June 14, 2021
Riding with new friends
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We started the day running a couple of errands. We needed another fuel container for our stove and rolls of quarters. We need quarters because when we do our laundry all the machines take quarters. Whenever we do laundry we have to scramble around getting quarters. So I went to the two different banks to get $10 of quarters from each.
We have a breakfast date at the cafe across the street from our hotel. We had plans to meet Rachel and Patrick for breakfast. We showed up and along with Rachel and Patrick was Robert and Cindy. Cindy is a long time bicycle tourer who hosted Robert the night before. Robert is riding solo the northern tier to Maine. Robert is a pharmacist from Virginia. We had an excellent breakfast and made plans to stay at the same campgrounds for a couple of nights.
After breakfast Cindy guided the group out of Sandpoint on a very nice bike trail. Near the end of the trail we broke off from the group to stop at a grocery store and get some supplies for the night. The rest of the group kept on going. After stocking up on supplies we started our riding for the day. It was a beautiful day with very sunny skys and temperatures in the 80’s. We followed Pend Oreille again. We have been following this river for 3 days now and I must say this a very beautiful river and has been very enjoyable riding next to it. The road was pretty busy and the shoulder was not very wide. Our ride was pretty short today so in no time we were entering the small town of Hope. The Sam Owen campground is on a peninsula in the river. The entire group is at one site, 4 tents on the one large site.
We had a great evening visiting with everyone. It was fun getting to know each other and sharing stories. Robert, Rachel and Patrick are all very seasoned at bicycling touring and have lots of great stories. We also share tips and tricks around touring and route plans. A little background on our new friends. A couple of years ago Robert conquered prostrate cancer. After dealing with cancer, life took on a new meaning and living each day became a priority. He is fulfilling a life long dream with this trip. He is also raising awareness and funds to beat prostrate cancer. His web site is: https://support.zerocancer.org/site/TR/TeamZERO/TeamZERO17?px=1775530&pg=personal&fr_id=2350. Robert is an amazing and inspiring person and we admire him greatly for beating cancer and taking on this trip.
Rachel and Patrick are rock stars in the bike touring community. They have spent a lifetime bike touring extensively. The have toured around the world 2+ times, have visited 62 countries with 10 countries visited twice. They have toured every continent, many both east - west and north - south. They are an amazing couple and we have learned so much from them in the day or so we have been talking and riding with them.
Tomorrow we have a 45 mile day planned and will be all camping together.
Today's ride: 22 miles (35 km)
Total: 558 miles (898 km)
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