Day 12

Winchester State Park, Idaho to Kooskia Town Park, Idaho

75.8 miles

I’m at these nice folks going the opposite way on the road. I was riding this morning. I believe they are a dad and two daughters but I didn’t ask. They were heading from Golden Colorado to Seattle Washington. The two young women are working this summer at a camp with middle schoolers taking them backpacking. This made me smile, they are doing a good thing.

This is Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church in Green Creek, Idaho. I thought it was interesting. Green Creek was just crossroads with a few houses, a community hall, and this church. But all the other churches I had passed, looked more traditional. It made me wonder why this church was built there. It was clearly designed by an architect, and it seems like it would’ve been more likely to see in a town or small city. Must be a big donor in Green Creek. 

I was Cruising down a hard earned dissent in the early afternoon when I saw a four legged dark animal on the road. First, I was thinking it could be a black calf, but when I hit my brakes and they squealed a bit and looked up and I was sure. He looked at me for a couple seconds, and then hurried off into the woods. Guess my bear spray needs to come out of my panniers.

I ate an excellent lunch at SassySquatch in Kamiah, Idaho they serve Ice Cream and cafe style food. I could see the magic that the owner was creating in that place. The back door had a bunch of regulars heights marked on it. There was a gallery of children drawn Sassy Squatch pictures. And when a young girl came in with her mom and announced, it was her birthday there was a quick celebration at hand. Her favorite kind of ice cream was scooped, a candle stuck on top was lit, how many bubble machine was turned on and the happy birthday song was sung. This is the magic that makes childhoods good, communities strong and the world work.

I met this guy just outside of Kooskia, Idaho. It’s kind of hard to tell from the picture, but that is his BMW Enduro motorcycle and it has a bicycle rack on the back! He said he lives locally and was doing a charity bicycle ride that climbs a mountain that morning. My brother Mark Schaumann would’ve approved of his set up. I am sure. 

I crossed the bridge into Kooskia and almost immediately saw two bike touring people across the street. So I banked a U-turn and said hello. Felix and Giles are a father and son from the Isle of Guernsey in The English channel. They are riding across the country also and like me, started in a coastal Oregon town. They were having some type of mechanical problem with one of their bikes and they we’re trying to get a ride somewhere to get it fixed. They had a bigger American flag than I did!

In Kooskia they allow bicycle tourists to stay in there. City park for free! It’s right on the South Fork of the Clearwater river. They had bathrooms, drinking water, picnic tables and an outlet on the stage. Very generous of them, thank you Kooskia!