June 18, 1998 - Coulee City - Davenport

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 82.53 Miles

TIME: 8 Hours

AVERAGE SPEED: 13.2 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Warm sunny morning turning into a partly cloudy afternoon. Another perfect day for biking.

ROAD CONDITIONS: Smooth road all the way.

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: The beginning was a very easy area full of a gradual sloped downhill with a few uphills. After reaching the dam, we then went up a 9 mile hill to reach the plateau again. Then there were numerous rolling hills for about 40 miles to reach Davenport.

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
I got up around 8:00 and had a lot of trouble waking up since I have not been getting my normal amount of sleep. I got out of bed and packed up my sleeping bag and air mat before throwing it into my bag and getting a quick breakfast of the last of the granola. I threw my stuff into the van and was finally able to leave around 10:00 and we went to a nearby gas station to fill up a few people's tires. I didn't need my tires to be filled so I continued on and biked with Lana for about 25 miles(Picture6) until we came to the Grand Coulee Dam.(Picture7) The scenery was great with a large lake surrounded by canyons due to the buildup of water from the dam. This is the largest dam in the world and turned out to be a great place to eat lunch as we looked out over the spillway. Around 1:00 we left and went to a local post office to find the directions to get to Davenport. We found out that we had a 22 mile uphill in front of us which turned out to be a 9 mile uphill. The person in the post office had no idea of distance. A few people stayed at the dam and took a tour. They didn't leave until at least 2:30. As we were going up the hill, it felt like I pulled a muscle above my right knee. I ended up using my left leg a lot more than my right. As we continued on, the pain dissipated and by the end of the trip, I didn't even notice it. I hope it doesn't get too bad tomorrow since we have to bike into Spokane the next day. When we got to the top of the hill, we had another 10 miles until we would finally reach route 2 again which would take us to Davenport. We got to the intersection right as the SAG came by which gave us a piece of pizza and fresh water. We thought that we had another 45 miles until the end of the day but we found out that it was only another 30 miles. The rest of the day was full of rolling hills through wheat and hay fields along with lots of grazing land for cattle. I stopped about 10 miles from Davenport along the side of the road and ate an orange before continuing on. I came into town and went into the church where we were to be staying for the night. I then iced my pulled muscle to try to make it so that I can bike tomorrow with as little pain as possible. We then had dinner consisting of spaghetti and salad with a few different types of juice. This was a great relief from the water that we have been having for the past few days. We then went to bed around 11:00 once again.

TRIP ROUTE:
Turn right onto Rte 2 and follow for about one mile until Y in road. Take left following sign that says "Grand Coulee Dam." Follow road along river through canyon for about 22 miles. Go straight though any towns and stay on the main road. Once you reach the Dam, you can cross it or go to the base where there is a visitor's center which has tours every hour. To leave, follow road back from where you came from and take a left on Rte 174 which will go for 22 miles until Rte 2. Go left on Rte 2 until for 30 miles until you reach Davenport.