Day 7: Leaving Idaho

88.22 mi.
max 35.0 7:10.37 avg 12.3

I chose to wear the yellow jersey again today. In Lance's book, he says that his teammates took to calling him "Mellow Johnny," a mispronunciation of the french maillot jaune, or yellow shirt - the color of the jersey for the person with the lead in the Tour de France. I kind of got to be like Lance...I was Mellow Johnny - except that I wasn't in the lead of the Tour de France.

We started out of Sandpoint, ID - I wasn't last for a while! We spent a long time around the shore of Lake Pend Oreille, and we had been told to watch for moose and other wildlife. As I rounded a curve, I saw Anna and sang out, "Here, moosie, moosie, moosie!" She laughed and said, "Let me know how that works out for you." Less than one mile down the road, Will had a flat tire...and just then, a moose began its swim across the river. It was very cool (Katie & I kind of forgot about Will's flat for a moment).

It wasn't too long before I became the last rider. I didn't mind so much, though, because I was enjoying everything. Somewhere along the Pend Oreille River, I stopped for lunch. It was a secluded spot along the riverbank. The water was moving at a decent clip...a family of ducks came out and swam for a while in front of me, too.

A little while after I passed into Montana, I saw Deb ahead of me. I was actually catching up to her when she dipped behind a hill...and disappeared! That's when I saw the Boar's Breath Bar & Grill. We stopped, and although I'd not intended to, we had lunch (I think that was my third lunch that day). I started out with a serving of ice cream. It was plain vanilla, but it rivaled the butterfat in Bart's. Deb ordered a root beer float, cheese quesadillas, and nachos. Far too much for one person...so I guess it was pretty lucky that she had me along to help her out :)

We continued on - eventually Deb pulled in front of me again and I continued to make my way towards Thompson Falls. At some point, I realized that I needed to keep a healthy pace going or I'd not make it back in time for dinner. Although it was hot out, I did okay going up and own the gentle rollers in western Montana. To my surprise, I passed Deb on the side of the road, maybe 10 or 15 miles outside of camp. She had completely blown through a tire, and was waiting for Alan. Apparently, he had driven right past her (I saw him drive past me right before I came upon Deb) - she had fallen asleep in the ditch. I waited with her until Alan pulled up (about 12 seconds later) and then I left, figuring that she would catch up to me...she arrived at camp about five minutes after I did.

Dinner was at Minnie's cafe - it was a real burger with fries...no pasta! I had decided, since I'd come in so late, that I would not set up my tent. I would just sleep outside on my Thermarest with my sleeping bag (on the footprint from my tent). Just as I was wiggling out of my shorts (which are still too tight), I heard screams and the sound of a sprinkler system turning on. I wiggled back into my shorts and helped cover the sprinklers, first with my hands, then with garbage pails and stainless steel bowls from the home ec room. Deb's stuff got soaked pretty badly - I gave her my fleece liner and my tent, since I wasn't planning on using them. Roberta and Sean actually became trapped in their tents. It was not exactly the best way to spend the evening before our first century.

You might think that we'd been through enough for one night. Ha! Some idiot decided to make lots of noise in the parking lot of the high school by squealing his tires...at 4 in the morning. Every time I stuck my head out of my sleeping bag, the mosquitoes would attack - perhaps sleeping without a tent is more a romantic notion and less of a practical decision.

The picture of the river above is the Clark Fork. With any kind of luck, I will be able to rent a kayak in Missoula and *play*...combining the best of both worlds!!!