On the Road Again

So I managed to drag myself away this morning, and continue on highway 2. I soft pedalled all day and took frequent breaks. The views are spectacular and the weather is lovely (excepting the wind, of course.)

Near Sandpoint, ID, a local cyclist rode up beside me and gave me a bunch of tips, and suggested amending my route, taking 200 east and then 56 north in Montana to meet up with 2 again. He has ridden that way himself, and it is lovely and there are a lot of good places to camp. Alright, sold. The distances look to be about equal. He also suggests an RV park in Sandpoint to camp at for the night. I can't find it. I ask another cyclist, this one younger and more granola, about camping, and he suggests a possibly legal spot out in the woods a few miles out of town, that is free and without amenities. It's not too far off the main road. It is a bit farther than I was going to let myself travel today, but it is still early, my knee doesn't hurt, it is mostly downhill, and my sense of adventure is piqued. I go for it. For a guy who seems so... "mellow" and "groovy," he gives stunningly specific directions, and I find the spot easily. A woman who lives nearby tells me that it is a wildlife preserve, and camping is allowed here, but it's just not advertised because they don't want too many campers.

In the process of pushing my bike along an extremely narrow footpath, trying my best not to cause damage, I somehow lose one of the bolts holding my front rack in place. Once I find a place to camp, I rig it up with a shoelace, and hope it holds until the next hardware store. I thought I had some spare bolts, but I guess not. It is beautiful here, right on the edge of a lake, no one around, and enough wildlife that I finally have to tie up my food. (Don't worry, Mom, help is not too far, if I need it. My phone works and I can hear a dog barking. And I have my bear mace.)

The ad, as promised: The Priest River Recreation Area, AKA "The Mudhole," is the place to be for bicycle campers. It is located just east of the town of Priest River, ID. (The town's grocery store, Mitchell's Harvest Foods, has a really good selection for a town this size.) Apparently, they used to get a lot of bicycle campers here, riding across the country, and would put them in a regular car camping site and charge the regular fee of $15, but neither the campers nor the park staff were satisfied with this arrangement. They came up with the idea of building some smaller campsites for cyclists, and the Boy Scouts took it on as a volunteer project. What they built were five small sites-- each with its own tent site, picnic table, grill, and post to lock your bike to-- nestled in amongst some trees and bushes, and clustered around a central fire pit, water tap, and the best part: a bicycle work station. Yup, it's a rack thingy that you can hang your bike from while you do whatever needs doing. They thought of everything! And the price: a scant $3 per night! The park attendants are a sweet couple, and I was able to pick up my complimentary maps of Idaho and Montana in the office. The bathrooms are clean and well-maintained, with showers that give FIVE full minutes of hot water for a quarter. What luxury! And after the five minutes are up, cold water will continue to trickle until you shut it off, so if you just need to rinse off that last sud, you are covered. Can you tell I love this place? There is a sign by the money hole that says you may insert up to fifteen quarters. You know, in case you need a SEVENTY-FIVE MINUTE shower. It is a typical family campground, however, so there is a fair amount of noise on the weekend-- children, dogs, cars-- but it dies down shortly after dark. Once the holiday weekend ended, this place cleared out. If you ever plan to camp here, be sure to bring bug spray! It isn't called the mudhole for nothing.