On Thursday, we entered Idaho, cycling from Spokane eastward to Coeur D'Alene and then northward to Athol, where we stayed at a beautiful B&B called the Ponderosa Lodge (no relation to the 1960's TV show "Bonanza"). Shortly before leaving Spokane, Carol learned from her father that she has a second cousin, Carol Landon, who, together with her mother Joan, lives in Hayden Lake, Idaho, about 12 miles from Athol. We contacted these relatives and had a wonderful visit with them on Thursday afternoon.
Prior blog posts have noted how our pre-trip planning included not only reserving all of our hotels well in advance, but also selecting every road that we cycle on. But man can't live by sleep and cycling alone, so eating arrangements were (and continue to be) an important part of the planning process as well. We burn a lot of calories biking, so we "pay ourselves back" by eating a lot of food and, whenever possible, by eating excellent food. Before we leave each day we go online to research where we can have our morning snack (ideally at about 10 am) and a hot lunch (ideally at about 12:30 pm), and we also carry plenty of snack food with us in case we can't find a store at the right time. For dinners, when we made our lodging reservations months ago we checked on the availability of nearby restaurants. Since it turned out that the Ponderosa Lodge has no nearby restaurants, when we reserved our night here we made arrangements with the B&B owners to cook us dinner, and they put together a gourmet steak dinner for us.
And now for a little history: The town of Hayden Lake, where Carol and Joan Landon live and which we cycled through, has an infamous past but a pleasant present. From 1970 until 2001, the Neo-Nazi organization Aryan Nations, led by Richard Butler, had its headquarters in a 20 acre compound at Hayden Lake. In September 2000, the Southern Poverty Law Center won a $6.3 million judgment against Aryan Nations, awarding punitive and compensatory damages to a mother and son who were attacked by Aryan Nations guards in 1999. As a result of the judgment, Richard Butler turned over the 20-acre compound to the mother and son, who then sold the property to a philanthropist who, in turn, donated the land to North Idaho College. As a result, the town is now free of the stain of this group. On hearing that the group is no longer in Hayden Lake, an old friend of Peter's emailed him to say "So you can order the matzah ball soup after all!"
Carol, with Joan and Carol Landon
Peter is now safe in Hayden Lake
Arriving at the Ponderosa Lodge
Our junk food stash
Lunch in Hayden Lake
Gourmet dinner at the Ponderosa Lodge
