Date: 9/12/2019
Miles: 420
It was a long day today. We left Kalispell, MT for our next destination – Mount Hood. The beginning was quite chilly and there was a lot of fog. Apparently, there were a few lakes we rode by and the fog was lifting off the lakes and making the visibility quite poor. My visor kept fogging up because of the cold weather at first. But once we started hitting all of the fog, my visor started collecting moisture and it made it quite difficult to see. So, I opened my visor and didn’t get too far. The moisture started accumulating on my helmet making hit really hard to see. I am not sure what it was, but I think we kicked up a Bald Eagle that was just off the rode. Then I had to pull over. It was funny because I was quite cold and did not want to stop until we put some miles in.
We stopped quick so I could clean my visor and while we were stopped I put on my winter riding gloves and rain pants to warm up. The rain pants help a lot to block the wind. We continued on and it finally cleared up and we were out of the fog. Then, we came around a bend and hit some road work. There was a 10 minute wait because they tore up the road and had to water it down before allowing traffic through. While waiting it was funny, we were watching some folks stretch the whole time, but maybe you had to be there.
Once they opened up the road, we headed through the construction zone, and the bikes got muddy again! It was really rough in some spots too! It was nice once it was over until we had to follow some construction vehicles that were sand blasting us! It wasn’t really that bad, it was just annoying!
From there we continued into Libby, which must be known for fishing. There was the Kootenai River that U.S. Route 2 parallels. This was a nice ride along the river. There were some really beautiful lookout points of the river. The river was so blue, it was really neat to look at while riding. Nothing is blue in the northeast, it all seems brownish. So it was really nice to see the color of the water. It was just so gorgeous.
We continued on the same road heading northwest where we crossed into Idaho and made it as far north as Moyie Springs, Idaho. Moyie Springs is about 30 miles from the Canadian border. We didn’t head any further north though because we were trying to fit in some last minute stops before reaching Seattle. From Moyie Springs, we headed southwest on the same U.S. route and stopped for gas and I had to use the restroom. Inside the gas station, there was a little cafe. So, we decided to grab a bite to eat there for lunch as well. The food was actually delicious! It was the first time any of us went to a gas station that also had a little restaurant inside it.
After we ate we got rid of some of our colder gear we had on from earlier in the day. It was getting much warmer now that we were on our way out of the Rocky Mountains. We headed a little further southwest and stopped in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho where we decided to think about where we were going to end up for the night and what roads to take. This was a little city about 30 miles east of Spokane, Washington. From there we headed southwest and crossed into Washington where the scenery slowly changed, and the temperature got much warmer.
We entered what seemed to be endless amounts of golden, rolling wheat fields. It was quite unique. The three of us couldn’t get over how much wheat there was. Not only was there a lot of wheat, but I never would have guessed Washington grew wheat. Afterwards we looked it up and Washington is in the top five for wheat producing states in the country. It was truly something to see. It was a lot different than all the miles of corn we went through because it’s hard to see above the tall corn. The wheat had a natural soft look to it. It’s almost surreal too to think about the amount of time farmers must take to harvest all of their crops. There is just so much land!
We continued on and rode through some really small towns and just appreciated the scenery. The sun was starting to set and we rode to the top of a hill where you could see nothing but wheat fields. So, we stopped and took a bunch of photos. It was just beautiful! We were in awe that there is so much undeveloped land. It was really nice to take it all in!From there, we finished the last leg until we reached our Super 8 in Kennewick, Washington. We saw so much. It was great to see the geography slowly change from the green Rocky Mountains into the golden wheat fields. Personally, that’s one of the best reasons for traveling America via land. It truly is amazing!
Adventures of Matty Q 