We got a great sendoff at my sisters house on Saltspring and invited family and friends, a fantastic cake with the world map on it, some great artwork, likely done by my artist sister and her kids, lots of food and good company, just about my whole family came and Trevs too and lots of friends. It also happened to be my birthday so i got lots of great cards, what a fun way to spend my b-day, thanks everyone.
We stayed at the best homestay in Ladner, the night before getting on the road, comfy bed, clean sheets, great food and good company, I highly recommend it, my sisters place!!
We got on the road at around 9am, on our way to Winthrop, this is a great little western town that we had visited before a few times but never stayed. We ended up staying at Hotel Reo Vista, $110.00 a night, a little over our budget, but it was really nice,right on the river and after all i need to ease my way into this new way of life and into the $50.00/night motels!! Oh i didnt mention yet that we managed to get a really big speeding ticket on our way here, $349.00 yikes, we were doing 60mph in a 30mph and the swine caught us right after we saw the sign. Oh well, Trev says it will take at least 7 motels at $50.00 per night to re adjust and balance the per day budget - ugh.
Scenery along this stretch is kinda desert like, visited the Grand Coulee Dam, this dam was created to irrigate the desert to help the economy in that area, which it really did work for that. Unfortunately a few towns were flooded in order to create this Dam which was kinda sad for the local folk.
Stayed in Spokane last night, this is a large town/city and has some very cool areas, we had dinner at an old steam plant that used to heat the city up until the 80's and they left everything inside and made it into a pub. We walked all evening around the streets and into the big park they have there, it has an island in the middle called Canada Island and it also has a very impressive rushing river going thru it. We ended up staying at, yes at a cheap motel $53.99 The Days Inn, sounds like a soap show dosnt it, well it was OK,room smelt a little smoky and breaky was less than good but it did the trick and now we are onto Kalispell for the night. It was a wet ride, we stopped at a truckers stop for lunch, oh great, just what I didnt want to do, Trev said no chain restaurants but i forgot to add no truck stops either! Anyway I had to stop as one of my boots was leaking and my sock was soaked thru, i bagged my feet and put dry socks on and was good to go. The scenery so far is much like the Okanagan, except lots of scotch pine tress and they smell really good too. Hwy 2 is a very quiet road so not much traffic but also not many towns along it either just trees. Met another bunch of bikers at the truckers stop from ladysmith they are on their way to the Grand Canyon!
Now we are staying in a very nice Comfort Inn in Kalispell, we were happy to arrive tonight as it has rained all day. It was nice to have a hot shower and warm up after a day of rain, Trev says that hes sure he has a flat ass, every so often he rides standing up which is none too pleasant for me on the back. It surprising when your geared up properly you dont feel like your out in the elements you feel quite like your in your own little bubble, well at least I do, maybe thats not normal!!
Well the end of another perfect day, not even the rain bothers me, I was thinking on the back of the bike today how lucky I am, get up at 7am, do a workout, light breaky then decide where to go for the day and what to do, stop for coffee at 10ish, then ride some more, stop for a late lunch and onto our final spot for the night! No cooking, no cleaning, no banking issues, oh wait - no responsibilities, i realized that thats what we are all after - a period of time where we can just escape from the real world and then I remember Im escaping for a whole year - wow.
How lucky am I.
Until next time
Luv Chenty
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said you needed a chunk of time with no responsibilities. That is huge! Our lives are so driven by appointments, to-do lists and on and on. Taking care everything and everyone around us each day--I think we stop (or give up) at some point taking care of ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI also love that you mention doing your daily morning workout. Daily fitness shouldn't feel like a (sometimes dreaded) chore or something on your 'to-do' list. Maybe more of us should be doing what you both are doing in order to reconnect with what truly makes us feel good and vibrant and alive.
Ride on (but not too fast OK - be safe :)
Deb aka Debfit