Day 10. Apgar, Glacier Natl. Park, MT
to Keller Ferry, Washington
   Miles today = 365
Total miles = 2280		  
     
   
     
     
   
 
  After such adventurous days as I had at Glacier it was hard to settle back into a comfortable road pace and not be so hurried. My original plan at the onset was to possibly get a motel room in Spokane, do laundry, update the site, and possibly look into a new back tire. My current tire is getting quite squared off. Not sure if it is the miles of straight roadway of the low air pressure before I got started (really stupid me) but I'm leaning towards the miles. Being as it is, it gets a bit squirrelly in the curves and really doesn't give me that feeling of oh so fresh confidence.
Riding out of Glacier was cold though it wasn’t long before the fog/clouds gave way and it was beautiful, and I mean beautiful. When I got into northern Idaho it was in the 70's and by Spokane it was pushing 80.
It was all forests from Glacier to Spokane, minus a disappointing section around Sand Point, Idaho, and the miles of strip malls into Spokane, but coming out of Spokane was like dropping back into Montana with the miles of land recently harvested of wheat and flat. Quite a contrast to the tall stands of pine and the golden aspen trees.
Pushing further than I had anticipated meant I spent some time standing around trying to figure out where I was going to stay. Since I had changed my plans to ride into Spokane, land of strip malls and mile after mile of them and soon to be rush hour traffic, I wasn't sure where I was going to go. Out of Spokane I realized though I had also gained an hour crossing into a third time zone, the sun was setting. I settled on Keller Ferry, north of Wilbur. Sure enough I made it into Wilbur with maybe 20 miles worth of gas to spare, I rode past two closed gas stations, closed as in one had a sign advertising free rent and the other had the pumps boxed in all nicely with plywood. For once I turned around and even (gasp!) asked where the nearest gas station was.
Of course I found the gas pumps all right, he told me that as long as I had a credit card I was fine. Well those pumps were so old they had the swinging mechanism on the side that when you pulled the nozzle out, swung the mechanism into place the pump would jerk to life. The first time I pulled up to it, not a soul around I didn't see a credit card reader so I drove around the town some more to find what I was expecting. Well this town isn't much larger than a parking garage so I soon found myself there again but this time another person was there and using the credit card reader that I never would have found on my own because it was right there all by its lonesome and not physically attached to any of the pumps camouflaged in aged pealing paint the same as the pumps. And with that lesson in socioeconomics I was on my way.
Going north out of Wilbur was a country highway that was a straight roller coaster up and down through harvested wheat fields until coming over a rise I saw some signs showing slow tight turns ahead. Little did I know that the drop down to the river was incredible. Out in the middle of this flat land lay the Columbia river, damned by the Grand Coulee, and it was hairpin turns once again all the way down to the banks of Roosevelt Lake and Keller Ferry, which is still at 9pm as I type, making laps across the lake.
It is an incredible highly underrated campground, National Park System no less. Riding in I noticed I was by far the youngest person there. There were maybe a dozen RVs inhabited by retired folks probably here for the post tourist season. Though it is under served it does have paper towels that Glacier did not, grass to pitch my tent on very near the lakes edge, and did I mention how warm it is?
Which leads me to my next story. This is also a picnic/swimming area and the bathrooms have an outdoor shower on each side, which really got my mind thinking about using it. But how was the question since it was lighted and there are maybe 8-10 RVs with little old ladies just waiting for me to take a shower there even if it is relatively hidden, so next best thing. Being as warm as it is, and I have to say, very dark with no moon, though a full night sky of stars and the milky way, I stripped down buck naked and made good use of the soap, washcloth and a pot of water. Let me tell you, taking off my socks for the first time since...Malta, Montana was quite the undertaking in and of itself, and I might add, made for some gasping of air. 		       
My campsite at the Apgar campground in Glacier.

Even I was quite surprised at how easy it was to stand there completely naked within a 100 yards of two RVs and get good and clean for the first time in 3 days. Perhaps it's the miles upon miles, or the clothes not removed in days but it was rather easy to rinse, lather and repeat. I still couldn’t believe how warm it was after the cold rain of days before and the chilly nights in Glacier.
So the end of this day turned a bevy of miles on the odometer, a taste again of big city traffic, and dumb ass riders pulling wheelies in rush hour traffic, but amazing scenery that only makes me think of those movies I saw in grade school that were made to romanticize the farm and what those lives were like. Probably says a lot of why my only real aim was to see the scenery. I don't need to see all the waterfalls, the museums, or even the ocean. It really isn't the desire as much as just to see what’s out here. Its different, the same, unique and hell yeah I stopped at the Target Trading Company, or Bulls eye Boutique and animal pelts, it is the wild west you know, and of course the woman getting into her minivan Envoy was within three feet and refused to make eye contact let alone say hello. Which I am sure I would have done the same given the same circumstances of being in the Target parking lot parked next to a scary looking motorbiker on a dirty BMW motorcycle with Wisconsin plates and a t-shirt that states Nuke and Pave.
It is the only Target I've ever been in that had cashiers older than me in ... a very long time. There wasn't a one that was younger. Plus, the signage to me looked to be a mix of old and new even though it was in a newer strip mall. Oh the graphic designer in me I guess. I wasn't even in the mood to check out all the aisle end caps for the clearance items. Though they did have a lot of candy for some reason. As if Halloween was last week or something instead of coming up in four weeks.
But, I also got some waves from drivers, and even 95% of the bikers wave out here instead of the loser Harley dudes that can't even raise a finger to someone on an “off brand” motor bike.
But the computer battery has just about run dry. Kinda like a gas tank near and dear to my heart, literally and figuratively, so I must quit for the evening.
Prologue, afterlogue, PS. Anyway some words of wisdom "never look a gift horse in the mouth”, even if it pulls out your minidisc player at 50 mph and bounces it on the pavement, because oddly enough the dang thing still works AND it doesn't seem to have a problem with vibration anymore. After the episode of seeing it bounce on the Going-to-the-Sun road, in my side mirror, and seeing the disc eject itself like a pilot from a burning airplane, how it still works, and better and little worse for the wear, is beyond me. Sure, it now has some groovy scars but chicks dig scars anyways. So maybe the gods in those mountains weren’t punishing me for abusing the speed limit so much as rewarding me for riding those roads like they were meant to be ridden.

Route: West Highway 2 all the way.

  
   
Twilight over Lake Roosevelt. The last rays of the setting sun over Lake Roosevelt. Formed above Grand Coulee Dam.    
 
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