October 14, 2011
Return to Mullan, Idaho
On a bicycle tour all ones senses are amplified. Food, or course, never tasted so good or was so eagerly sought after. Cold, heat, exhaustion, exhiliration are keenly felt. And otherwise ordinary people can seem extraordinary when they are able to offer you shelter, directions, or even just encouragement.
In the summer, by the time we reached Mullan, Idaho we had already experienced most of the sensations that riding has to offer. We had been rained on, collapsed (repeatedly) by the trailside, been lost, suffered mechanical failure. We had also run in to some wonderful people, and ridden by hills and lakes and on paths that were a delight.
But in Mullan we ran into the Johansens. There at the snowy mid point of the slope to the Lookout Pass, they fed us, put us up in a studio, brought us wood for the stove, and guided us around the area. Nancy, Harley, and son Peder live in a large brick building that had housed various businesses in the past. There Nancy and Peder produce woven rugs in the Nordic style.
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Harley teaches and does research into adaptation to climate change in development planning in high latitude municipalities in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, among other topics.
I passed back through Mullan in the van and stopped by unannounced to visit Nancy and Peder. Despite there now being no cycle ride and no snow, I found them as wonderful as before - a gratifying thing. Fresh coffee and scones, and the warmest possible welcome.
Peder displayed for the photo the magical hands that had comforted Dodie as we clung to the mountainside.
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Have a look here http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?page_id=190257 for what our situation looked like in May.
Nancy. listening to the Bike Friday tale, pulled out a folding bike (one of two) that her father had bought in 1962.
Nancy updated me on local politics, and described their summer trip through Scandinavia. I heard about her attendance at a meeting of the board of the Trail of the Coeur D'Alenes - where she recounted our trip, and some of the concerns we had had along the trail (e.g. poor signage about camping, and no clear link to the trail over the Pass). And she leant me a copy of this guide book to the Trail:
Too soon I had to leave, but they made me promise to come back, with Dodie. I think actually that the wonderful people we encounter on the trail would be wonderful in any circumstance. The chance to meet such people is one of the best parts of cycle touring.
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