After getting the tent put away in the car we hit the road for Spokane. It was a pretty nice three plus hour drive which stretched into over four because of bad directions from Google Maps. But finally we did make it to the Bowl and Pitcher area of Riverside State Park. After begging for a primitive campsite, which the ranger gave us but asked us not to set up until after 6 pm, we unloaded the bikes and got everything ready for our main ride of the day. Our goal was to ride from Riverside State Park into downtown Spokane, to explore and visit the visitor information center. Spokane is a great place for biking, we had heard, so we were excited to start pedaling around. Following the ranger’s directions, we headed down the main camp road until it met up with the Centennial Trail, a 37-mile section of paved trail that runs all the way to the Idaho border, where it meets up with the Hiawatha Trail. We didn’t have time to go all the way to Idaho, but we did follow the path through the suburbs of Spokane and into the heart of the city. We were stopped at a stoplight when Lisa looked down and noticed she had been riding the whole time with a panty liner stuck to the wheel of her bike (from yesterday). That was pretty darn funny!
After quickly removing the panty liner, Lisa and I biked on through the very pretty Riverfront Park (yes, different from where we stayed overnight) and to visitor information where we learned about the Davenport Hotel, one of the top hotels in the United States. After a short pedal to the Davenport and a self-guided tour, we headed back to the park for some snacks before continuing on the Centennial Trail past Gonzaga University and into the outskirts of Spokane.
The Centennial Trail is, at its best, very pretty. Parts of it run down by the river and are wooded; you can’t even hear cars around you. At its worst (which wasn’t all that bad), it is a bit confusing, with other sections winding up and down city streets and highways without very good signage. We made it out about 10 miles from Riverside Park before we turned around to head back into Spokane, to a park that we heard was having live music.
The woman at visitor information had told us about the live music and the pretty Manito Park. She said it wasn’t all that far, even though it was off our city map. She neglected to tell us it was up a gigantic hill. Lisa was running out of steam and we ended up getting off our bikes at one point and walking them up.
When we got to the park it was around 7:30 pm and beautiful. We listened to the husband and wife duo who were singing and Lisa ate some food from the cafe. She didn’t even get through her soup by the time we looked up and noticed the sky had clouded up. Only a couple of moments later, we heard thunder and saw lightening. Lisa and I just looked at each other. We didn’t know what to do ... here we were, about 10 miles from the state park. It was beginning to rain and we knew it would be dangerous trying to ride back to camp without getting either struck by lightening on our metal bikes or struck by a car on the slick roads. Everyone filed out of the cafe by the time we noticed a beer vendor in the back of the beer tent. He was loading up his van ... a huge van, by the way. It was Lisa’s idea to ask him for a ride back to camp. We honestly didn’t think it would work, but we were willing to try. To our surprise, not only did the guy say yes; he also offered us each a beer from his surplus from the night. We made sure other people knew he was driving us back, so everything was legitimate and safe. And then he did bring us back to our camp site. The travel fairy was very kind to us!!
It is supposed to rain more tonight, so our biking plans tomorrow will vary accordingly ...
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