|
|
|
||||||||
 |
||||||
|
Update 31 - 8/21/01
|
||||||
|
We are in Ephrata, Washington, visiting our daughter and granddaughters.
We have again added a few interested (and interesting) folks to our list. Welcome aboard and we hope you enjoy following our tour.
Our schedule is to spend a few days visiting here and then follow the Columbia River home to Vancouver, Washington. We will be coming into the Portland/Vancouver area on Saturday, September 1st. The Vancouver Bicycle Club has scheduled a special ride to welcome us back to town. If you are interested in joining in, email us and we will put you in touch with the club to get the route and time.
We left Glacier National Park and rode into Whitefish, Montana, where we spent an extra day getting new tires and doing some maintenance on our gear and bike. While at the local bike shop we met Sebastian and Lyneke who are from New Zealand. They are riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike route. We drooled as they told us some of their adventures, and started thinking of getting the ATB model da Vinci and heading to southern New Mexico for another great adventure. They also told us about some of the really great riding in New Zealand - another trip plan started to form.....So many roads...so little time.
West of Whitefish we stopped to chat with Jim, who was cycling to Whitefish. We have recently learned that he is currently riding south on the Great Divide Route. Tailwinds, Jim - we wish we were riding along!
In Eureka, Montana we visited the Tobacco Road Museum where several old structures from the region have been preserved.
The next day we traveled along the shore of Koocanusa Lake for about 40 miles. This is a beautiful and relatively undiscovered area that was created when Libby Dam was constructed in the 1970s. The road climbs and dives along the shore of the lake, reminding us of the Big Sur in California. Although the net result of the day's riding was a 600 foot descent, we total nearly 7000 feet of climbing!
At Libby Dam we stopped at the Visitor's Center where we learned some of the Northwest Governors were meeting to discuss regional water and power issues. The meeting was scheduled to go on for several more hours, so we decided to continue on. They will have to wait for another chance to meet us.
Reaching Sandpoint, Idaho we learned that several large forest fires are burning in Washington. We knew something was going on as the air looked like we were in southern California. This is not affecting our route or schedule at this time, but looks like it would have been a problem if we had tried to go through the North Cascades as originally planned. Rain is forecast for later this week, hopefully it will help put some of the fires out.
George and Sharon Miner
Vancouver Bicycle Club, Vancouver, Washington
2000 da Vinci Global Venture towing Bob Trailer
Free as the Wind - Our one year self-supported tandem tour of the USA, Mexico and Canada
This email is intended solely for the personal use of the addressees. No reproduction rebroadcast, or other use is allowed without the expressed written permission of the authors.
|
||||||
| page created with Easy Designer |