9 July 2007

A bit of a later start than I figured or wanted, but not too bad. Headed east through the Cascades, but the beauty was tempered by fear of deer. I saw a couple, and slowed for one who went bounding up an almost vertical rock/sand face. I'd been thinking I was fairly safe when the side of the road looked like that, but perhaps not--although maybe they aren't as likely to come down something like that as to use it to escape upwards.

The other downside to US 20 is the low speed limit. I didn't see any enforcement, but it's hard to make good time on a road that interesting, anyway. And most of the traffic was loathe to do any more than 5 over, even when the road opened up. So I kept it under 10 over, except when passing--which I did often.

The day started out chilly, to the point where I kept my jacket all the way zipped. It still rides up due to wind swirl--I'm going to have to sew on the other half of the zipper (that came with the pants) to keep it down.

When I stopped for gas, the pump wouldn't read my card, and after I waited in line to give it to the teller, she said "Oh, no ... you just go ahead and pump, and pay when you're done." So I did.

I stopped for some road construction east of Republic. The flag lady said "10 minutes" and it was, almost exactly. I was legitimately first in line (I'd passed an asphalt truck a mile earlier, who now passed me, delivering his load.), so when the pilot truck pulled over, I didn't have anybody in front of me - but the pavement was grooved in preparation for the repaving, and it was disconcerting riding over it, especially around curves. Eventually, though, I got more comfortable, and it seemed faster was better (except I was still tentative in the curves). That went on for about 12 miles, and it was a relief to get back on firm pavement.

As the day wore on, I was thinking that Idaho was in the Mountain time zone, and that would give me an excuse to stop earlier. But no, when I finally saw a clock, it still had the same time as I did. Sandpoint would have been a good stopping point, too; I saw plenty of motels. Oh, well, see what's next. Bonners Ferry had some, according to the GPS data--but none had any vacancies! So I got gas (at another pump that didn't like my card) and pushed on. The gas attendant said there was a motel in Troy, and when I got close, the GPS agreed. So I stopped and got his last room ($45) and drove back to the grocery store for victuals ($14).

States: Washington, Idaho, Montana
470 GPS miles (1993 total), 54.7 moving average, 83.1 max.
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