today was a much needed day off! I got laundry done, had my bike checked out by Trek Bike store who did a superb job changing a bearing and getting a new chain.
We did walk on the longest floating dock in the US, took a hike on Tubbs hill which is a peninsula that overlooks Coeur D’Alene Lake and take a weaving ride around half of the lake. It was a very nice relaxing day!
June 17 Northern Tier- 77 miles Davenport , Wa- Coulee City, Idaho- today was a long day- lots of wind 20 mph not in our favor, But getting into Spokane was beautiful ! We got on the Centennial Trail Bike trail through woods rivers into the city of Spokane. In town they have great parks along the water with a carousel and a Big Radio Flyer slide for kids. We continued on the trail into Idaho! And then down the road to our hotel where we met Wayne Anderson who patiently had been waiting for us. He brought us to his beautiful home and his wife Cheryl had made us a delicious lasagna dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert! What a great way to end the day. Thanks!
Today we left early as the wind was supposed to be right at us and it was! Oh well, the morning was lovely with a nice blue sky and interesting clouds. By 10 am however some rain came in and I didn’t have rain gear, but we only had a few miles to a restaurant and our van driver with our stuff happen to stop by! Hallelujah ! I got my raincoat and long pants and felt so much better. The wind was behind us for most of the way in except for the last 5 miles! We are in a small town and lots of stores are closed and we are lucky there is a hotel and a Safeway where we will probably pick up something for breakfast. 
Written by guest writer rider blogger X
Breakfast at the Riverwalk Inn in Leavenworth, WA, where we stayed the night. Bacon egg and cheese bagel with a spicy siracha sauce.
A brief stop at Wal Mart for an iPhone charging cord.
Back on the route and headed up our longest steepest climb of the trip so far.
Beautiful weather and scenery.
After climb landscape begins to change into high plateaus and we see acres and acres of wheat fields.
We also saw acres of harvested wheat fields being amended with loads of manure.
There were huge rocks that appeared to have randomly dropped from the sky. We found out that they were left from the glaciers.
Saw antelope.
Stopped at a grocery in Mansfield and got some drinks and snacks to supplement our PBJ’s then several of us gathered at the nice park around the corner for lunch.
Back on the road with about 20 miles of rolling hills to ride before we reach our home for the night in Cooley City.
On our way into town we stopped at Big Wally’s for a scoop of ice cream.
Our place for the night, Banks Lake Lodge, is an old motel/cabin type affair that has been slightly renovated.
Today was a 10! We woke up today with a beautiful view of the mountains surrounding the city. The Sky was fresh, clear blue sky and wind at our back. We road past beautiful landscapes of cherry and pear trees. We followed the Columbia River to the River Bend Dam where we took a self guided tour. The tour has quite the salmon ladder to help the salmon go around the dam. We had quite a tall hill with a tunnel at the top where there is a button you push before you enter to let cars know you are in the tunnel. They are supposed to slow down- notice I said supposed to! Well I took my front bright white headlight off and held it facing back and waved it so cars could see. It worked but I think I blinded Mark who was behind me.
We had a wonderful reward for all our climbing. Going down the hill we passed beautiful vineyards and had a great view of the lake and distant mountains. It was breathtaking.
Today was a day of water.
It started out early in the morning when I got a text from Mark telling me the weather looked favorable right now to Bike and miss the rain that was headed our way. I concurred and we headed out around 6ish.
The sky was just beautiful and I decided to take some photos from the train tracks. I took pics from a lot of different angles and some panoramic whe I hear a very loud blast of a train that was coming up behind me! After my heart attack and jumping off the tracks I took a video as the train passed me by safely! Phew!
