Trip days: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8-9 | 10-12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
I left Orofino on highway 7 west, it's an idaho state road for a short bit, and then it turns into county road P1. It was a great road of northern california back road proportions with lots of really tight slow hairpins and twists and turns as it writhes its way up the mountain above Orofino. P1 eventually ends up on the top of a large, slightly hilly, plateau covered with farm land, and then dives back down into another valley where it meets up with highway 3. I took highway 3 northeast to Deary, then northwest on highway 9 and then northeast again on highway 6 to St. Marie. For the first time since Des Moines, Iowa I had cellular phone service! Hallelujah! I gassed up in St. Maries and then headed west on highway 5, then onto highway 95 north to Coeur d'Alene. The whole area from Orofino to Coeur d'Alene was jam packed with good roads, a nice forest and farmland mix, and only 1 policeman. Sweet. From Coeur d'Alene I rode west on I-90 to Post Falls where I stopped in at Beaudry Motorsports to check out their motorcycle shop. They had a LOT of bikes with everything from Ducatis to KTMs to BMWs and even an MV Agusta F4i! What an awesome motorcycle... I guess it should be for the $20,000 some odd dollars that they go for new. Back on I-90 I zipped over to Spokane and then headed north on highway 395 towards Colville. I got off of 395 and went west on some county road from Loon Lake over to Hunters. I headed north out of Hunters on highway 25 which runs parallel to, and has a really nice view of, the Columbia River. At Kettle Falls I turned west onto highway 20 and eventually ended up in Republic, Washington for the night. Between Kettle Falls and Republic I saw, apart from the scenery, 42 cop cars, 2 motorcycle cops, and 4 border patrol... Hmmmm. They were from all over Washington so I suspect that they were having a luau or some such rubbish. In Republic, Washington I bumped into 5 canadian motorcyclists at the Klondike Hotel and they invited me to join them downtown at bar for dinner and beer. I accepted and we all trudged the one block down main street to the bar that they had in mind. It turned out to be karaoke night and it was really funny seeing the local backwater washington types cackling out John Denver, Shania Twain, and Elvis songs. One goofy large guy was wearing a hat reading "Republic Gun Club" and sang some country thing. The canadian guys, all retired and in their mid to late 50's were pretty funny to hang out with and we had a good time talking bikes, travel, karaoke, canada, and roads to be ridden. The day was a good one of mostly twisty roads, and I've discovered a new area full of great rides to be done at a later date. I hadn't previously been to northeast Washington state, but it has all the motorcycle appeal of the cascade range and highway 20 but without all the traffic. I'll definitely be back, maybe even this summer, to more fully explore the area.
Total Mileage for Day: 440 |
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©2003 John Meloy <jam@nas.com>