My first day on the trail was something of an emotional roller-coaster. In fact, I nearly quit at the end of the second day! But I am getting ahead of myself.
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| Beginning my journey |
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Since my wife was out of town, my mother was kind enough to drive me to the boarder of Idaho and drop me off just NE of Tekoa, WA. We had a wonderful drive, talking about life, family, God, and why this trip was an important thing. It is a weird feeling being dropped in the middle of nowhere and starting a long solo trip. While the plan is obvious, I always feel strange and wonder if I am really gonna make it. The silence is a shock! That shock mixes with excitement into a bit of a heady cocktail. Anyway, mom dropped me off after a good 8 hours of driving and I was on my own.
It was August 1st and it was hot! Just how hot it was did not really register until the afternoon when I really started to feel it and my first bike issue occurred in the middle of nowhere.
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| Thanks for the ride and the prayers, mom! |
The first day of riding started nicely. I quickly arrived at the border and snapped a picture. Then I managed to find my way past an old bridge in Tekoa and back to the trail on the other side.
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| Goodbye Idaho! |
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| This bridge was the first of many trail-finding opportunities on the east side of the state. |
After Tekoa, I spent virtually all day in dry exposed expanses of wheat fields... except one memorable encounter. Just outside of the town, I came across a short section that was shady, a little swampy, and overgrown with grass (in the picture below). I had to dismount and push the bike because grass was wrapping around the pedals. The moment I stopped, a large moose jumped out of the shade and stood about 20 feet away looking at me. I was scared to death! If that moose had decided to, it could have messed me up very badly but it chose to leave. You can just see its head in the picture below as it is leaving. This encounter was really strange because this is a tiny dell. On the other side of the trees are golden wheat fields as far as the eye can see... which made me wonder what a moose was doing so far from any real forest!
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| Can you spot the moose? |
Not long after the moose encounter, a bolt on my bike rack stripped and the rack started rubbing on my rear wheel. I had stupidly put a lot of weight onto a cheap bike rack on a gravel road and I quickly learned the consequences of that! Because the bolt was stripped, I could not fix it with tools. I ended up using my bandana and some sticks to tie around the problem spot and tighten it like a tourniquet. It got me to Rosalia but just barely!
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| There were many old bridge trestles. I would have to off-road it to the other side. |
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| Did I mention it was hot? |
After a long day of worrying about my less-than-functional bike, I made it to Rosalia. There, I got a cool drink, some food, and made some local friends... one of whom had some spare zip-ties among the tools in his truck. He was a life-saver!
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| If you are ever in Rosalia, get a bite at the Brass Rail! |
The local crowd told me that I could probably set up a tent at the battlefield memorial on top of their highest hill. It was a beautiful place to sleep, especially when there were lightning storms in the distance to watch that night!
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| The Steptoe Battlefield Monument where I camped |
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| Eastern Washington is gorgeous! |
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