Today leaving downtown Spokane I finished out the Spokane River trail. It took me by the big power station, dam, and waterfall. The Downtown area is such a great place, I can imagine how crowded it would be on a weekend during basketball season for Gonzaga University. Just like before, leaving an urban center was a challenge with all the one-way streets and stoplights. The first 12 miles was filled with lots of traffic. Heading west out of town, eventually I passed Fairchild Air Force Base, and that’s when things quieted down. Out here it was just like the roads I’ve seen out in Nebraska. One lane going each way with a nice shoulder and nothing but fields of gold wheat on both sides. Initially the wind was coming out of the south but again after I asked God to give me an east wind, or at least more to my rear, that’s exactly what ended up happening for the remainder of the afternoon. I made much better time than anticipated given the original forecast of a heavy westerly wind that never materialized. We rolled into the town of Wilbur where we were greeted by the pig and had already made lodging reservations. Lisa Marie and I found an off-grid lunch place where we where able to get some food and I decided I wanted to keep going and try to put some more miles on. Even Lisa Marie didn’t realize how many miles we had traveled and by the end I was able to get 79 miles on day 79.
Insights from Lisa Marie
Today we left Spokane straight out US-2. I only took 5 pictures with 1 of them being our celebrity biker and a tractor😂. It was flat and just a lot of yellow! So today’s thoughts were ponderings as I drove and waited. How do these very small towns with a motel get business? No lakes or seemingly other attractions to bring people by. Semi trucks drive by, no parking available. So it’s the many motorcyclists we saw and met along the way. And maybe a few RVs here and there. Ok so the next thought process today…the sign that says Primitive Road-No Warning Signs?! Looking at the dirt road or sometimes a 2 track with an actual road name sign I wonder what is there to be “warned or not warned about”? All along US-2 in Washington I saw these signs. The roads go off into these mostly flat fields of yellow. I tried googling this but no real answer that satisfied me. We reached our stop for the night at Wilbur, Washington. We had lunch at this interesting cafe attached to an RV park. There I talked to the local guy who was serving us. I could tell he thought my question about the signs a bit odd. The answer was the signs let you know that on these roads there are no warnings about sharp turns, bumps, water, tractor blocking road, wildlife, etc. Another words it’s a dirt road! 😂. You drive it and might encounter something. My last ponder was that’s just normal dirt roads in Michigan, no need for a sign to tell me there are no signs😂. Further research on what I found, is the state government requires this signage on these rural roads.😁.
Ok then, so that’s it folks – tomorrow is another day.
