Vault Toilets Can Make Good Kitchens

Here's a few photos from yesterday after I had posted the blog. We went to see the animals.

The stallion, Ace--he's a little "mouthy".

Annette and Kim with Betty the sheep. She is 11 years old. Pretty old for a sheep!

Tucker the cat. Quite the hunter he is!

Later we met Kim's husband, Don, son Tevis, and Tevis' girlfriend, April. We had a great time talking with all of them. What a wonderful family! This morning Kim brought out coffee to Annette as we were fixing our breakfast. 

We said our goodbyes, and rolled out around 8:30--our earliest departure so far! We weren't exactly sure how far we would go today, but one thing we did know, we were stopping at the Blue Heron Cafe for 2nd breakfast. It was about 10 miles down the road. Three different people had told us this cafe was great, so we had to have 2nd breakfast there! They were right! Not only was the food good, but it was fast, and the view out the window was pretty nice too.

I did actually see a couple of herons down by the water.

Back on the road, we were riding along when I saw two trains meeting head on. Of course they were on separate tracks.

Managed to whip out my camera fast enough to get this shot.

We went through Elmira (the Oakridge Boys' song Elvira was playing in my head). There wasn't much of a town, at least near the highway. Next up was Naples. The only significance of Naples was that we were able to get off the hwy for awhile on Deep Creek Rd.

Deep Creek was really nice. Hardly any traffic, and we didn't climb as much as the hwy did. I did have an interesting, could have been disastrous, encounter. I was riding along, strangely, ahead of Annette (usually I'm behind her) when I saw something scuttling along the side of the road. It was black, with a white stripe on its back. YIKES, a skunk!!! As it turned its butt toward me and lifted its tail, I veared way over to the other side of the road. Fortunately, it didn't spray. Continuing along the road, I saw two more skunks! I just rode on the opposite side of the road for awhile. No, I didn't stop to take pictures of them!

Mostly farms.

A very nice valley.

Eventually, we rejoined the hwy just a mile or so from Bonners Ferry. We stopped for some groceries, and lo and behold, there was a Subway right next door! We decided we would have lunch there today. So, I can check off the Bonners Ferry Subway! We also talked to a young man named Shane who was interested in doing some touring.

The road out of Bonners Ferry involved a rather long climb after crossing the Kootenai River. That was our longest climb of the day. We didn't really get the reward of the downhill, as we seemed to just come up to a plateau. 

While we were eating lunch in Bonners, we were looking at the map and decided we would go as far as Brush Lake USFS campground. It was, we thought, about 12 miles from Bonners. That would give us about 45 miles or so for the day. Well, we got to where the route turns to head to the US/Canadian border without seeing the sign for the campground. According to the route guide, it should have been before the turn. We decided we would continue on. We thought, maybe we would get lucky like yesterday. We stopped at a nice looking place, but no one was home. I did, however, get some water from their hose. Then we stopped at another nice place (the yard even had a picnic table). The lady came to the door. I asked if we could maybe pitch our tents in her yard. She kind of hemmed and hawed, so I told her she could say no. She said no because she was worried her cat would spray on our tents. Really, I think she was just nervous. That's okay. She did tell us (when I asked) that there was camping at Porthill (the border). At least, she thought there was. 

From the road to Porthill.

We had just another 4 miles to Porthill. A lot of it was downhill too. About a mile away, it started to rain. We stopped and just put on our rain jackets. We got to Porthill and found the place the lady had told us about. I went into the bar to inquire about camping. The guy showed me where we could camp (down by the lake). He said he also had rooms, but it turns out they are $130/night. No thank you! Besides, the camping area has a vault toilet and a picnic table! What more could we want??? Well, sun would be nice, but you can't have everything!

We got our tents set up quickly as it was staring to rain again. Then the rain quit. The campsite is right next to a little airport. Sure enough, a plane wheeled by on its way to the runway.

Have a nice flight!

