June 13 (Casting pearls before me...)

So this "campsite" looked a lot less sketch in the light of day; it was just a large, ill kept lawn. Wish I had been able to see it better last night, I would have slept a lot better. Of course, this sign did not help.

While I was making breakfast Scar came out to say hi with one of his dogs in tow. Apparently, I was the first person to ever use his Honey's Park campground! (AKA free lawn space) Scar has had a website advertising his Honey's Park Campground to RV'ers for a long time, but none of them have taken him up on it so far. Kinda makes sense though, someone willing to splurge on an RV is hardly gonna go cheap on the campground. But three days ago Scar saw a cyclist hiding behind the church next door, and the cyclist told him of Warm Showers. I think he'll have a lot better luck with us - he already has three more cyclists coming soon.

Anyway, Scar was homeless for quite some time while fighting with the VA for benefits, and he wanted to make sure nobody else had to go through that, so his lawn is free for use. He is a pretty cool guy, and we talked for about half an hour while I heated breakfast and one of his dogs hunted mice – which was breakfast too, in a way.

I saw a few of the sites in Arco on my way out. Apparently, every year the high school paints their year on the mountain, so large you can read it from miles away! (This one picture is oversized, to make sure you can see the numbers on your screen.)

And to commemorate Arco's status as the first town with nuclear power, there's an old sub top and torpedo sitting in the middle of town, as a sort of museum.

After that I hit the road and got my first real taste of crosswind. I must say, I think I like headwinds better - crosswinds slow you down almost as much as headwinds, but have the added benefit of pushing you into traffic. And if a truck goes by ... well, you immediately fall one direction cause the wind you were leaning into is momentarily blocked; and, when you right yourself, the wind returns and blows you over again! Rrgh.

I struggled with this for about an hour and a half, making reasonably good time, when I pulled into a rest stop to check my map. I had gone 17 miles and discovered the turn to take was ... nine miles ago? Shit! I verified this with a couple at the rest stop who said, "Oh, it's not too far back." All I could say was, "Yeah."

So an hour and a half later I had managed to backtrack to the turn, through headwinds, crosswinds, and an uphill climb. I was not the happiest camper, but I was glad to see that the wind had persisted, because now it was a true tailwind. And it was wonderful.

I made the next 50 miles in record time, given how the wind was pushing me. But I had ridden 20 miles further than I had expected to, much of which was through headwind, so I flagged at the end. I basically crawled into Duboise.

I was in luck, though; for, when I asked the cashier at the gas-station-mart for any places I could crash and not be yelled at, she immediately hooked me up with a friend who let me camp in her trailer park. My phone was completely dead though, so no blogging that night.

My last thought as I fell asleep was how much of an idiot I was for wasting a day with perfect wind by going the wrong way.

June 12 (In which I become bitter)

Bill PSA:

I should preface this by saying that I have been truly fortunate on this trip. It hasn't poured on me past the first day, and in retrospect I've probably gotten more good weather than bad. Despite that, this is a daily blog, and none of those reasonable thoughts were anywhere near my head this day.

What, you didn't think I would be cheerful and bright every day did you?

P.S. I think I figured out this MapMyRide bug. At times, with absolutely no warning, it starts considering the GPS signal as being too low quality to use (despite the fact that it is tracking me just fine) and stops recording. If I stop the ride for a minute it will reacquire location and correct itself, though all the ride details in between the loss and reacquire are lost. Better than nothing I suppose...

So yeah, headwinds are of the devil. Gone was my beautiful tailwind from yesterday and instead I had a full frontal headwind, ranging from meek to stiff. Which is perfect, because today's ride was only going to be 150km/90mi... Fine. I gritted my teeth and pushed through it, trying to get back some of that speed from yesterday. I was making good progress until...

I hit the Craters of the Moon area. I don't understand what is so important about these stupid rocks. They look useless, nothing grows there, and I can't even see why anyone would want to visit. Regardless, this HUGE area is specially taken care of by the government, and as such the road got pushed into the mountain. Since this was right at the end of my ride I was already exhausted (pushing hard through a headwind for 80km/50mi will do that to you) and the fact that I was now climbing made my mood quickly deteriorate. And then it started raining.

