I got up early in the morning with the first sun rays. It’s surprising how easy it is to get up early when you went to sleep the previous day so tired you fell asleep instantly.

It was a chilly 10 degrees Celsius and I just could not wait to get further south.

Finally having reached Spokane which had now only been a few km away I went on a paper chase for a few supplies. Mounting brackets for the auxiliary lights I had been carrying with my luggage. A helmet. And food. I had planed to buy a new helmet many months ago but for various reasons didn’t manage to do so before this trip. My current helmet didn’t fit me properly, was not certified for North America and was much older than 5 years which is the time frame after which most helmets start losing their structural integrity. So I hoped I would get to buy a new helmet somewhere on the way and send my old one home in the mail. It would be a hassle but again, safety goes first. I’m just too attached to my head.

I went to at least 5 different shops before I gave up on the auxiliary lights brackets. But since I had wasted so much time already I also went to check the home depot for a more home made solution. Of course they didn’t have any ready made brackets but by putting a few parts together I came close enough to what I needed. All in all this solution cost me under 15 Dollars as opposed to 70 Dollars for the real thing. I always like these kind of DIY (Do It Yourself) solutions because not only are they cheap but you can fix and change parts. The hunt for a helmet didn’t turn out as successful but my hopes had been pretty low anyway so I did what everybody else would have done and stuffed my face with burgers at the next McD.

By noon I regretted having wished for warmer weather in the morning but it was still OK as soon as I was back in the saddle. I left Spokane in the afternoon driving south now through many little country villages.

The seemingly endless road that I was following south was running alongside a single railway track that seemed to connect all the little villages like a life line. With it the harvest from the countless crop fields would be brought to giant silos. It seemed like the railroad would really only be used once a year.

 

After over an hour on this monotonous road I started getting a bit worried because a look at the fuel gauge -wait the KLR doesn’t even have one- so a look at the trip odometer revealed that I needed to start looking for a gas station. It didn’t look like there would be any around anytime soon but considering that people did live there and also needed gas at some point I was not too worried to find one.

I did eventually find one but it turns out that the KLRs gigantic gas tank is big enough to get you to Moscow on an almost empty tank. Moscow, Idaho that is. Moscow is an old town with some old architecture (I.E. wild west style brick buildings) which I believe is supposed to be a bit of a tourist town although I currently can’t think of a reason why anybody would want to go there more than anywhere else in Idaho. Or why anybody would go to Idaho for that matter. (My excuse was I was passing through). In all honesty though it’s not that bad and there are actually a few very interesting sights and places to visit in Idaho. What I really didn’t like about Idaho was how flat it was. How could there not be any mountains! Not even a little one. Not even a teeny weeny, itty bitty mountain?

Despite this huge problem I was able to continue and found a camp site not far from Russia – I mean Moscow.

And highlighted almost like a big neon arrow sing I got my mountain. Not a big one but it sufficed.

After the sun had set completely I went about playing around with the flint and steel I had brought with me to practice making a fire without a lighter. Things went well and despite not having any fire wood I had a nice fire going in not time, warming me and my raviolis and sausages.

What you don’t need to know is:

I was not alone at the camp site. There were a hand full of other travelers. Among them was an Amish family. It very much surprised me to see that they had a gigantic caravan that must have cost a fortune. I always thought the Amish renounced technology. Yet this families caravan could probably fly to the moon – and back again. Twice. Anyway it was pitch dark and I was sitting there grinding the steel across the flint creating some decent sparks when the man of the Amish family got out of the caravan and walked towards me. First I thought he was bothered by my sparks (they were pretty good ones I must say) but instead he offered me their fire wood and lighter fluid. Asking me to just return what I hadn’t used the next day he dissipated again in his caravan.

So as I was saying, I was creating decent sparks and quickly had a fire going. The fire wood and lighter fluid may or may not have made a tiny difference.

I was so hungry from the exhausting day I ate six hot dog buns with 8 sausages, a can of ravioli and a pack of cheddar cheese before I fell asleep in my tent.