"Entry for Sunday, 27 July 1997

Sprague main street on a Sunday morning.

Last Modified on 9/23/97 at 17:10:05

Day's Narrative: This day started off just like the others. First breakfast about 6:00 am. Then I began the route to Spokane on the Interstate 90 frontage roads. These are actually quite separated from I-90 most of the time -- going as much as two or three miles away. They were also quite empty. On one stretch near Sprague I rode about 12 miles or so and only met four vehicles. As I rode by, the cows and horses stared at me so unblinkingly that I found myself wanting to wave to them.

Today there was a head wind most of the day. Not a bad one, but enough to require an extra hour or so to get to Spokane.

Nearing Sprague, there was a sign advertising rooms at the Starlite Motel for $5.50 per night. I wonder how long that sign had been there. Probably since the 50's.

Sprague main street was empty on this Sunday morning (see photo). One wonders if there are really more people there on weekdays. I stopped at Maggie's Farm Cafe and had a large Coke and one of Maggie's delicious apple muffins -- trying to store up liquid and energy for the next 20 miles of frontage road. There wouldn't be a store of any kind until Cheney.

At Cheney I stopped at Zip's Burgers for a "Zip", a triple meat burger with cheese, lettuce, tomato and their special sauce. It was pretty good. There I met a avid mountain bicycler from Salt Lake city out touring the town. His wife's relatives lived there and they were visiting.

Heading out again toward Spokane I came to Interstate 90 about 10 miles from Spokane. I really don't like to ride on the interstate unless I absolutely have too, although it's not that dangerous -- just uninteresting and loud. So I stopped at a convenience store at the interchange to see if someone could show me an alternate route into town. I was supposed to meet Connie at a motel somewhere on the other side of Spokane on US highway 2.

So I went in the store, bought a Spokane city map and asked. I guess I never expected her to try and talk me out of going there, but her first reaction was that highway 2 was awfully far away to bicycle to. I tried to explain that I really did want to go there, and that I just wanted to know if there was an alternate route, other than the one taking the interstate to the middle of the downtown business district. Well no, she explained, and there was a lot of traffic in the business district and riding a bicycle there was very dangerous. I was on the verge of saying that Spokane couldn't be any worse than Johannesburg, and I had managed that ok. Instead I asked her if it would be that bad on Sunday. Well no, probably not.

At this point a young man who had been listening to this said that road I wanted to go on had lots of hills. I told him that I didn't mind a few hills. Then he turned away with an expression like "Well, you have been warned, and if you go on it's your problem."

Finally, I told the woman I had to meet my wife there. That seemed to do it. She began to seriously give me directions. She said there wasn't any better alternate route than the interstate. I took the interstate into downtown Spokane.

Connie and I had trouble linking up by cell phone, but I finally got through to her phone by using a normal pay phone at a service station. The lesson learned here was that we should establish a place to meet, rather than relying on the cell phone to get together at the end of the day. If the cell phones work ok we'll save some time. If not we can still meet at the spot agreed on.

Tomorrow we are taking a day off to lie around and rest and plan the next few days of cycling.

[Connie] I'm getting better at reading maps. I took the Interstate to Spokane from Ritzville, only 60 miles and about an hour. Then it took another hour to negotiate the roads to get to a place on North Highway 2, where we had agreed to try to find a place to stay. It seems that more and more of the nice big chains, like Best Western, are building motels with room access only through a central hallway, so it gets to be a problem finding a place with outside doors. Since I have to haul two big equipment boxes, 2 cloth suitcases, assorted bags, and at least one bicycle in and out of the room, it is much easier to have direct outside room access. I found a place called the Apple Tree Inn Motel with outside room access and got a great room -- almost an apartment really, minus a kitchen -- which will be ideal for a layover day.

Return

© Ray & Connie Poore, 1997