When I say raining, I mean that it would rain a little, increasing in intensity until I put my rain gear on, and then abruptly stop and the sun would come out. When I put the gear away it started raining again, increasing in intensity until I had to grab the gear and ... you guessed it, stopped again. I eventually just left the gear on and that seemed work to ward against any type of precipitation...

Of course, I eventually crested the mountain, which is when the headwind picked back up. Somehow my inarticulate cry of impotent rage seemed to cause it to quickly dissipate, for which I was very grateful.

Anyway, when I got to Arco I made a beeline for the diner and devoured a burger. The cool thing, though, was that I got to talk to a local retiree, Dennis, who told me all about Arco. Apparently, it was the first city in the entire world to be run by nuclear power, for instance. He also told me about another lady he met who was on tour years ago by horseback! Apparently she wanted to travel to Texas, so she took two of her horses (one for riding and the other for her packs) and just went. It must have taken her half a year if not longer, as she only covered 20 miles or so a day.

After dinner I headed over to the WarmShowers location, the home of Scar Stigr. This one seemed more sketch than usual, especially in the dark. I couldn't reach him beforehand, but it said that showing up with no notice and pitching a tent was fine, so I did. Can't say I slept that soundly though.

... Neither did the editorial assistant after receiving this text from our intrepid Terrapin:

Camping at 2436n, 3000w in the town, home of scar stigr.  Little more sketch than usual, wanted to document.

Now, if there's something you don't want to hear from your kid who's thousands of miles away, it's that he feels the need to document his location before he goes to sleep!

I checked out Scar's page at WarmShowers and it seems he's a retired vet who lets people camp for free on his land.  I think he just doesn't want to assume liability, but I can see where this sign would have given Bill pause as he pulled into camp late at night:

June 11 (The Never Ending Climb)

 

 

Today was ... trying, but I did get some of my faith restored in humanity. (I'm of the opinion that most people are decent, but won't proactively offer help if it inconveniences them in any way ... like having to actually stop their car on the side of the road to see if the cyclist is OK.) It's always heartening to meet the ones who not only help you, but go the extra mile.)

So today I decided to take Patrick's route advice and cut through the Idaho valley on a more scenic route that will take me to Yellowstone; Nate and his dad are probably close but, given that they are visiting family frequently, I probably wouldn't be able to ride with them for that long anyway. So I was off to my next destination: Fairfield. I thought it would be a reasonably easy ride ... boy, was I wrong! Turns out not checking the elevation profile of your route can leave you quite unprepared, as I discovered when I faced what seemed to be a never ending climb.

But first, some complaints. Who takes a perfectly good, smooth  road and pastes gravel onto it in patches!?! Its bad enough having to ride on a badly conditioned road, but when you can see that right beneath the layer of crap is a smooth ride...its such a travesty.

As such I was so glad halfway up the pass when the the road abruptly improved.

About 20 miles into the climb I started getting really nervous; I had run out of water and had to reach into my reserves. (I always carry one full refill of fluids on hot, long days) Given that I had no idea how much longer it would be until I hit the peak, I was legitimately worried that I would run out completely. On such a hot day that could mean heatstroke. So perhaps you can understand how happy I was to see a restaurant halfway up ... and how depressed I was to see it wasn't open.

 

Luckily someone pulled up right as I was getting back on my bike. He never gave me his name, but he told me he was a bike rep (sells bikes to stores) and offered me some of his water. This gave me some serious peace of mind, and I thanked him profusely.

So the ride then continued. Mile after mile uphill, with brief descents that kept making me think that perhaps I had finally hit the descent. On the last such trick-decent the road dropped me into a gorgeous view ... a hell of a long climb. I think my heart about broke. But I persevered and eventually came out on top, and to it's credit it is a beautiful view.

 

And, while I was getting set up to take the picture above, a truck pulled up. I thought he was just here to take a picture as well, but it turns out the bike rep actually sent him after me with more water! The truck driver (whose name now eludes me) has also toured before, and we talked for a little while about our trips. Sometimes you're lucky enough to come across great people. (As a side note, I never actually needed to drink any of the extra water that he gave me; I had enough with what I had brought to get me to the next rest stop. It did help me a lot mentally though.)

