The Gray Riders take on Couer d'Alene

We call ourselves the 'Gray Riders' and for the second year (And hopefully many more to come!) the eight of us got together to bike. This year we chose to drive to Harrison, Idaho and rent a home for a week. We had a fantastic time together!

Monday--We all met in Corbett and loaded up. The women drove together in the pick-up and the men drove together in the Jetta. We don't know what the men discussed, they're not saying, but the women had a great time discussing everything under the sun. It was fun to spend time together. We drove east along I-84 and turned north at Biggs and headed up through Washington.


We stopped at a mercantile out in the middle of nowhere that had homemade chocolates and preserves.

We arrived in Harrison late afternoon and found the house at the end of a very steep driveway. The view out the back was spectacular! We all drew straws and James and I had second pick on which bedroom we wanted. We got the queen bed at the front of the house. Each couple was in charge of making a breakfast and a dinner. This continued until Friday at which time we started to eat the left-overs.



This is Pennie, DeDe and Robin relaxing in the living room.











The view off the deck. It was so peaceful and beautiful!






Tuesday--James and I made German Pancakes and little pigs for breakfast. It was special day in that we had met 33 years ago at a youth dance on Lopez Island.




This day was our first and longest ride. We started out in Harrison and rode to Plummer a total of 32 miles round-trip. The day was sunny and we rode along the 'Trail of the Couer d'Alene'. We rode at the edge of Lake Couer d'Alene and saw wildlife and beautiful scenery. This picture of our group was taken over my left shoulder as I pedaled along.

This other picture is of Lake Couer d'Alene with the Chatcolet Bridge we crossed in the distance.











This is of our whole group, James, Kathleen, DeDe and Dan Johnson, Robin and Chuck Poetz and David and Pennie Phillips.


That night we went to Pennie's nephew's for a BBQ. It was an 1.5 hour drive (one-way) but we had a lot of fun.











Wednesday--It was cloudy and rainy. We had a relaxing morning and waited for the weather to clear. Our ride started at 1 Pm, and we rode 30 miles, to Lane. My left knee was hurting and I was glad to have the tandem so that I could rest my leg up on the bar and pedal with my right foot. (Yes, it was more work for James and he handled it well!)





















We took the trail that said it was closed due to construction, but the people in town said that it was still 'ok' to ride it. We came across the construction crew and they were very nice, they had us move to the side, and talked with us as heavy equipment drove by and soon sent us on our way. As we moved on we came across the foreman who wasn't as happy to see us, although he was still amicable. The ride was colder and after eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we headed home. As we crossed the dike, the wind started to blow at 25-35 mph and we had a rain cloud chasing us. Safely back at the house, we sat in the hot tub out on the deck. These are the four renegades who assured us it was 'ok' to take the trail.





Thursday--After breakfast James and I made the lasagna to cook later when we got home. We drove to Mullen for a 19 mile ride down through Wallace and Kellogg. Pennie and David decided to sit this one out and so they drove the vehicles down and met us. The weather was a little warmer, and we rode along a creek and stopped in Wallace while Dan changed a flat tire. Wallace looked like a quaint little town up against the mountain. After the ride we went on a tour of a gold mine and then panned for gold. None of us found any gold; although we did find some amethyst stones that they put in the sand.



This is James and Dan inside the Crystal Gold Mine.











Friday--We didn't get on the bikes; instead we drove to St. Maries and mined for garnets. This was the one day that was scorching hot and we were sifting through clumps of dirt that we had dug out of the hillside and then washing it our rocks in a flume and picking out the garnets. We did this for several hours and are happy to report that we all walked away with a bag full of garnets.

Saturday--We drove up into Montana to the Continental Divide at the Crest of the Rockies, this is where the 'Route of the Hiawatha' began. The Hiawatha is an old Union Pacific Railroad trail and took us through 9 tunnels and across 11 railroad trestles. My knee felt much better and the ride began with us entering a 1.8 mile long tunnel; it was very cold and very dark. We had a light on our bike which gave off a dismal amount of light. It was the 5 W LED that James had velcroed to his helmet that saved us. The others entered the tunnel and managed to ride right through at a good clip; which was evidenced by the muddy stripe they had up their backs. James and I went much slower and DeDe happened to be behind us and we helped her through the tunnel because her bike light was giving off practically no light. The tunnel had 18" ditches on either side that were about 18" deep in which water ran down the sides of the tunnel and along these ditches. The trick was to stay far enough from the edge and yet stay away from traffic coming back the opposite direction. This picture to the right was as we came out of the tunnel.

We saw spectacular scenery along the way, and went through several tunnels that were quite dark. Our ride was 19 miles ended with a shuttle ride back to where we went through the first tunnel once again. This time it didn't seem so dark.




We stopped in Wallace on our way back and had dinner at 'The Smokehouse'. James and I shared a Bison Burger and Macaroni and Cheese. It was very good.





Sunday--We drove 30 minutes to St. Maries and went to church. The minute we walked in they were wanting us to have our records sent to their ward. It was fun to visit with people and James was able to talk with someone from New Castle, Wyoming where he served his mission and got caught up on the people he remembered and what they were doing. That afternoon James and I and David and Pennie relaxed at the house. Dan and DeDe and Robin and Chuck went on the bike ride we went on the first day once again.

Monday we got up early and headed for home. We had started to have car problems with the Jetta and the problems continued on Monday. We ended up taking more time on the drive home because we had to stop frequently to put anti-freeze in the reservoir because the car kept overheating. The week we spent was glorious, with every day being an adventure. All of us get along so well and we spent a fun-filled week of great talks and lots of laughter. It was much needed!