June 25, 2018
White Bird – Kooskia
71 km (44 miles)
1040 m (3412 feet) elevation
4:03 moving time
1375 km (854 miles) total

We were nervous about tackling the 1000m climb out of town having had limited food and without water. Did not want to wait until the store opened at 9 AM. As we were taking our clothes if the clothesline the lady that runs the motel showed up with water and a breakfast sandwich which was really just a hamburger to he microwaved.

Walked over to our new white-haired 86 year old friend Del to see about the coffee. He was just waking up so no coffee. I thanked him for the hospitality and said goodbye.

We stormed the mountain which was steep and long but we steadily made good progress. About halfway up a car come up behind us and look who it is! Del had hurried to brew some coffee and drove after us, not one to break promises obviously. We enjoyed coffee together and he told us about a nice Mexican place in the next town.

As we came back down the other side of the mountain and into town Del was at that place waiving us to come over. When we were walking in a nice lady started talking to us and we told her about our charity. She was all impressed and gave us some coins for the fund. As she was walking away to her car she tripped and fell, cutting her lip. An ambulance was called to take her to a hospital. Poor lady.

Our friend Del insisted we let him buy us breakfast. This was the first time s stranger had bought either of us breakfast. We talked for a long while about Idaho, the government, Iceland, immigrants etc. He is obviously not a fan of Obama or Hillary. Not so much against Bernie Sanders. Showed him some photos from Iceland which he liked very much.

His son is in computers and wanted my email address so he could contact me. He also gave us his address and asked for postcards.

Finally we took a selfie which based on his reaction must have been his first. He was surprised that a phone could take and store thousands of photos.

Rove through beautiful farmland on country roads with no traffic. Wonderful.

Stopped at a convenience store in Sitkes and had a long chat with the lady that runs it. The store was huge but almost all the shelves were empty. She is 80 years old and trying to sell the business. Has some homeless people living with her upstairs.

She is one of the few Americans that er have met who has traveled out of the country. She had at least visited Germany, Holland and Switzerland.

We had a momentary attack of sensibility as we decided to call it a day in Kooskia, get some good food and get supplies for tomorrow.

We got our self a room at the only motel in town. We could let our self in before paying but when we were going out we could not lock the door. Called for help and after some time the lady came and with a help from Sæmi we could lock it. We took a short trip to the grocery store opened the door and closed it behind us. When we were going out again we found out that we were locked inside. Monika had to climb out of the window to open the door from outside. Calling the lady again and now getting a new room. Had a good dinner and are off to bed.