August 8, 2017
Kellogg to Wallace (and back)
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We showed up in the breakfast room before 7:00, so as to be cycling before the real heat of the day. Clearly we were not the only one with this idea, for the room was already full of cyclists. Among these were Judy and Bob. They had recognized us as the "Grampies" yesterday, and knew all about our sordid cycling past, having read earlier blogs.
Judy and Bob are interesting in their own right, as riders of a Bike Friday tandem. With this they have cycled Munich to Paris, and also in Spain. The bike has a Rolhoff hub, double chain rings, disc brakes, Brooks saddles, dropped bars - it is quite something! This time, like us, Bob an Judy (who are from Denver) are just cruising up and down the Coeur d'Alene.
Heading East this time from Kellogg, the trail is closer to the highway, and therefore is not so peaceful, or wild feeling. It still has the river and the pines though, so it remains really pleasant. About half way to Wallace the town of Osburn spreads out along a road that parallels the interstate. This is housing for the true (not tourist) residents of the valley, and it helped to remind us of some basic truths of the country.
America is definitely a place of great wealth, but its distribution is very skewed. There are regions that are glamourous, and others that are dirt poor. And there are citizens that are extremely well off and others that barely scrape by. These inequalities are much more pronounced than what we have seen in Europe. It's strange, because Europe was formerly feudal and monarchistic, while America was the place of freedom and equality. It looks like the freedom was the freedom for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer.
These observations came to mind as we cycled through Osburn. There, none of the houses are luxurious. It reflects the fact that this region as a whole is not rich. Then among the houses, most are modest but ok while some are really rural slums. You can also see the inequality in the vehicles. Everybody here likes pickup trucks, but many are old beaters - stacked up beside old walking lawn mowers (not much grass to mow hereabouts though), old campers, and any other form of old power equipment. This is in contrast to the stacks of gleaming usually white, huge, pickups sold by the local mega dealer - Dave Smith Motors. We don't know quite who buys from Dave, but it is not most of the residents of Osburn.
Remarkably quickly we arrived at Wallace, cycling under the interstate, which soars over part of the town. When the highway was pushed through, the builders figured on just blasting Wallace out of the way. But visionary city people struck a deal with the road builders. The town was saved, and the road went over rather than through.
The town is worth saving too, since it contains many heritage brick buildings from the 1800's. This time we did not take time to walk the streets, preferring instead to head up the Lookout Pass, toward Mullan.
As it happened, we abandoned Mullan too, since Dodie's knees were beginning to feel the effects of the slope and headwind, not to mention trying to keep up with our now expert 9 year old cyclists! Instead we cruised all the way back on down to Kellogg, arriving by noon. Since we had also done two long picnic stops, it really was a fast time.
As I write this, the kids are in their second hour of vigorous splashing in the pool. They show no sign of tiring. Clearly the Hiawatha trail tomorrow will be fun but no challenge. We will have to look for something tougher next time!
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BONUS
Just stepped outside (7:30 p.m.) and saw sun looking as I scarcely can remember it ever appearing before. But for the Montreal grandkids, they will remember in the story of Abiyoyo how the sun rose blood red. - Like this?
Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 93 km (58 miles)
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