The wind really started to pick up. I told Annette we had three choices for dinner. One, we could go to the bar and have food there (the guy was pushing for that too). Two, we could just have a cold dinner of tortillas, cheese, avocado...or, three, we could go cook our dinner in the shelter of the vault toilet (there was very little wind there). I was okay with either of the three options. Annette decided on cooking. So, we set up our "kitchen" just outside the door. Fortunately, it seems that vault toilet doesn't get used much. There was no smell. It was quite handy, actually, as we had a trash can right there too! After 58 miles, couscous with zucchini, and mushrooms along with cheese quesadillas was delicious--even though we cooked and ate it in a vault toilet!

SCORE!

A perfect day all around! We said goodbye to our new friends, Pete and Karen, this morning. We were both going to Sandpoint, but they were following the Adventure Cycling Northern Tier, which went along the other side of the Pend Oreille (note corrected spelling) to Sandpoint. We were following the Selkirk Loop which stayed on US 2. I took this photo just before they took off.

Very nice couple. I'm glad we met them.

Annette and I took off about 9:00. It was chilly, but after the first hill, I took my leg warmers off. Today's weather was looking to be much nicer. Just across the bridge we finally saw a "Welcome to Idaho" sign.

Otherwise, how would we know if we had crossed the state line???

We next pulled off at Albeni Dam and Falls viewpoint. It was kind of a trick. There used to be falls, but the dam covered them up. So, it was really just Albeni Dam viewpoint. It should be, Albeni Dam, and Damn, No Falls! Across from the dam was were I had originally had us camping. It was good we didn't go there as we would have had to backtrack to Newport to get across the river.

The dam.

We continued riding along the hwy. There was a decent shoulder, but quite a bit of traffic. It made it hard to carry on a conversation because of the noise. But, that was okay. Annette is faster than me what with Tilmann carrying about 20 pounds more, so no conversation anyway. 

Not long after the town of Priest River, we came to Priest River Campground (USACE). We took a gander to see what it was like. It was a very nice campground that even had a swimming beach.

We had a nice conversation with the camp hosts. They were out walking their two blind dogs in strollers.

Back out on the hwy, we were still following the Pend Oreille River. It's a good size river, and really pretty.

At about 1:00, we decided we should pull off for some lunch. We found an unused little side road and fixed some gorditas. I even pulled out my chair. Annette was jealous (no, not really).

We had just a few more miles to Sandpoint. Just outside of the town, I saw a bike path going along the other side of the hwy. We crossed over and got on the path.

It took us all the way into Sandpoint. We needed to get a few groceries, so I checked to see where there was a grocery store. There was a Safeway right on the route. After Safeway, I wanted to find a bike shop to see about getting some chamois cream. I had a whole tube at home, but I didn't think I'd need it. Yes, yes I do! We went to one that was right by Safeway, but it was more of a used bike place. But, the guy directed us to Greasy Fingers (now that's a good name for a bike shop!). We found chamois cream there. We headed out of town, back on US 2. We came to an interchange. It seemed rather dangerous. Then, I spotted a bike path. It was unclear if the path went the direction we needed to go. We saw a guy riding, so we asked him if it would take us in the direction of Bonners Ferry (not that we were going all the way there today). He said to follow him, and he'd show us. It worked out great, and we bypassed all the busy interchange. At one point there was this interesting sign on the bike path.

Off camber bike path!

The bike path soon ended, and we were back on the hwy. Annette saw a tie-dye place, and wanted to go shopping.

I said okay, even though we didn't know how much further we had to go (we didn't know where we were camping as we weren't making it to Bonners Ferry tonight). It was a good stop though, because Annette got a batik "blanket/sheet", and I filled my two 2 liter platypus containers as I wasn't sure if we might be wild camping. Annette got the blanket because she has been getting cold at night. Her sleeping bag is not warm enough, even with using her liner and mine. It has been kind of cold at night. We also asked them if they knew of any camping somewhat nearby. They didn't really know, but told us there is a restaurant about 10 miles up the road, and the people there might know. So, we set off for the restaurant. About 3 miles later I saw this sign.

