The road provides, but Jesus saves

June 10, 2023

Today I finished riding the trail of the Coeur d’Alene. It ended in Mullen. Again I got a little wet as the rain came and went. This part of the trail is not as scenic as previous parts as there really are no lakes or marshes. The town of Wallace is kind of neat. Old West style. I don’t know if this came about organically or if it’s been transposed for the tourist industry, but it’s a pretty neat little town. The trail here actually goes under route I 90 for perhaps a quarter of a mile. To the right of the trail heading east is the river which separates the trail from the town.

This whole valley at one time was incredibly built up and populated due to the mining. The elements extracted and smelted here included copper, zinc, gold, silver, and lead. Almost all of the buildings that supported the mining industry are gone and have been replaced by tourist interests. I spent some time at the mining museum in Kellogg. Actually I spent way too much time there. The man at the front desk was incredibly knowledgeable about the history of the place and mining. He apparently was a mineralogist that worked for one of the mining companies before retirement. One of the amazing things is that there is no strip mining here. All the mines are underground. He said that currently the deepest mine is 9000 feet deep and still being worked!!! There are great piles of mining tailings to be found everywhere and at first it looked just like the strip mines I’ve seen in Virginia and West Virginia. If you’re traveling through this part of the trail by bike and need water , I would recommend not drinking out of any of the streams. I would imagine there’s a fair amount of leeched heavy metals in the streams not to mention maybe some radioactivity. Walmart took advantage of this sort of cheap real estate and built a Walmart nearby. Makes me wonder if maybe the floor of the place is not somewhat radioactive. So the customers happily light up when they enter? Blue light special!!! Oh, I’m sorry that’s Kmart.

I only had 30 miles to get from my last nights campsite to the end of the paved trail at Mullen. At that point I had to decide whether I was going to ride on my original route, which would take me on dirt and gravel roads, be muddy from recent rains, and have a ton of climbing; or use I90. Yesterday I talked to a Frenchman who had used I 90 the previous day and said that he felt very safe. Other than the noise I had no qualms about using the highway. So I took to I90 on a bicycle. A first for me and illegal in most states. From Mullen to Lookout Pass must be at least a 3500 foot climb if not more. The highway has a seven or 8 foot shoulder which is concrete with rumble strips along the fog line. Next to the shoulder is a larger asphalt shoulder perhaps 12 to 15 feet wide. So I felt quite safe and everyone gave me plenty of room. Problem was that the climb from Mullen to the top of Lookout Pass is at least 6 miles long with grades from 5 1/2 to nearly 8%. I walked quite a bit. Due to the rains we’ve had in the past few days humidity was up and I was drenched in sweat.

A trucker stopped as he said God laid it on his heart to try to help me. He tried to give me money, but what I said I really needed was a ride. There was no place on his truck to put my bike and he apologized. I thanked him, and we both moved on.

For those of you who are following my ride using Garmin/Garmin Xpress you may have noticed a really odd occurrence after I reached the top of Lookout Pass. There is a odd gravitational and geographical occurrence, which happens along the border of Idaho and Montana. I believe this is why the border is where it is. For some reason, gravity and the magnetic fields of the earth in this area act in unison to speed up any vehicle traveling from Idaho to Montana. You may have noticed that my average speed went from around 4 miles an hour to about 60. This was quite amazing to me, although a little nerve-racking , because after Lookout Pass, the downhill lasts for miles and miles.

OK, OK! I lied. When I got to the top of Lookout Pass and rode/walked From Idaho to Montana, a second trucker had stopped. This gentleman‘s name was Jesus, as alluded to in the title. He spoke almost no English and I speak almost no Spanish. But he offered me a ride, and the two of us managed to get my heavy bike up onto his trailer and lashed down with the heaviest nylon ratchet straps I’ve ever used. He threw my bags in the back of his cab and we proceeded downhill. He had an English to Spanish/Spanish to English app on his phone and that’s what we used to communicate on our 2+ hour drive to Missoula. He drove me all the way to Missoula, well, almost. I’m just outside of Missouri now. After dropping me off at the truckstop, he was taking a shower and heading back on the road on his way to Butte, Montana and then to Denver Colorado. His load was wrapped in plastic, but it looked like it was probably wood or perhaps steal. In any event, it was very heavy and traveling up and down those hills seemed to strain the truck a bit. My first eighteen wheeler ride!!!! Loved it. This was his first time in the area as was mine. We were both amazed at the scenery. .

I don’t know what the big attraction is for Missoula Montana but the place is downright expensive. The cheapest motel I could find was $180. And that was for a motel 6. Heaven knows what the motel 7,8, or 9 costs. Anyway, tomorrow’s Sunday and I will start my first Adventure Cycling Route. The weatherman promised rain for the next two or three days and I can’t wait.

Let’s see if these pics load. Service has been terrible with the exception of the night I spent at the Seventh Day Adventist academy. I had a strong 5 g there and watched three episodes of Cheers on my phone

Jesus took the wheel.

Shrek is not goin anywhere.

Today's ride: 102 miles (164 km)
Total: 524 miles (843 km)

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