Day 7

Miles: 107

Mileage from start: 587

After all the rain from yesterday, it was really nice to wake up without the patter of more on our tent. 

As we started our ride, the air was crisp and big gray clouds blocked most of the sunlight. With towering pines on both sides of the road, it felt like a summer morning in interior Alaska to me. 

We stopped at a general store near Ione to stock up for the day. Ahead was a 50-mile stretch without resources. And, as we soon learned, with a monster head wind. 

Thanks to Richard we made it through the winds. I sat on his rear tire most of the day hiding in his draft. 

We passed through the Kalispel Indian Reservation and enjoyed their lovely and smooth pavement. 

My hands still ring after a day on chip and seal. 

A few miles into Idaho we came upon a turtle that was stopped in the middle of the right lane. Richard picked it up and took it across the road in the direction it was headed (we assume it was aiming for the river). While it didn’t thank us, it felt good to possibly prevent another smashed turtle like the ones we’d been seeing all day. 

Most of the road kill so far has been snakes and birds. There’s been a couple of deer, but other then that the mammals seem to be making it across the roads. 

In non-dead animal sightings, we’ve seen many birds of prey like a bald eagle that flew down the road with us carrying something furry in its talons. Once a turkey vulture put on a show riding warm air pockets over our heads for a long stretch. More than once crows have woken us at 4:30 a.m. crying about something. 

We made it to Sandpoint, Idaho around 6 p.m. thoroughly tired and hungry. After grabbing a room and taking quick showers we went to a Thai restaurant for massaman curry and coconut ice cream. 

Richard has fallen asleep with the map over his face.