 

At this point I was basically at the top; all that was left was to cruise down the other side ... except there was no other side to descend. Apparently ,this part of Idaho is a large plain significantly higher than the area behind me ringed by mountains, and I had only worked my way to the plateau, not to some mountain above it. Regardless, the rest of my ride was lovely, I had decent tailwinds behind me and no major hills all the way to Fairfield.

 

When I arrived at Fairfield I immediately got in touch with the WarmShower host in the area, Randy Shroyer, who rushed on over to show me where I was headed. Apparently, these folks have a whole extra house set aside for this type of thing, with about 5 - 6 beds, a kitchen, the works! His wife, Laura, and her kids were out on vacation, though; so I wasn't able to partake of her famous breakfast that all the WarmShower reviews praise the hosts for.

Finally, Randy recommended the Soldier Creed Brewing Co for dinner, and I must say I had a great time there. The sandwich Chris (the owner) recommended to me was delicious, and I had two beers while we talked about other touring cyclists he's seen, what "hops" are used for in brewing beer, etc. He's hoping to make beers of his own one day, and I wish him all the best!

 

June 10 (Holy Tailwind Batman!)

Bill PSA: 

Hey guys. Typical of me eh? Make a deal (comments for timely posts) and then immediately fail to hold up my end. Well, I like making daily posts (with no foreknowledge sprinkled in) even if they are delayed and come in bursts, so I'll persist in this for the time being. But just so you know, the reasons I haven't posted for the last five days are as follows:

Day 5) No power

Day 4) Rode till midnight, almost froze

Day 3) No Service

Day 2) No Service, No power

Day 1) Rode till midnight, no power

Anyway, I'm going to try to crank out all the blogs today, but we'll only post 2 a day, to try to make it less of a fire hose, draw it out (give me more time), and hopefully give you a better sense of events as they unfolded.

Today I'm having technical difficulties with MapMyRide.  The app lost the route in the middle and  wouldn't track me, even though the GPS was fixed, so today's route is split into two rides with a gap in the middle.

When I woke this morning, Patrick and Rachel were already gone; they both leave for work at 6:30. So of course the first thing I HAD to do was write those last 6 blogs you've been reading, the very same ones I fell asleep trying to write three days in a row.

By the time I had finished, it was almost noon and I had to pack my stuff quickly or I wouldn't get to Mountain Home on time. (Or so I thought.) Patrick came back while I was installing the tire he gave me to replace the one that got damaged. (And wouldn't you know it he walked in right as I was failing to put the wheel back on right. Whenever you don't want to look stupid...) And, after assisting me with the install, he had another present to give: an inflatable mat to replace the one that fell off my trailer a week ago. Apparently it was one they never used, but it's working great for me! (Seriously, thanks to you both for everything, you're wonderful)

I also managed to snap some pics of Patrick and his parents. Unfortunately I missed my opportunity to get a picture of Rachel, so you'll have to check out their pictures.

Patrick's Grandmother

Patrick (right) with his Grandmother's friend

After that I rode out, and after mailing some excess weight back home I hit the highway. And MAN did I make good time! I was flying down the road at 15 - 20 mph, and what should have been a 4 - 5 hour trip took only 3! I attributed it to the well conditioned road and slight grades ... until I turned around at a gas station and that tailwind became a headwind. Man was it stiff – later in the day I had to pedal hard to go downhill if the wind was against me!

When I arrived in Mountain Home, the first thing I did was head for the gas station. Right as I was about to enter, I was stopped by a woman who asked me if I was doing a cross country tour, and if she could take my picture. Apparently one of her friend's daughters had done a cross country trip years ago, and she had died a year ago today. Perhaps my picture cheered her up some. Well, I hope so anyway.

The seat wasn't as painful as I expected, but then again it might be because it was such a short ride.

I stopped at a thrift store to pick up a new book and I ended up talking to the owner for a little while. He recommended sleeping at the reservoir, as even the young "prick" cops won't bother you there. I'm glad he did, because I got to see this while finishing my old book. (A Spell for Chameleon, Piers Anthony)

Comment Responses

Aunt Mary Jo: The highest I have climbed thus far (in real time, not by June 10) is almost 9,000 feet. That irritating mountain will show up in a little over a week.

