Day 4. Boom. We had a late start today on account of how comfortable Kate's futon was. We woke up at 8, made bacon and eggs for breakfast and packed our stuff. We finally got on the road around 10. Kate had found the Centennial Trail, an alternative to I-90 that would take us from Spokane to Coeur D'Alene, ID. Riding out of Spokane we were a little worried because the water was still high on the river and the road had been closed a few weeks earlier, but it all turned out fine.
We hopped on the trail and were on it for about 10 miles when my front shifter became maladjusted. We happened to stop in front of a nice elderly lady's house, who offered us her tools as soon as we stopped. She even had a grinder that I was able to use to shorten the screw I needed to attach my cable guide. It was a pleasant switch to be on the trail instead of the interstate, and we reached our first milestone of a state border early in the morning.
Travis in Idaho and me in Washington
The trail dropped us into the rather pleasant town of Coeur D'Alene, where we grabbed some Subway. Apparently in Idaho they don't give points on the Subway cards, which was a big disappointment. After lunch, we continued cycling along I-90 up 4th of July Pass, which brought us to our highest elevation yet of 3,069 ft.
The pass dropped us down into Kellogg, where we were able to catch another bike trail that took us up to Mullan. Since it was Travis' 23rd birthday, we decided to celebrate at a bar there. We ended up at the Smoke Shop Tavern where we ordered a draught beer. The bartender, Leann, gave us our drinks and told us it'd be $2.50. I handed her $5, expecting it to be $2.50 each and was quite surprised when we got $2.50 back. That's right, $1.25 draughts. The only food they had were bags of Doritios, so we gorged ourselves on those and beer. We also learned one of the tricks of the trip by asking at the bar where a good place to pitch our tent would be. The locals recommended that we throw it up on the far side of the local football field, which we did. Before leaving, we played Queen's "Bicycle Race" on the jukebox.
Tomorrow we've got 6 miles to the top of Lookout pass, after which it should be smooth sailing to Missoula. Overall, today had nice scenery and plenty of friendly people, especially in Mullan. Also, Mullan is now our highest elevation yet at about 3,400 ft.
| Time | Trip | Odometer | Average | Max |
| 7:45:45 | 96.8 | 411 | 12.4 | 40.5 |
