Day 5: Newport, WA to Bull Lake, MT

A slight drizzle was still falling as the duo took off in the morning. The plan was to make it across Idaho in one day. Could they do it? As an 8 ball may conclude: Signs point to yes.

The ran started to pour again as I entered Sandpoint, Idaho. People in Ione and Oldtown both mentioned that it was and awesome town. I will say, I was not disappointed. However, the rain made it less than ideal for the bikers. In order to get to the town, I had a cross a massive bridge over a huge lake. The view, although cloudy, was still pretty neat. The town had the small mountain town feel it it with plenty of hip shops, ski and bike rentals. I met up with Wes and Will at a Starbucks (of all places) I could see myself living there in my later years.

On my way to the second checkpoint, I struggled to find the crew. I ended up driving to the Montana border before turning around. Perplexed, I concluded they must have stopped in a town for some small emergency. Sure enough, on the way back, I saw them on the side of the road, stopped and tire dismantled. Wes had popped is first flat of the trip. After numerous attempts to repair the tube, we finally got it into place. I gave them a head start so I could check up and make sure everything was alright just a few miles up. Meanwhile, I headed to the local food mart to shop for camp grub.

A few miles up the road I saw Will and Wes stopped off the side of the road. Concerned, I pulled over, prepared to fix another tire. Fortunately, they had simply stopped for a break. The tire was holding up fine and the two were determined to hit 100 miles yet again. Relieved to hear this, I zipped up to a recreation area, just over the border for my run.


For whatever reason, the whether, the roads, there was something different about Montana compared to Idaho. Before my run, the rain had thankfully stopped, the sky was overcast, everything was calm. It had been a long time before I had gone for a run in a place so peaceful. 75 minutes of running had never been so relaxing. I ran along the lakefront for much of my run before finding an uphill trail to get some hill work in. My quads were burning on the uphill and hamstrings screaming on the down.

I found Will and Wes one last time before finding a campground for the night. The site overlooked Bull Lake. The lake was actually quite warm. It had to be above 65º. After testing the waters, Wes and I bathed in the lake using dish soap. At Camp Mishawaka, we called this a soapie. After cooking fajidas for dinner, I hit the hay listening to owls hoot into the night.