Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Newport to Ione, Washington - day 40




























































































We bicycled 62 miles today - started out with beautiful blue skies and before the end of the day it had clouded over and we had a few sprinkles but never enough to get out our rain gear.

Today's ride turned out to be one of the most pleasant and relaxing rides of the trip so far. The entire route ran parallel to the Pend Orielle river with very scenic views and on a low traffic good paved road with very few hills, I don't think we have ridden a flatter stretch of road since we road from Marshfield to Mauston, WI.

We came across several small streams running down from the hills and mountains from the east and flowing into the Pend Oreille river. There were no opportunities to stop for lunch along the way so we stopped along side one of the streams and had a snack and enjoyed the sound of the running water and beautiful scenery.

On two separate occasions today we had a fawn run out on the road and into the field. Not sure where their mother's were but they were sure cute to see. We also saw quite a few deer today where yesterday we hadn't seen any. I was surprised at the lack of activity on the water also being that it was the 4th of July.

We arrived in Ione about 1:00PM and we were happy to see that there was a laundromat located right next to our hotel. We did our laundry and then biked around Ione for a bit to check the little town out. Afterwards, we walked across the road and picked up some chicken and came back to our room and had a picnic lunch.

Tomorrow we start climbing. About 5 miles out of town we will start climbing a hill of about 1500 feet in 4 miles. It will be a steep climb but we are sure we can make it and there there it will be a gradual downhill with a couple of other smaller climbs all the way to Kettle Falls, WA. After this the next 4 days will be biking over the Cascade Mountains.

2,513 miles biked as of today!

Happy Trails!

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