of fireworks! You are not likely to see this for sale in Southern California! Although, as wet as everything is, I guess they are not likely to start a fire!

Taking a quick break

Jennifer at Pend Oreille 

We had a great dinner and enjoyed tasting the wines at Pend Oreille Winery in Sandpoint.  Jennifer took great care of us, and the food and the wines were both very good.  Since we have found a great, cozy little hostel-like place to lodge, and we have had two long and tough days, we are going to stay another night and celebrate Roger's birthday here tomorrow before going on to Montana. 

Doing what we do!

The day's report:  Beaver Lodge to Sandpoint, 86.9 miles/2309 to date