On Thursday we rode 100 miles from Libby, Montana to five miles beyond Sandpoint, Idaho. Much of this ride was along Lake Pend Oreille, another amazing Glacial lake. The views have been spectacular from the bike with thousands of beautiful shots untaken, although residing in the recesses of our minds.

We were blessed with a stop at Big Sky Pantry at the 49 mile juncture and served by three wonderful ladies, Stephanie, Beth and Tamara. I had a turkey, pastrami, and ham Italian sandwich on sourdough with almost NY Deli style proportions, a coke, a pickle and a huge bag of salt and vinegar chips that I shared with Craig. All that for 8 bucks. The bread was homemade. We noticed several people who were driving through who stopped to eat from Idaho. Both said they love this place for the fresh bread and great food and have visited many times in their journeys.

We entered into Idaho and took our obligatory state line shot. This is only my third visit to Idaho with the other two being to Sun Valley. However, this northern section is definitely different and more scenic. Lake Pend Oreille was exhibit number one.

I had another flat today within a mile of the final destination. That was enough for the rear tire after 3000 miles and replaced both the tire and tube. Three flats for my bike in 3000 miles is not bad considering what we have been riding over.

Lisa and I took the night off to explore Sandpoint and have dinner at the Brick and Barley near the lake. What a delightful little historic town. There is a ski slope there that has a wonderful view of the lake as well.

Friday was a short day for us. We did 75 miles from Sandpoint, Idaho to downtown Spokane and the July 4th celebrations. Fortunately, we had about 37 miles of Centennial Bike Trail to ride leading into Spokane along the Spokane River.

This trail also went right through the Gonzaga campus which was picturesque. I did not take the time to stop and take a picture.

After some challenges the ladies had in finding a place to park the RV’s (Walmart), they joined us as we are staying for two nights at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane. Saturday is a rest day before the final push to Seattle.

Lisa and I enjoyed dinner at Clinkendagger’s Restaurant overlooking the Spokane River on Friday night before the big fireworks display. The scenes along the walking route to the restaurant were just as amazing.

As we were enjoying dinner and the 8oz prime ribs we both ordered, I could not help but think about the Lewis and Clark Expedition I have been reading about on this journey. The most immediate aspect was the amount of meat they ate each day. The work was strenuous for the team, poling and rowing upstream in the Missouri River against the current, against logs and brush in the river and so forth. Each man ate about 9 pounds of meat a day. To burn that off you have to expend a lot of energy. They worked really hard to explore and catalog what they were finding in this new land as part of the “sea to shining sea” that Jefferson envisioned. As I pondered this it led me to the reason for the 4th celebration. We have our freedom as an independent nation. It took vision and foresight from our founding fathers including Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington and all the rest whom I highly respect. It took courage by all those who signed the Declaration of Independence and many after who explored this great nation (Lewis and Clark and their party of men) as well as those who have defended our nation over the many wars we have experienced. Besides all of this I am grateful for the teachers, the professionals, the farmers, the business men and women, and all our people (ambassadors if you will) from many walks of life who serve other nations and are willing to give time and energy and money to others in the neighborhoods and to the nations who have gone and will go before us and have made this nation what it is today. We have been blessed as a nation under God and can celebrate our freedom and independence this weekend. May we continue to serve others beyond ourselves with this freedom.