That definitely looked like a tent and a bicycle! I stopped Annette, and said we should go check it out. We did, and we met Kim. Her husband put the sign out mostly for motorcyclists, but they don't discriminate against cyclists. Kim said we could camp anywhere in the grass. There's water and power, and we can cook on the deck. I asked her what they charge and she said nothing. As we were walking the bikes over to the trees, Annette said, "Score!" Indeed, we did score!

Very nice place with a stable full of horses.

(Correction from yesterday's post--we did not cross the Columbia River at Usk. It was the Pend Oreille.)

Family for the Morning--New Friends for the Afternoon

Yesterday afternoon we made a semi-snap decision to head to Chewelah that evening. Annette had a 5:00 hair appointment, so we had everything loaded into John's truck, went to the appointment, came back to the house, and left shortly thereafter. We stopped in Deer Park for dinner, and arrived at Jenne Memorial park about 8:30. We took photos, and John and Nic took off.

We got our tents set up, played a rousing game of speed (cards), then called it a day. I'll admit I had a hard time getting to sleep. Hwy 395 through Chewelah was just across a little creek from our tents. I could hear the semis from a long way away. This park is basically a city park with a handful of campsites. All sites were $10/ night, so not bad. 

I had set my alarm for 6:45 since John's brother and sister-in-law were coming to ride Flowery Trail with us on their road bikes. I made sure Annette told them we would be slower. I got up and began my usual routine. I thought I heard Annette stirring. I came out of my tent and headed over to the restroom. When I got back, it was about 6:45. Silence was coming from Annette's tent. I quietly called Annette...no answer. I thought maybe she was already up and I missed her in the restroom. I continued packing. Still no Annette. At 7:00, I unzipped her rain fly. She was still fast asleep (she's the one who told me she'd be awake well before 7:00)! That was fine. Rick and Sandy wouldn't be to the park until 9:00.

Rick and Sandy came and got their road bikes ready to ride. As we were getting ready to leave, Rick was going to take a photo, when a couple who were heading out of the park in their car stopped and offered to take a photo of us. They were Annie and Kevein, cyclists who live in Chewelah. 

Our first stop of the morning was less than a mile away at The Bread Box Bakery. I got a cinnamon roll for later and a monster cookie.

We hit the Flowery Trail Rd, and almost immediately started climbing. 

Just around that corner the was the beginning of the 9 mile climb.

I was soon experiencing Gear 1, Tilmann's easiest gear. I was slower than molasses...and everyone else, but it was not terribly difficult. Well, once I was warmed up. 

It was sunny, but not too warm. Perfect climbing weather! Rick and Sandy, on their road bikes, would circle back periodically to Annette and I. We all just kept plugging along, taking breaks when necessary.

Up up we go!

At one point, Annette decided to walk for a short bit. Soon she was back to riding.

As we were getting close to the top, there were some great views.

Almost there!

Finally, we reached the Flowery Trail Pass.

Rick took the summit photo of us gals. That was nice of him!

Rick and Sandy had planned to go another hour with us, but the weather was not looking good for their ride back down to Chewelah. We even heard some thunder. They decided it was best if they went back down as quickly as possible (which would be pretty quickly since it's all downhill!). We said our goodbyes, and they took off.

Rick and Sandy headed back into the blackness! I hope they made it okay.

Annette and I continued on. We were thinking of eating some lunch, but we wanted to get down to a lower elevation where it would be warmer, and we also wanted to stay ahead of the weather if possible. As we started down, we quickly pulled over and put sleeves back on jackets, and I put my leg warmers back on. It was a little chilly descending. After awhile we started feeling raindrops, so we put our rain gear on. It didn't really rain that much, but the rain gear kept us warmer.

We went by 49 Degrees North ski area. I have been there before about 34 years ago. I was in college and my dad's aunt (Naomi), who I barely knew, just one day out of the blue, sent me a check for $1000. So, besides putting most of it in the bank, I used a little to go skiing for the first time with my roommate. 

I'm sure it's much different now.

There were still some sort of rolling hills, and then we had another long downhill. Due to the headwind on the descent, there was no need for braking. Mother Nature was doing that for us. About 5 miles from Usk I stopped to take this photo.

