July 27: Clark Fork, Idaho

     It has been an almost perfect morning.  Highway 200 has taken me around the north shore of Lake Pend Orielle (pronounced Ponderay.)  I got many great views of what has to be one of the most beautiful BIG lakes in the northwest, and the morning sun was shimmering off the gentle waves.  The route, like yesterday's, was generally pretty level and best of all, for the first time in five days of riding, the temperatures are relatively cool.  Previously, every day has been at least 92 degrees and I don't recall seeing a single cloud of any kind in the sky.  Right now it is about 75 degrees and the predicted high today is 83 and there are some nice fluffy white clouds hovering above the mountains.
     I hope this doesn't sound too perverse, but I found a couple of awesome places to urinate today.  If you have to go, I figure it might as well be in a nice spot.  The first one was overlooking an arm of Lake Pend Orielle and it was teeming with ducks and great blue herons and some other birds I could not identify.  The second spot was alongside a heavily wooded gravel side road.  The branches of the trees formed a tunnel and the shade felt luxurious.
     I am currently resting in the town of Clark Fork, Idaho.  In nine miles I will be in Montana and in ten more miles I will be turning north on Highway 56 to scout out a series of Kootenai National Forest campgrounds where I plan to spend the night.  I suspect my day and a half of level roads is about to end as I go up into the Cabinet Mountains.




Signs like this only pique my curiosity.