Thursday, July 23, 2009

Sandpoint to Bonners Ferry

Duff reporting tonight. Sorry this is late, but Linda left home on the morning of this ride segment, and is gone until she picks me up at the Canadian border on Wednesday. My blog postings will be delayed until we get home Thursday.

I left Sandpoint at 8:30 AM, and after working through the major construction on roads in downtown Sandpoint, I got to Ponderay on the north side. From there to Naples, the road was relatively level, with some dips and rises, and generally pleasant to ride. There was a light headwind and temps were in the 70s. From Naples on, the road included a couple of hills I walked, but it was mostly downhill into Bonners Ferry.

Whether it was complacency because I was in familiar country, or perhaps fatigue, or both, but I rode right past my motel. I thought it was downtown by the river, but when I got there, I knew I had screwed up. I called Georgia Jimenez, the local board president to confirm my error, and then walked back up the hill and road two more miles to the Kootenai Valley Motel. So, I broke my vow to not ride the same stretch of ground more than one time. In any case, I got into my room--thank you Kootenai Valley Motel for fixing me up--and got cleaned up. Georgia's husband, Pete, and another board member, Regis, picked me up at 5 PM and showed me around town briefly, and then we drove to the Naples Fire Department for a casual dinner meeting. After we ate, we sat around talking about issues the Boundary County HFH affiliate had, and I suggested ideas from my experiences that might help them. It was a good session, and I hope that one or more of the ideas will prove productive for the affiliate.

I got back to my room about 9 and completed my journal entry for today. Tomorrow is THE DAY--my final route segment of Duff Bikes for Habitat. It is only 29 miles, which is nice, and I anticipate being started no later than 8 AM.

I wanted to say thanks once again to Dick and Carroll Ensminger of Sandpoint for their generous hospitality during my stay there.

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