There were a few cattle grates too.

We made it to Usk. For it being such a small town, they had a bakery, so we, of course, stopped. We hadn't had any lunch yet, and they had outdoor picnic tables, so we each got something to go with our lunch of tortillas and peanut butter and Nutella. I was pretty hungry, so it was all delicious!

Boo Boo's Bakery and Cafe.

Boo Boo and us.

After lunch, we crossed the Columbia River.

Then, we turned onto Le Clerc Rd. The gals at the bakery had told us about a natural spring that had water flowing out of a pipe. They told us what to look for, and that it was "9 miles away". 

On Le Clerc we passed a couple that were pulled off on a tandem. They were touring too. We didn't stop, but later when we were taking a break, they pulled up and stopped to talk to us. They were Pete and Karen from New Hampshire. They are on their final summer quest to ride the perimeter of the US. They've done everything else (including Alaska) over the last 3 summers. Now they are riding back to New Hampshire.

Annette and I took off ahead of Pete and Karen. Finally, after 12 miles (not 9), we came to the spring. The water was indeed quite good and we filled our bottles. Pretty soon, our new tandem friends showed up. We told them about the spring. Then we chatted more while admiring each other's bikes. We asked if they were going to Pioneer Park (a USFS campground and couple of miles up the road). They said they were going on into Newport to Old American Kampground. We decided to go there too as it was only a few miles further, and they had showers. We all arrived together and decided to share a site. First the gal said only two tents were allowed per site, but she let us all stay together. And it was a darn good thing too, because the fee is $27.70! Annette and I split half of that making it quite reasonable for us, and helping out Pete and Karen too. 

The showers were great, and there's a kitchen, so we cooked dinner there instead of using fuel. Now I'm writing up this post in the clubhouse and it just finished pouring rain outside. Nice comfy couch in here.

It was a great day, and fun to have Rick and Sandy with us for the long climb in the morning. It was also great to meet Pete and Karen, and make new friends in the afternoon!

Tomorrow we will officially be in Idaho (apparently we were briefly today as we saw this sign coming into Newport over the Pend Orielle River.

Here's one more nice photo from the day.

Post Flight/Reassemble Test Ride

June 15--Today it is sunny, but a bit chilly (about 60 degrees). I suited up, and took Tilmann out for a test ride. This was important for a couple reasons besides just making sure everything was in good shape. First was seeing how Tilmann handled on gravel. The road that John and Annette live on is gravel, as well as their driveway. There driveway is also a steep downhill away from the house. I will admit I was extra cautious going down, but Tilmann did just fine. 

The road from the bottom of their driveway is an immediate, rather steep, long climb. Partly what makes it so steep and long is that I was not even remotely warmed up! I was in Tilmann's easiest gear. Sadly, that was with only the handlebar bag on for weight. Fully loaded would have been...challenging.

Once on the pavement, there were more hills, but not as steep. I went up and over a ridge and down into the next valley. Here's the view.

Annette and I have ridden this way before. When we came to and intersection, we had gone left. I pulled out my phone to see if going right went where I thought it did. Sure enough, it did, so I turned right to continue my loop. I didn't want a necessarily long ride, and I had a vague memory of Annette telling me this particular loop I had in mind was about 13 miles. That was perfect.

I came to my next turn at a road called Wild Rose. It could have also been named Wild Rosercoaster because it was a bit up and down. 

One of the longer and steeper ones (you can't see the bottom of the hill).

I turned on Austin which was more roller coaster hills. That brought me back to Woolard, and back to the gravel road. Coming down the hill to the base of their driveway, I was still pretty cautious. At the bottom, I still had to ride up the driveway. I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to pedal all the way up (it is steeper than the gravel road hill), but by then I was warmed up and managed it just fine.

Although the ride wasn't very long, there was 968 feet of elevation gain. My average was a whopping 9.8, but who cares! Tilmann is ready for our tour!

Tilmann Flys Like a Pro!

