Day 6

What a difference a day makes. Today was just a great day riding. Breakfast was delayed until 7 am, but we were served up quickly and on the Centennial Trail out of Spokane by 7:30.

It wasn't long until we were on Hwy. 2 headed for Sandpoint. The temperature warmed up to the low 70's and we even had a little tailwind. We quickly passed through the little towns of Chatteroy, Riverside, and eventually, Newport. Newport is right on the Washington/Idaho border.

We hit Newport just in time for their annual rodeo parade. I grabbed a root beer float at a real soda shop, donned my clown nose and the Grand Marshall invited me to walk awhile in the parade. I already was wearing my helmet horns so I'm sure I just looked like a biker rube from Seattle, but the people on the side of the road had a good laugh. I walked awhile with the bagpipers and then went back to finish my root beer float.

Mike, Noel and I left Newport when the parade was about half finished. Many riders stayed for the whole thing. We took pictures at the Idaho border and then took off for Sandpoint. There was only one pit stop over the next 28 miles and we were first at Sandpoint Highschool by 1:30 (see truck unloading in previous posts). We covered the 76 miles at an average speed of 15.2 mph.

I found out that I can't charge my camera battery by just plugging it in. I have to remove the battery and put it in the charger. However, I didn't bring the charger with me. My buddy Tony and my son Dana are visiting me in two days at Missoula.