And I was on the road early! I was up at 4:45 and pedaling out of the KOA at 6:15. I rode through dead quiet Kamiah (take a gander at how Kamiah is pronounced--looks like "Kuh my uh" right? Nope, it's "Kam me eye").
With the exception of a dog who decided to come out barking (I yelled my ferocious, "Knock it off!"--it worked), Hwy 12 was peaceful at that time of the morning.
No cars, no trucks, no grain trucks. Just a quiet ride along the Clearwater in the morning.
Whoa, but then the traffic picked up. Yep, there was at least one car every half mile! Sometimes there were two in a row! Boy, was that scary! And sometimes the shoulder was only about two feet wide! Okay, as evidenced by the photo above, there were sections of not much shoulder. But, there weren't any cars! But, you say, what about later? Yes, the traffic did pick up, but there was more shoulder then (or periods of 4 lanes).
Think that's enough shoulder?
Also, there were hardly any trucks. Of course, it helps that it is Saturday. I didn't see a single grain truck (why do I keep mentioning the grain trucks? Because the ACA map said there would be a lot of them on Hwy 12.).
Anyway, I made it off of Hwy 12 by 11:00. Now I was off the ACA route, and doing my own thing to get to Spokane. I took Hwy 3 to Juliaetta. I was hoping to camp somewhere there as I had gone 62 miles. There was a nice city park, but no one to ask. I was just going to stay there anyway, but the gal at the store said there was an RV Park in Kendrick. At first I thought, no I don't want to ride anymore. But then I looked at the map and saw Kendrick was only 4 miles further. I took a break at the park in Juliaetta, then rode the rest of the way to Kendrick. Actually, it was quite awesome because there is this bike path that goes all the way from Juliaetta to Kendrick.
It's called the Ed Corkle Memorial River Trail. All told, it runs 5.3 miles. I got off the trail and went back out to the road as I came into Kendrick because I needed to find the RV park, and I figured it probably wouldn't be on the bike trail. I was wrong. It is right next to the trail. The RV park is kind of strange. It's just a handful of sites that are self-pay. The only two RVs that are here are clearly long term.
There are flush toilets (no showers) and running water. And, about 5 million lady bugs! Also, I was sitting in my chair in the shade when a hummingbird flew to Mama Cass' tail light, thinking it was a flower. Then it landed and sat on the fender! I didn't have my camera (dang it!).
I was relaxing in my chair when a van pulled up pulling a long Airstream-like trailer. They stopped and a whole bunch of kids got out of the van. I counted 7, but then mom got out with the baby, so 8 kids. The oldest looks to be about 10. Mom and dad are Kristin and Zack. I don't know all the kids names. They drove off to pick berries, but they'll be back, they said. Could be a fun night here in this strange little RV park!
Oh, and I found the grain trucks! They drive by my campsite with regularity (headed to the grain elevator at the end of the road).
There goes another one!
Total miles today: 69.5
Average speed: 11.45
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