Tuesday, June 14th--The shuttle picked me up at 9:45 this morning. I was going to have Tilmann (in his case) and the Chinese Shopping Bag (CSB) already out waiting in the driveway, but it started to rain. They made it as far as the porch. I was the last one to be picked up, and we were a full load. The guy I was sitting next to in the very back told me his entire life story on the way to Seatac. His name Peter, and he was an older gentleman, originally from Germany, but had been in the US for a long time. He lives in LA in a house he bought 40 years ago (you can imagine what it is worth now???). He still had his German accent. He was actually quite fascinating to listen to, and made the boring trip to Seatac very enjoyable. Usually the van can be full, yet no one says a word.

At the departure curb I got a cart (now $5.00!!!) and loaded everything on it. I went in to the Alaska kiosk and printed my baggage tags, then dropped Tilmann and the CSB at Bag Drop. Tilmann weighed in at 44.5 lbs. the CSB came in at 39 lbs. Subtract 8 pounds for the case, add about 25 pounds for the other rear pannier, handlebar bag, and food, and you'll get the total weight I'll be carrying. Yep, about 100 pounds. 

I moseyed my way through security and to my gate, stopping to grab a smoothie for lunch (my flight was at 1:00, but would start boarding at 12:20). Although the flight was mostly full, it was a small plane so it didn't take long for everyone to board. As I was going up the back stairs into the plane, I could see Tilmann's case in the baggage hold. Whew! Tilmann was on board! I didn't think to look for the CSB. 

We took off, and about an hour later, landed in Spokane. I made my way to Baggage Claim, and waited for Tilmann and the CSB. Annette's husband, John, was waiting for me just outside the doors. Tilmann came out of the mysterious black baggage hole on the conveyor belt. I grabbed him and put him on the complimentary cart (thank you Spokane Airport!). I waited and waited for the CSB. Pretty soon the display board no longer showed the flight, and no new bags were coming out (it was very quiet in the mysterious black baggage hole. Well, CRAP! The CSB didn't make it onto the flight. I went into the Baggage Service room and reported my missing bag. The gal said it was probably on the next flight, and they would deliver it to me (of course you will!). John and I headed home. It's about a 40 minute drive from the airport to John and Annette's house.

When we got to the house, I was dying to check on Tilmann to see if he survived intact (well, really in pieces). Since I didn't have the bag with my tools for assembling Tilmann, I couldn't put him together. I did, however, open up the case and kind of give him a cursory looking over. Everything seemed okay. It all seemed to be in the same place I put it. That shows that I packed him in there firmly. 

While Annette and I were running some errands in town (getting food for our tour, a quick stop at the bike shop), the Baggage Finder called and said they had located my bag, and it was out for delivery. The gal delivering would call as she got closer. We made it home before she called. The gal called, and about 30 minutes later she arrived with my bag. The CSB survived its journey except one of the handles was ripped apart. I reinforced the handles where they join the bag because that's where they generally get torn. But, this handle was ripped in the middle. I guess they're not making Chinese Shopping Bags like they used to (said with total sarcasm--at a few bucks a bag, what can I expect).

Annette and I ate some dinner, then set about putting Tilmann back together. With Annette's help, we got him back together in about 1 1/2 hours. I also put the handlebar mount on. I'm really hoping to be able to keep the mount on when I have to repack him. We'll see...

Tomorrow I will take him for a test ride to make sure everything is working okay. Our planned departure is for Thursday evening. John will drive us to Chewelah.

All back together...again.

Ready or Not, Here I Go!

And now the waiting...for the shuttle that will take me, Tilmann, and all the stuff to the airport for my flight to Spokane. It will probably take as long to get to the airport as it is to fly from Seattle to Spokane!

2 checked bags, and one pannier to carry on with the handlebar bag.

Yesterday, I packed Tilmann in his case for the second time. Recall that the first time took me 3 1/2 hours. The second time was an hour and 15 minutes. Much improved, I'd say! Packing into the case went better as I let air out of the rear tire too, and also took the saddle off the seat post. I added more protective bubble wrap, particularly behind the disc rotors, and also stuffed padding into the outside pockets (that thought hadn't occurred to me until late yesterday). Fingers are crossed that Tilmann survives his first flight!

