Coeur D'Alene is French for the best trail ever!

Today's ride was trail only. The Trail of the Coeur D'Alenes is a 73 mile rail-to-trail project, the most beautiful I've seen. We traveled part of it the other day, but today's 50+ was from Kellogg to Plummer, the trails end. Rail beds never have more than a 4% grade, so whenever we travel on, or along them, the ride is relatively easy.

Kin of Hopper

The day started with breakfast provided by the American Lutheran Church, and we were on our way. The trail is rather remote, most of it inaccessible by car, so we were unsupported until our first break at 20 miles. There were moose who left their muddy tracks on the trail, and we saw one about a quarter mile down away, but it disappeared into the woods before we arrived.

The ride was casual as we made our way. All of it is good surface, with shade over most of it. At times we seemed to just hang on the edge of mountains, with extreme drops to the valley below. Then it was along lake and river, then over on converted rail bridges. We took our second break in Harrison, a small tourist community on the lake. I had a large huckleberry ice cream cone, and then finished the ride. I think I picked up more calories than I burned today there alone.

Ceremonial drink upon arrival

Here in Plummer we are the guests of Christian Life Fellowship Church. We were given a financial gift by a benefactor recently who specified that we use it to buy dinner for the group on night a local church wasn't feeding us. Well, tonight we are on our own, and this town is too small to accommodate our group in any of the restaurants. Instead, Justin stocked up at the grocery store and taking it all back to the church kitchen to make dinner for 38 people. Now, there is where the "diverse skill set" I mentioned in yesterday's blog is beyond mine. I can't imagine feeding that many people properly, but Justin has been a chef in Chicago and Nashville...this should be good!

Tomorrow will be rough. Not because is it around 90+ miles, but because we have to get up at 0330, pack and clean, breakfast at 0430, and on the road at sunrise. We entered the Pacific time zone when we entered Idaho. Rumor is we'll be reaching the end of this trip soon, but not today. Today is all that matters, and it's been good so far.