We managed to get out the door much earlier this morning and it made all the difference for our ride today.  I made sure Koira’s leash was in my back pocket this morning, so nothing stopped our progress out of town.  On a bit of a whim, we decided to stop at the scenic overlook just outside of town to take a picture of the valley and the twin cities of Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington along the Snake River.  We were on the Lewis and Clark trail, so it seemed fitting that we should stop and reflect on this fact.  Lewis and Clark have left there mark on this entire region.  Everything seems to be named after them here and probably for just cause.

Well, when we were at the scenic overlook, what do we see below us but Lewiston’s “Old Spiral Highway”.  Now, Jeremy could not resist this one.  It is not often we get to take a photo of a road that we are about to do before we ride it either.  Jeremy got out the helmet cam for the road too.  We knew it was going to be a good one… and it was!  It was so good, we had to do it twice.  Down and then up!  After finding this unexpected treasure of a road, the rest of the day could suck and we would still have had a good day!

Thankfully, the rest of the day did not suck.  It was a little chilly but we had our heated jackets to keep us toasty warm and Koira had her lambskin to snuggle into for warmth.  Koira seemed to be enjoying the cooler weather, though.  She wagged her tail a lot today for some reason.  She was extremely friendly with everyone and everyone wanted to stop and meet her.  Or maybe she just likes Idaho because she can smell the potatos.  Oddly enough, though, we did not find a chip stand anywhere for lunch.  Maybe they just export all their potatos.  We saw miles and miles of harvested potato fields but not one potato or chip stand.  We ended up stopping outside of Hot Springs, Montana for a quick lunch of Pogos and vitamin water.  We need to get those vitamins somewhere.  There is definitely nothing of nutritional value in a Pogo.

After Hot Springs, we took Highway 200 through some very scenic areas that were starting to remind us again of Alberta and British Columbia.  When we saw the mountains of Glacier National Park in the distance, we definitely started feeling more at home again.

We rolled into Kalispell with the sun still shining.  And, to my delight, they had a room for us again at the Red Lion Hotel.  It has become our new favourite hotel chain.  They welcome pets with open arms and they always seem to have a room.  Probably because they are HUGE.  It might be their thing.  They never have to turn people away because they make sure they will never sell out by being HUGE.  Anyway, we have a nice little room again with a view of the mountains in the distance.  They are snow-capped so we need to decide if we should try riding through them tomorrow or take a lower elevation and less-risky drive to Roosville tomorrow.  Either way, we should be crossing the border tomorrow.  I wonder if we can bring Canadian pet food back into Canada from the United States?  I guess we will find out tomorrow!