One more hour before the shuttle picks me up...

Chapter 6 (or maybe it's an Epilogue) of the Tilmann Saga--Kind of Like Humpty Dumpty, But Not Really

Here I have this wonderful bike, and now I have to almost completely dismantle him to pack him in his case. The case is 26"X26"X10". It's about the size of a regular suitcase (maybe a little deeper). The case is designed for S&S coupler bikes with 26" wheels, but I wasn't entirely sure Tilmann would fit.

Before I could begin to put him in the case, I had take him apart. I decided to time myself, even though I knew it would not be accurate as I would be writing everything down step by step (thank God I only have to do that once!). I won't bore you with the step by step dismantling. Suffice it to say, after a rather lengthy amount of time, Tilmann looked like Humpty Dumpty in that he was in pieces all over the floor.

Poor Tilmann...

Once I had him in pieces, I began to pack him in the case. This is where it got a little challenging. After getting the rear wheel in, and the rear triangle frame piece, I tried to place the front piece and handlebar into the case. At this point, I was hoping to avoid removing the front fork. Derik and I had talked about that yesterday. When Derik says, "Oh man, I hope you don't have to remove the fork!", you really hope you don't! Well, unfortunately, the fork did have to come off. From dropouts to top cap, it is 27+ inches. The only way to get the front triangle and fork in was with the fork fitting across the case. But, that is only 26", so no go. I tried every configuration I could think of. Nope, wasn't going to fit with the fork attached. I took it all out, and set about removing the fork. Getting the fork loose was easy. Getting the steerer tube to come all the way out from the head tube was not possible. I pondered it for a moment, then realized all I had to do was cut the zip tie at the top of the down tube to give enough slack on the cables to be able to pull the steerer tube out from the head tube. Ahhh...mission accomplished!

Then I went back to fitting the, now three pieces (front triangle, fork, and handlebar), into the case. With some creative "weaving", I was able to get the fork in somewhat diagonally.

Over and under!

All that was left was the front wheel and fender. I placed them in with the appropriate padding, put the ziplock bags of small parts (pedals, skewers, etc) into the empty spaces, and closed the lid. I was really confident that it was going to close. No, no it did not. Hmmm...I readjusted the handlebars as they seemed to be the culprit (here I thought the Trekker bars would be so easy since they're pretty flat). Still not closing. I let the air out of the tire. Getting closer! I did a bit more jostling and...voila...I got it to close! I opened it up again, and stuffed bubble wrap in the empty spaces, then zipped it up. The only things I couldn't get in the case were the racks, but that's okay. They can go in the rice bag with my panniers and stuff. Total time (including writing everything down): 3 1/2 hours.

I put it on my back with the backpack straps. Yeah, kinda heavy, but doable if I had to (...which I hope I don't). I weighed it, and it came out a little under 45lbs. At least it's under the limit.

Smiling here--but I wouldn't be if I had to carry it very far!

By now it was noon, and I had worked up an appetite. I took a break for lunch before reversing all the hard work I had just done, and putting Tilmann back together again. All the king's horses, and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together, but I could put Tilmann together!

The Rebuild

I suspected putting Tilmann back together would be faster than packing him up. That's always been the case when I've packed up, then unpacked Betsy. And, it was true. Following my written directions in reverse, I managed to get Tilmann back to his glorious self. It really wasn't that difficult. I had also taken photos, so if I couldn't remember something, I just looked at the picture. It took me 2 1/4 hours to get him back in working order.

Just to make sure everything was working well, I did a test ride (because, you know, it could look good, but not be good). Yep, everything is fine! Now I want to pack up my panniers, load Tilmann up, and go for a ride to see how he handles the weight. I think I'll do that tomorrow, then pack him back in the case on Monday in preparation for Tuesday's departure. I don't feel like I need to pack and unpack again as the unpack and reassemble was pretty easy (that, and I just really don't want to!). Now, onto packing up the panniers!