Saturday, July 10, 2010
Hi, everyone! Tonight I’m in Cambridge, ID. We are a day behind schedule at this point but this week’s ride was longer than normal (420 miles) so we figured we’d be behind. It was that or put in several 80-mile days and in the heat and terrain we didn’t want to do that. We should be getting to the end of the ride almost a week before we are scheduled to catch the train home so we figure there is no hurry at this point. We are still putting in full days of riding, though.
Monday we rode over the Lolo Pass (a 2000 ft. climb) and when we crested the pass and started down we went past a road sign that read, “Winding Road Next 99 Miles.” We spent the next two days on those winding roads and they were absolutely beautiful! We rode alongside beautiful rivers in beautiful river valleys surrounded by beautiful mountains. Steve and I agreed that it was the most beautiful riding we had ever done.
Wed. we had another 2,000 ft., 10-mile-long climb out of the river valleys over White Bird Pass and although the riding was a bit tough we enjoyed the great river scenery again. In one of the valleys there were numerous houses on the other side of the river that were only accessible by small cable baskets. People have to park on the road side of the river and cross it to their house by a small basket running across the river on cables. The cables are privately owned and each house has its own cable. I assume they are vacation houses rather than year-around homes.
The semi-trucks here are mostly log trucks transporting cedar logs and smell kind of like Christmas trees as they pass, compared to the cattle trucks of Kansas and Colorado which smell like, well, y’know, cattle. I’ll take Christmas tree anytime!
Thurs. we left the mountains behind and plunged to the valley floor where it is much hotter! It was 97 degrees in the shade when we got into town at 3:00 in the afternoon. We were told by the locals that it is cooler than usual for this time of year!
Fri. started out badly as I once again found that I had a flat tire as I rolled the bike out of the motel room. The patch I had put on the inner tube when I fixed the last flat had not held. As it had held for quite a while I assumed the heat of the last several days had made it fail. This time I replaced the inner tube with a new one and I sincerely hope it is the last time I have to do that.
Tomorrow we head into the Hell’s Canyon area of the state and are told it will get very hot. The daily ride is going to be a long one (80-miles) and we have to make another long climb (1100 ft.) before the canyon so we are hoping to get out early in the morning. But somewhere in there we pass into Oregon, the last state on the route!
We have covered over 3700 miles so far and can now see the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel.” But don’t forget to keep us in your thoughts and prayers; we still have a ways to go.
And, once again, thanks for your support!
Bruce
