I woke just as the sun was breaking over the horizon, blood red through the haze. I actually got going before 8 this morning, and made some good progress to the next road on the trail which was in good shape. Revere road was hard packed gravel and I had a 20+ mph tailwind from the southwest. I rolled fast into the small town of Lamont hoping for water. For such a small town they had a great little park. Had a faucet, a trash can and some picnic tables, exactly what I needed. I rolled out of town without worry about running out of water even if an emergency happened. I took some roads that ran alongside the Columbia Plateau trail that were great. One was really curvy and hard packed dirt, and the rest were fast gravel. I went by a couple of ponds with actual water in them, and there were cows again. I steadily climbed into a forest again, out of the open prairie finally. I just felt so much better today and I think finally being with trees again is a lot of the reason. Of course it was pretty flat with a massive tailwind today so that helps morale too... I jumped back on the trail again at the Martin road trailhead and it was in great shape. Thousands of previous bike tires that preceded me had pushed the loose gravel on top of the hardpack to the outside, millimeter by millimeter. In the process creating a singletrack line of hard pack amidst the loose gravel. I had a tailwind and was only barely climbing gradually, so the miles went by fast to Cheney. I took the road into town and found a small but nice grocery store, and got a bunch of stuff so I wouldn't have to worry about food going through downtown Spokane. Knowing myself I could bet that I wouldn't stop anywhere in the city. I actually ate some fresh fruit along with some cheese, and a whole lot of Pepsi, so I was feeling great to ride through Spokane. I had no idea what to expect, but at rush hour I was worried. Downtown was utterly devoid of cars, it was great. Had no trouble with the intersections I was worried about. Crossed over the river in a really nice park, stopped for a couple photos, and meandered on along the paths. Followed one path too long behind some hotels and ended up at a sidewalk dead end at a big highway. I crossed at the crosswalk then crossed the river again and the path turned out to be on the south side. Ran into another trail detour due to some construction but this wasn't too bad and it was actually signed well with actual detour signs. I followed some side streets where there was no path north, and other than a couple busy streets to cross without a light, it went by ok. What I don't understand is the surprising lack of stop signs at intersections. I have seen this in little towns all throughout the west. Ok, they cost money, and sure, most people on little used town streets know what's up and rarely does a foreign traveller make their way through such a place. But it seems like a recipe for disaster. Multiple intersections in Spokane in dense neighborhoods with actual traffic and neither way had a stop sign or anything. No yield sign, nothing. My previous strategy in a new place is to look and see if I have a stop sign or not. If not, I relax and keep cruising and enjoying the scenery. But now, I am scanning all the time. Because the number of unsigned intersections is unnerving. And extremely dangerous, especially for a cyclist. I turned onto a newly built path called the Children of the Sun trail, and instantly got "People of the Sun" by Rage Against the Machine in my head. It was built to a very high standard and had so many bridges over big highways and interstates that it must have cost in the tens of millions to build. Very impressive. I thought for sure there would be a convenience store or two at at least one of the last two or three crossings before I left the city, but the development stopped cold only a few miles out. So I didn't have as much water as I wanted, as I was camping dry again. I stopped a little while later after a nice descent at the Little Spokane river. There was a fence preventing access from the path. But it wasn't that high so I hopped over and got some water to filter, and it was actually pretty good. I continued on to the gravel climb up the back way into the park, and it took forever to climb up out of the private lands. I crossed a gate preventing vehicles from entering into the park boundary and after some more climbing and searching I found a reasonably flat spot for my tent. No small task with this terrain. Underneath the trees again. I've heard birds, there's no wind to speak of, nowhere near another camper or house. Great spot.