Day 41: Republicans or Democrats

Republic, Washington

Distance for the day: 275.5 km

Cumulative distance: 9,383.0 km

Top speed: 115 kph

Moving average: 75 kph

Temperature:  18.2 - 31.4 

Pretty easy day. We were basically taking one really long day and splitting it into two short days by going only as far as Republic. Going all the way home yesterday would have been a little too much so we elected to have a break and a comfortable ride rather than dragging our sorry posteriors through the door late into the afternoon or early evening.

According to Garmin, there are twelve cities in the U.S. with the name "Republic" or some derivative, including "Repubican" (New England), to say nothing of the hundreds if not thousands of businesses that turn up with the name. As a little excercise, I asked Garmin for the directions to "Democrat". No such place. There is a Democracia in Brazil and according to Google Maps a field in Idaho called Democrat but no populous place with that name. Biden doesn't stand a chance. 

On the other hand, the town of Republic, Washington doesn't look like it stands much of a chance either. With a population of around 1,000, give or take, there are a lot of borded up businesses here with decrepit, falling apart buildings on main street with for sale signs. I have been through Republic a number of times on the motorcycle but never stayed over.

What they do have is a motel called The Northern (to them) Inn that makes a point of catering to motorcyclers, including a motorcycle wash station with a hose, rags and soap and designated motorcycle parking in one part of the parking lot. Also, when making the reservation, I was asked if I needed "motorcycle cleaning materials". Despite that, there is only one other motorcycle here tonight (so far, at 8:30). The other thing the town has is a self-identified "LGBTQ-owned" restaurant which we found a little surprising since these parts are strongly conservative. We had dinner there and made a point of telling the owner why we chose her restaurant. She said only one other person had ever mentioned it.

We had lunch in Priest River. My one brother had emailed me to tell me, when he saw our proximity to Priest Lake, that our dad had taken us there in the past. I had zero recollection of this and I suspect it had happened before I was born. As such, there was no "emotional diversion" to be made.

We rode through Kettle Falls and Roosevelt Reservoir, where I had passed on a small solo motorcycle trip in Ocotober of 2022.

Riding over Sherman Pass on the way to Republic we stopped for a little break at an outlook and there were many wildflowers there in bloom, including these below and newly sprouted wild strawberry blossoms.

The White Mountain wildfire remnants of 1988.