Report by DanMcGuire

Towns with names like Almira, Cheney, Davenport, Odessa, Ritzville and Wilbur are not on most people’s vacation destination list, but Robin Howe and Dan Carey led us to these places, and more, in the area west of Spokane and south of the Columbia River. For nine days we had a wonderful time cycling through this picturesque land. We stayed in three of these towns. One interesting B&B, which housed about half our group, had a large dining room which they let us use for happy hours then served dinner for the whole group.

Near the end of the first cycling day, they had arranged we meet with a local farmer. Mr. Sheffels eloquently explained to us the techniques and difficulties of “dry land” wheat farming. He spoke to us in a wheat field, part of the 9000 acres he farms, surrounded by massive equipment, alongside a road named for his ancestors.

You might think that all this cycling around wheat fields would be boring, but the fertile fields were interspersed with deep ravines, interesting rock formations, and the valley of the Columbia River. The landscape has an amazing geological story. About 15 million years ago there was a massive outpouring of basaltic lava covering the whole area. Then during the latter part of the last ice age, about 13 thousand years ago, some of the largest floods ever recorded rushed across the area. This was caused by the sudden draining of Lake Missoula, a lake with a volume comparable to a present day great lake but contained by an ice dam in present day Idaho, which suddenly gave way and the lake water swept across eastern Washington. In a few days the area was eroded into the formations known as the channelled scabland. These ravines became the channels for the present day rain and melting snow fed creeks, and the route of many good cycling roads.

The cycling routes started from the various towns (some we drove to on the morning of the ride) and offered a new vista and beauty each day, plus a few challenges. All the routes were loops so we had maximum opportunity to explore the countryside. Some routes combined wheat land and scablands, some led down to the mighty Columbia River now tamed by many dams, some led to other towns with particular interests, such as a factory making German sausages, some led to wildlife refuges, no two rides were alike and all had prairie wildlife, meadow larks singing, hawks soaring, water fowl swimming in ponds, and many more birds to view. Robin led a few of us on a nature walk around some deep potholes scoured out by ancient floods and pointed out the variety of flowers including large yellow Balsam, and Bitter Root. It was early in the year so still a bit cool and the wind was always there, but there were no flat tires. It only rained on two day, for a few hours one day and briefly during the lunch stop on the other day. The last full day of cycling was wonderfully warm and sunny, through lovely countryside, so it left us all happy.

Thank you so much Robin and Dan for another wonderful tour.