Day 3: Straight, Vast and Open

 

Today we rode from Coulee City to Spokane.  97 miles, 2800 feet of climbing almost all of it on RT 2 until Spokane. Aeolus, in Greek mythology the keeper of the winds, had mercy on us after our struggles yesterday and blessed us with a decent tailwind most of the way to Spokane. We started out from the Ala Cozy Motel in Coulee where we stayed on Sunday night.  It is one of the few lodging places for quite a distance on either side. We dined and breakfasted at Big Wally’s, located next to a gas station convenience store on the side opposite (and not to be confused with) Big Wally’s worms and fishing supplies.  Not a bad burger.

Our ride took us through rolling and wide open farmlands that stretched on as far as the eye could see.  The road was, for the most part, arrow straight and rolling and, like the fields, stretched out as far as you could see.  On the positive side, it was something to behold - you could see everything for miles, including the hill that you’d have to climb.  On the negative side, you could see the hill that you’d have to climb for miles, which left you time to calibrate its grade and then convince yourself that it was not all that steep until you came upon it and realized that in fact it was.

Long straight roads can also have a hypnotic effect, which sometimes leads to hammering a stretch at a high speed (especially when you have a tail wind), which can be fun or at least a little satisfying. We made good time found a great place in Spokane’s historic district and had a  nice dinner.  We should be in Idaho sometime tomorrow.