July 7-8, 2013, Lewiston, ID

Left camp by 7:00 am, our "usual" time. Some hill climb, in fact 2 miles from the "chain up area" sign to the summit of Alpowa pass. The hill climb was quite pleasant in the morning cool, not requiring the lowest gear. From the summit the views were great, including Steptoe Butte (Elwoods will know what Mom gives you if you are the first one in the car to say 'I see Steptoe Butte'). After that a loooong descent down to the Snake river. A quick stop at Chief Timothy bridge, a quaint and historic bridge left standing to commemorate a Nez Perce chief friendly to the white settlers. Arrived in Clarkston to do some shopping, then found the bike path to cross the river and find our current spot, Hells Gate State Park. Arrival at 11:30 means a leisurely wait in the shade until 1:00 check in time at Lewis & Clark Discovery Center.

We passed the 500 mile mark for the trip a few miles ago.

I must say the local bikers are very friendly and helpful. One in front of Albertsons asked where we were camping and whether it would be ok go bring us a pie. Another on the bike path not only told us but escorted us to the confusing bridge access, recommending a better cycling bridge than the one on our map. Another flock of cyclists meeting us on the path gave each of us a cheerful Hello.

Update:  layover day on Monday, but no pie showed up last night.  Oh well, the fact that an offer was made was delicious.

We biked into downtown Lewiston, found free public wifi outside the closed library, then parked ourselves at a wifi coffee house, the Blue Lantern.  Miraculously they can meet some of our grocery needs, with small packets of organic Idaho cereal grains and bananas.

A huge gratitude to Dee Dee and Bruce for calculating reasonable hops for our next several days.

~ Carol
About wifi:  I thought when buying an iPad 6 months ago that wifi would be the way to go,  that I wouldn't need to purchase a cell plan for data transmissions.  Now, surrounded by cyclists who can get data almost anytime they want with their smart phones, I'm feeling oh so out of date.  It's reminding me of traveling 14 years ago, when we had a laptop and crawled under the occasional desk (of a willing but surprised helper) to plug our phone cord into a jack to get email.

~ Carol