Day 6 - Couer d'Alene, ID to Wallace, ID

Weather
Temperature: 62°F
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Wind: SW 8 mph

Ride Info
Altimeter Trip: 2,440 ft
Altimeter Odometer: 14,770 ft
Maximum Speed: 37.5 mph
Average Speed: 18.1 mph
Distance Trip: 49.3 miles
Distance Odometer: 395.6 miles
Elapsed Time: 2 hr 43 min 26 sec

I misspoke in my previous post about entering a new state and time zone. Still in Idaho. It felt cooler today as the sun was hiding behind the clouds most of the time. Got to sleep in again as it was another “short” day.

One neat thing we saw heading out of Coeur d’Alene was its famous golf course. There is one hole in particular that is the only floating green in the world. The green is an island that can literally be moved to vary the distance from the tee. People have to take a boat out to the green. I bet there are a lot of lost balls in the lake.

I don’t remember much about the ride really. Most likely it was an uneventful ride with Chip and Jim. Because of that, let me share a neat story about Kellogg, ID, which we passed through on the way to Wallace, ID.

“It happened in 1885. A gentleman by the name of Noah Kellogg, a gold prospector and carpenter, lived in the Town of Murray which is 20 miles northeast as the crow flies. Being a gold prospector down on his luck, he ran around the Town of Murray looking for someone to give him a grubstake. He finally ran into two business men, Mr. Peck and Mr. Cooper, who loaned him enough money to buy grub and they loaned him a jackass (burro) to carry the tools. He started down the great north fork of the Coeur d'Alene River, came onto a trail and headed south over the mountains. Coming out on the south fork of the Coeur d'Alene River, he crossed it and went further on south up Milo Gulch and ended up about 1,000 yards above the present City Hall of Wardner. There he made camp, ate and went to sleep, and during the night, the jackass wandered off. In the morning he got up looking around for the stupid animal and hearing him braying, spotted him way up high on the hillside. Where the animal was standing he saw the sunshine glittering on something which turned out to be a large outcropping of galena (lead ore). And that was the discovery of the great Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines on September 4, 1885.”

Supposedly, there’s a sign that reads, "This is the town founded by a jackass and inhabited by his descendants." I didn't happen to see it

We arrived in Wallace around lunchtime and set up camp at a local church. This was the first time we got to use Wandering Wheel’s portable shower. Being one of the first to arrive, I had the benefit of showering in lukewarm water (which was important on a cool day). I’ll talk about the Holy Trinity (food, showers, and sleep) in a future post. After enough people finished lunch and took showers, WW ferried a number of us back to Kellogg to take a tour of the Sierra Silver Mine. It was a very interesting and informing tour. Tourists could even use pneumatic drills and drill right into the rock.

As I alluded to in previous posts, Coach would hand out maps (just a photo copy 8 ½ x 11), review the directions, and point out any items of interest along the next day’s route. If I remember correctly, I believe Coach has made the cross country trip more than 20 times.

Week 1 was coming to an end and most of us had settled into the routine. We were kind of like a nomadic tribe making our way across the country. It seemed a long time ago when we were back in Seattle and I was struggling to get all my shit packed before breakfast. I quickly mastered that system.