69 miles

We left the farm this morning. I woke up to a big group of ducks loudly discussing something of vital importance to them directly outside my tent. We ate homemade pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream and sausages, gratefully said our goodbyes, and then we hit the road. 

We stopped at the bike shop in Colville called Adventure Peddler to air up our tires, and then hit the supermarket to restock our coffee and snacks. We sat outside the grocery store to drink our coffee and chatted about our time with Angie’s family, and about small town life, and how different it is here than what we are accustomed to. I was struck by a new depth of realization about how city folks and country folks alike seem to be exactly the same amount of clueless when it comes to what the other group needs and knows. The gap between these worlds in America is enormous.

While we sat, several people approached us outside the store with the usual questions about our trip, and words of encouragement. I’m coming to expect and appreciate these little moments whenever we stop. It happens frequently. 

There’s a massive logging operation in downtown Colville. I watched a crane claw picking up 50 trees at a time from a pile of (probably) thousands and sending them through a huge conveyor system. I took some pictures, but the strong pine smell in the air was the main event.

There were some challenging hills today, but the last 20 miles were so peaceful—long, quiet, flat, gentle, cool, sunset, riverside riding (with no traffic!) that I could do forever.  Turtles crossing. Smooth pavement. Glowing sky. We passed a lot of land that seemed totally unused and unoccupied, but for the “no trespassing” signs we saw every few minutes. I thought a lot about that. 

I did see one sign on a tree that just said “love”, which stood out in its contrast to everything else. Another tree held a sign that said “for sale”. I assume, of course, that whoever hung it meant to indicate the land, but I like to think it was just an absurdly desirable tree, and I imagined calling to make a deadpan inquiry about it.

We are staying tonight at Panhandle Campground, a National Forest campground on the Pend-Oreille River. It’s lovely and quiet. I can hear crickets and frogs. Tomorrow we’ll leave Washington and enter Idaho. We have a warmshowers host set up for tomorrow night in Sandpoint.