Day 74: Motley Crue, The Marlboro Man, and Britney Spears in a Bingo Parlor...

I should know better than to write these blogs so late at night, as I only end up rushing through them, and then regretting the omitted details for days. But here we are again... Midnight on a Friday Night.

OK... So...

I wake up at 8:30 and remember suddenly that one of the deciding factors of my staying in this motel was a 'Breakfast Bar' that lasted until 9am. I get dressed and scamper my way over just in time to eat the last of EVERYTHING. I feel like between the discount I got, and the food I ate I got my money's worth Oh yeah I never explained the discount. When I arrived, they only had 1 room left and it was a smoking room. I purposely acted more upset than a reasonable person should be, and I got $10 knocked off of the price. I thought myself very clever. Then I got to the room...

Holy Cow. It smelled like Motley Crue, The Marlboro Man and Britney Spears had been living in here for a week. Like one of those airport smoking enclosures. Like this was a Bingo parlor 6 nights a week, and I happened to rent it on the one off night.

But back to present day... I ate a lot, made a cup of tea and got moving. The stretch along Hwy 2 was very nice. The 'falls' (forgot their name) were really neat. It's a 100 mile day and I was already behind schedule so I didn't stop to hike down there. Normally I wouldn't worry so much about a schedule, but I have a place to stay in Sandpoint all lined up, and I don't want to mess that up. I start up HWY 56 which is beautiful, and there are very few cars to worry about. Gorgeous actually.

I am moving along, I listen to all 4 Pixies albums. It's a really nice day. I stop in some bar that advertises a 'store' component to their operation. I ask the surly 50 year old bartender where their store is, and she laughs 'Do you know how old that sign is?!' as if I really should be aware of THAT sign's long and important history.

Everything is going smoothly. The sky is constantly threatening rain but holds back.

And then 5 miles from the HWY 56/200 intersection, the rain and headwinds start. I've already decided that I complain way too much about adverse weather, so I'm not gonna do that today. There will be plenty of 'column inches' dedicated to me whining about the cold while I am crossing mountain passes in Washington... so today I am just going to concentrate on what an awesome day it was, and not just the shitty five miles before hitting HWY 200.

I hit HWY 200 and stop at the Big Sky Pantry. I think it might be a Hutterite establishment? Definitely one of those religions where the women wear bonnets. Either that, or bonnets have come back into vogue since last I was a part of civilization? Whatever the reason, the woman stocking the shelves was wearing a bonnet, and the food was really fucking good. I lie out in the sun on their gravel driveway and am feeling pretty great. I am just a few miles from Idaho, my birth state. I am excited to leave Montana. They can keep their winding roads/70 mph HWY speed limits. No, but really, I had a wonderful time in Montana. Keep up the good work.

The Idaho border was a welcome sight, but the stretch of road between the state line and Clark Fork was a pretty aggravating mix of hills and headwinds. Clark Fork was uneventful; got some Gatorade, tea, Diet Coke and some long winded directions I didn't ask for. I met up with Lake Pond Oreille... Wow... Stunning. Today is turning out to be a good day for pictures, although the rain prevented me from taking too many. But about 20 minutes out of Clark Fork the sun came out and I got a spectacular view of the sunset over the lake unfortunately this meant the sun was setting and I had 20 more miles to go I didn't mind though, I didn't want to rush anything. This was clearly one of the highlights of this whole trip.

Pedal , Pedal , Pedal... very narrow roads. Very fast trucks were hurrying off somewhere obviously VERY important, so as to necessitate not giving a shit about the life of a 25 year old Filmmaker from Brooklyn. I roll into Sandpoint and grab a Burger at some fancy joint, as I have grown to despise the taste of ALL LOCAL FOODS (greasy diner stuff), and all corporate chain food. I offset the cost by getting the burger 'to go' and eating it outside on a bench by the alley (Just to avoid having to tip the waitress). It's actually really good, but I still am getting pretty fed up with food. It feels like being hungry for something that doesn't actually exist.

I call Robyn, and we meet up in a local pub. We talk for a few minutes but quickly head back to her house, because I'm just way too exhausted to talk over the loud house band. She offers to let me stay an extra night, and I am really thinking I want to take her up on this offer. She's a really cool woman. I'm thinking that everyone west of the Rockies is neat.

FYI Ruby Ridge is very close to here.

Oh yeah... I've decided that I am going to head down the Pacific Coast as far as my limited funds will take me, and once they are drained, I will hop a Greyhound for Los Angeles. Today I got The Florida State University Film School Email Newsletter to include a plea for alumni to hook me up with lodging along the coast, so maybe I can get a few nights sleeping in the basements of some Film School Alumni. It's exciting, as it should help me stretch my trip a lot further than I could have otherwise. At least that's the plan.