T H E   F I R S T   D A Y

Thursday, July 8, 2004

Crossing Lewis River, I quickly realize I'm close to my destination. Up to this point I've seen a number of wild animals during the drive, including 3 deer, 1 elk (I almost hit him) and a fox. This is certainly God's country out here.

I arrive just before nightfall. As it turns out, there's a campground at the Lower Falls section of the river (location of the bike trailhead) but I decide to camp-on-the-cheap and park at the Middle Falls section since parking there is free. It seems stupid to pay an overnight fee if you're just sleeping in your street vehicle (not an RV).

After parking the van I ready myself for my first overnight. The sleeping space is little confining since the bed is pretty close to the van's headliner. But, no worries, when I close my eyes all claustrophobia disappears and soon I am sound asleep, with visions of new trip destinations dancing about in my head.

Tomorrow will be my first bike ride of the trip. The ride will run along Lewis River going downstream, the way back will be an uphill climb on a paved forest road. Total distance should be around 24 miles. Admittedly, I'm not at all in shape and I'm a total novice to the sport of mountain biking. Ha, tomorrow should be an interesting day, to say the least.