October 6: Flat number nine! Another for the rear tire, big surprise, but this proved to be the most enjoyable flat of the trip. I pulled off in from of this multicolored bright market in the town of East Hope. It was another pebble rolling against the tube flat, which are the worst because you can't save the tube as the problem is a series of small punctures along a horizontal line. Sad too because this particular tube had lasted over eight hundred miles. As I was changing the tire, a pick up pulled up and killed the engine. Out popped JT, a geologist by schooling, a cook and proprietor of the cafe in the market. The mostly vegetarian cafe. We get to talking and I help him move a stove into the kitchen. He shows me around his garden and the property. The market is more like an art community house, hosting classes, visiting artist and gallery space. JT offers me a place to crash, but with my busted phone still buzzing in my head, I know I need to make Sandpoint tonight, and so decline. As I'm finishing my tire off JT comes out and gives me a sparkling orange drink and a hummus and fresh organic greens sandwich. This is the first veggie and hummus goodness sandwich I've had in thousands of miles and I devoured it greedily a little down the road, ignoring the wizzing by cars and the fading sunlight bouncing off the waters of Pend Oreille Lake.

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