Also, you asked a while ago what my diet is like: Breakfasts are usually ramen noodles (carbs and soup!) or if I'm lucky I'll grab a breakfast from an IHOP or something. That's rare though. Lunch generally doesn't happen per se, unless I grab a burger at a gas station. Typically I'll just eat Cliff Bars, cashews, and trail mix throughout the day, with water and Gatorade liberally sprinkled throughout. And dinner is whatever I can get my hands on; usually I'm in town by evening and I'll ask the first few locals I see for recommendations, and head to whatever restaurant sounds best. Subway is kind of the default though.

Aunt Karen: I'm hoping to have a very busy week meeting with everyone I can before I head off to Seattle, and I'm glad you'll be there!

Su-Nin: Mom won't mind you calling her an editor. In fact, before – when we thought I would be dictating this – she called herself my secretary. :P

Rich: No, that key has been lost to the ages, probably sucked into some nether portal.

Danny: Thank you so much for posting another embarrassing anecdote about me on the internet. I'll get you for it...someday

.

June 9 (REST DAY ... Bike Maintenance – and Tibet!)

Bill PSA:

I apologize to you all for getting a week behind here, it can be really hard to work up the energy to write one of these after a long day - I will often just fall asleep. So let me make you a deal. Though I can't respond directly in the comments (my phone gets buggy there) I will always read and reply to them in my posts. So, if you read this and want me to continue writing these, please every once in a while post a comment. It goes a long way to making this whole process feel rewarding. In return, I won't let myself get more than three days behind schedule.

 

Another morning, another wonderful meal. Apparently the Hugens family is going rafting today. Patrick said if they had had room I could go, but I had to get some bike parts so I declined.

 

Oh, and Rachel and Patrick irrigate their lawn instead of watering; apparently the land used to be farmland and they still have the old water systems.

 

 

To afford these new parts, I needed more money. Mom and Dad had wired me the funds, but I had to find a Western Union location to get them.  And it seemed like everyone I asked pointed me to some other shop two miles away. I think, in the end, I made a 5-6 mile loop around Boise until I reached Wells Fargo and was able to get the funds.

 

At the bike shop I got my handlebars rewrapped (and the mechanic showed me how to do it next time) and a spare pair of brake pads (I think I'm burning through those extremely fast). I also ... got a Brooks saddle, against the advice of literally everyone I asked about it.

 

A short explanation:  Brooks saddles are essentially leather bolted to a frame, and they are EXTREMELY uncomfortable for the first few hundred miles or so, after which they become unbelievably comfortable. Usually you break them in over short rides but I feel young and invincible, so I will be breaking them in over the trip.

 

After this I headed back to the house just in time for dinner. Everyone was back from rafting, and I think a few neighbors just dropped in! I'm getting the sense that Rachel and Patrick really like having company.

 

 

 

  

Here is a picture of Patrick's sister and her friend, planning their trip to Las Vegas at dinner.

 

 

After that I sat down with the Hugens and they showed me their pictures from Tibet. They are ... simply breathtaking, and make my trek here seem small and insignificant. The color commentary made it even better. They also have a Picasa of all their trips. Check. Them. Out.

 

All I can say leaving here tomorrow is that I very much want to emulate these remarkable people, as a host (both in WarmShowers and in general) and as a cyclist. They haven't ever stopped having adventures, and I would like to be able to say the same for myself in 20 years.

 



 

Comment Responses

 

Rich: I haven't been able to find one of those camping candles as of yet, do you know where I can pick one up? Also, I forgot to mention but my foot stopped hurting a week ago, loosening my cleats did the trick for me. :D

June 8 (REST DAY ...Triathalons, Books, and Beer)

The day began with breakfast. And WHAT A BREAKFAST. Keesh (Um ... QUICHE ... Thanks to Jane for noticing ... it was 2 a.m. when I worked on this and I just figured that "keesh" was some European muesli type thing I'd never heard of.), bacon, fruit salad, orange juice. It felt like I had died and gone to heaven.

