Day 23, 5/31/10 - Couer D'Alene, ID

Just the Basics: Layover day at the Days Inn in Coeur D'Alene to avoid rain and Memorial Day traffic. Good call on the weather - it has rained steadily much of the day! Due to the weather, no photos today.

Tomorrow: The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow. Assuming it does, we'll be on our way to Kellogg or maybe Wallace, ID. A stretch on the ID Centennial Trail, a stretch on I90 over the 4th of July Pass, then onto the Trail of the Coeur D'Alenes. We rode this same route last fall on our vacation; it should be fine.

For Those Who Want More:

What We Did Today: We slept late and worked in the room most of the day - writing postcards and today's blog, dealing with emails, working on the next section of routing, preparing and eating lunch and dinner, and doing some research on political campaigns to plan some political donations. During a break in the showers we walked to the Riverstone Business Complex across the way (and along the river) and had some ice cream at a Coldstone Creamery.

Some Food Bank Notes: Due to Becky's strong involvement with the Tri-Cities Food Bank - and our long support for such activities - we are always on alert for food bank news. Here are a couple of items: (1) A couple of folks emailed Becky a very nice editorial in the Tri-Cities Herald about the leadership and activities of the Tri-Cities Food Bank. = )

(2) Yesterday we stopped at the 1st ID roadside rest on I90 (interestingly, it can also be accessed from the ID Centennial Bike Trail along its back edge). The charity manning the "free coffee" trailer was the Post Falls, ID Food Bank. We had some coffee and cookies and made a donation and had a good chat with the volunteer manning the coffee wagon - she said that donations are adequate, demand is high, and that the food bank is open 5 days a week.

Some Interesting Statistics: So far we have:

• Used up about 3 lbs of peanut butter;
• Sent 82 postcards;
• Done 3 loads of laundry and some hand-washing;
• Slept at 18 motels and two B & Bs;
• Had 0 flat tires;
• Had a chain pop off twice;
• Used up 1 large tube of SPF 30 sunscreen; and
• Come 679 miles - a Google routing for a car using major roads required 460 miles.

One More Thing: In the past several days we have had great phone conversations with several family members and several newsy emails from family and friends. These contacts really help us stay connected and give us joy!