Hoping for a Tail Wind

Spokane to Sandpoint

Posted on July 28, 2010 by anthonycaferro

Day one. 94 miles. I considered rounding the block a few times to get that century in, but then realized this is only day one. I’m certainly rubberlegged.

Saw one deer, two bald eagles and countless road kill. Ate peanut butter, drank coffee. Rakim, Led Zeppelin and The Black Keys provided enjoyment along my route.

Sandpoint is beautiful, I came in from the south over a very long bridge that gave me the full view. But this town of 6,000+ has no camping and no hostel, so I’m spending the night at the house of my very gracious host Paula. There is also a couple from Chicago staying here as well, and they are on the same route ad I am for the next few days.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bike tour, sandpoint, spokane | 1 Comment

Fear and Loathing

Posted on July 27, 2010 by anthonycaferro

Ironically my proposed spiritual journey on bike begins with a four hour layover in, of all places, Las Vegas. Nothing against sin and the whole city constructed for it, I’m just not amused by general gluttony, gambling or the dumb high electric bill. Plus no sign of Benicio Del Toro, Johnny Depp, bats, or their often cited bottle of ether.

My “checked baggage” – a box with my tent, some gear and my back wheel in it – sat on a cart within my sight at the airport the entire time. 4 hours of layover/delay and I kept a keen eye on it. At times I found myself narrating it in safely back in my possession, in a poor imitation of Depp’s amazing job in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas… (“He just wanted to not have any busted spokes or missing tools….”)

Once back on the ground in Spokane, I waited for quite a while for that box to come out on the conveyor belt. It never did. After 20 minutes of zero movement, I gave up and slowly made my way over to the office to file the missing luggage report… And there it was, on its own conveyor belt for “oversized luggage” the whole time….Yes!

In the end it all worked out. Bike had no damage, wheel had no damage, no one discovered any ether or anything like that. I’m packed up and ready to roll, just need something I haven’t had in three days – a full nights sleep.