Anyway, we proceeded out of town out past beautiful mountains that had the first glow of light on them – just gorgeous! We reached Deception falls which is a series of waterfalls when it started to rain a bit. After exploring the trail and back on our bikes the rain had stopped. Our next stop was by an old Northern Express RR caboose. This railroad linked Minneapolis to Seattle in the 1800’s. It was quite a feat as the carved out a 7 mile tunnel into the mountain for the train to go through
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Once again we started back up the 16 mile climb to the Skykomish Ski Resort where there was still some patches of snow. We then headed out down the mountain. Well I guess the rule of thumb for going up a hill is to dress down and when going down a hill you dress up. Well that is very true since we were quite warm climbing it was freezing for the advent. Fortunately I had extra layers to put on.
We made it down the mountain as we followed the raging Skykomish river.
We had lunch at Diner 57 and then I h realized I had my first flat- darn wire from steel belt tire. Oh well always good to have a flat when you are at a place to change it. Once fixed we continued down to the Alps of Leavenworth and it was nice and sunny.
We are staying at Howard Johnson, had dinner at a German restaurant and listened to music at Brewery. Nice group they sang Red Molly to me but changed to words to Red Robyn.
Fun day !
Today we left Sultan and headed down the road to McDonalds for an egg McMuffin, one of my favorites. Thank goodness I got my protein because after we went through the town called Startup, we started up a very high hill into the mountains! It was lovely along the way which I did see a lot of since I was going so slow. We did have a fun downhill and came across a river where we met a bunch of Climbers who scale the granite cliffs in Index, Wa. I guess these cliffs are known nationwide for their special granite and great climbing.
Further down the road in Index we stopped at the Adventure company who had a group of rafters heading out to ride the river and film their adventure for advertising. We met the owner, Kathy of the company and she and her husband are restoring the old Bush hotel and turning it into a place for events and weddings.
After Index we headed up again surrounded by cliffs and Snow capped mountains. Very beautiful ! We arrived in Skykomish in the early afternoon and enjoyed our lunch at a picnic area by the river. We toured the small town after lunch. The Pacific Crest Trail runs 16 miles away from the town but hiker angels” who are volunteers drive 
the hikers to the town for food and a good nights sleep in the hotel. There is also 2 train tracks right through town and across from our hotel. I think I should wear ear plugs to bed.. oh well !
Northern Tier June 11- Bellevue to Sultan 35 miles- we left Bellevue with blue skies and temps in high 50’s. Great trail riding and we tested our legs with the steep hills at 17% grade and steep downhill ending with a stop sign! Believe it or not I can ride my bike at 2mph uphill at the steep grade without falling over!
Lots of big trucks but fortunately we had a breakdown lane to ride in. Sultan is a small town with Mountains surrounding it.
Arrived in Seattle and toured the city with a Free Walking Tour called Seattle 101. Great tour by Jake. Took us to secrets places in the city that people walk by every day and do not know they exist. Special parks, memorial to Fire in Seattle, Indian Chief Seattle, old warehouses, special restaurants. It was quite an informative and fun tour.
Later that day Mark and I visited my friend, Gretchen’s niece , Christen and her husband Jeremy and their dog Bella, who lives in Bellevue. Spent a nice afternoon with them .
That evening we met our group of 22 who we will be riding with. A fun group. Almost everyone has done long distance rides and it is their 3 it 4 or even more times across the United States. We have 4 people from England. About half the group have ridden with Rick Gallo our leader before.
Looking forward to a fun ride.
Northern Tier Day 1- June 10- today was an informal ride into Seattle , but it was also my birthday and it was supposed to rain in the later morning, so we opted to go to Blazing Bagels for breakfast- and they were “blazingly delicious! I had the Chevy egg sandwich- Yum. Then we headed off to Seattle to Kerry Park and Queen Anne’s lookout for a spectacular iconic view of the Space Needle and the city. We then headed to Discovery Park for a hike along the cliffs overviewing the Olympic Peninsula. We did have one thunderous lightening strike and a bit of rain but we were under the tall tress, so no need to fret ! We then Head to the Owl N Thistle Irish Bar for a fabulous fish and Chips dinner followed by listening to the Edmunds Community School Jazz Club playing at Tulas . The group was followed by a professional group who were quite amazing!