 

Oh, and it's worth mentioning that Patrick is from Holland, and his family was in for a three week visit. So I got to sit and eat with an assortment of foreigners, which was fun. One who stood out was Patrick's sister; she had just finished a race from Paris to Holland to raise money for cancer victims. The race is done in teams - two groups to a team, with each group having 2 cyclists and 4 runners. The runners switch every km or so, and the cyclists stay for a few hours. It is a nonstop race - and the two groups will switch out to let the other rest. Apparently the race raised 5 million euros for cancer, and her group alone raised ... 20 or 40 thousand, I forget which. They were also a really fast group; they started out last and ended third!

 

So of course his family participated in the annual Poot Scoot! This is a 5km race against a tennis ball as it travels through the sewers; the racers are trying to beat it to the exit. The race starts with the organizers flushing a tennis ball in a toilet, instead of shooting a gun, and, from what I hear, the engineers who tracked its speed said it was going pretty slow. I think someone quoted them as saying, "It must be a slow day."

 

Patrick helped me fix up my bike in the morning and gave me extremely valuable advice on touring in general, such as how to sleep for free in various places while at the same time getting to meet cool people. For instance, at a campground you can pull in and find a group, and offer to pay half of the fee for the campsite if they let you stay. They usually won't accept your money and, before long, you'll likely be at their campfire talking up a storm! Small town bars are also great; go in with an open and sociable attitude and, before too long, someone will likely let you pitch a tent on their lawn. (I should note the main point of this is meeting people and getting those social experiences, you're not trying to take advantage of them)

 

There was a half Ironman Triathlon going on today, so I meandered down the route to Boise.  I managed to catch a few pics of a cyclists and runners pulling in and out respectively, and I just happened to see the first few runners as they neared the finish line near the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial. Cool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also have a huge number of pics at the memorial, I'll make them into an Imgr photo album...later.

 

After that I headed over to a bike touring store (excellent store) and a small bike shop to replace the one I had finished. I meant to go to a small café to blog over a beer, buuut...I started reading the book and lost track of time in a major way.

 

So I came back to the house late, and the entire house was asleep. If they'll have me, I'd like to stay another day – I still haven't seen their DVD from Tibet!

 

Oh. And this is the ladder to the loft where I'm sleeping.

 

 

This is their relatively new kitchen. (Patrick does all the woodwork himself!)

 



 

This is my view when I wake up in the morning:  redwoods, bamboo and plants from all over the world!  I could get used to this...

 

 

 

 

June 7 (Best. Hosts. Ever.)

So, as it turns out, Nate and his father ride like bats out of hell, at least when compared to me. I think this is because Nate is riding with no weight, and his dad is a monster pulling that 40 pound trailer. I had a bit of trouble keeping up, but it was fun to ride with someone else again.

The folks out here seem to like to emblazon giant capital letters on the mountain for the initial of their town name.  Like this giant A on the mountain nearby Adrian.  I saw the same thing for Dayville, but I didn't take a picture there.



And someone has a really good sense of humor.

 

After 40 miles or so we reached the junction where we would split up:  I'd head east and they'd head south.  I checked the map and ... 39 more miles to Boise. I about fell over. Anyway, we rested a bit at a gas station and I managed to grab a picture of the pair before we parted. Hopefully I'll get to ride with them again soon.



After that I just rode and rode and rode. It was pretty miserable. My legs were giving out, the roads were poorly maintained, and I don't think Idaho believes in shoulders. But I eventually made it to the next WarmShowers location, that of Rachel and Patrick Hugens.

There will be more about this pair in the coming days, but let me start with this: they are the most amazing hosts, and they have toured in every continent except Antarctica (which they only visited).They said I could stay as long as I wanted, Rachel fed me a delicious Indonesian dish, and offered to help me with any route or bike issues I may be having.  This was my first home stay with a WarmShowers host and I was pretty nervous, wanting to follow proper couch surfing etiquette and to make a good impression on my hosts.  Rachel immediately put me at ease; she said, "For the first ten minutes here, you're a guest.  After that, you're home.  If you want a cookie, take a cookie.  If you want a banana, take a banana..."

Tomorrow is my rest day, lets see what Boise has to offer!

June 6 (In which I almost ride a century)

 

Today I awoke shivering again. It amazes me how cold the deserts get at night, and how quickly they warm in the morning. Anyway, I quickly packed up and headed down the mountain for some breakfast.

 

Here is a pic of my "campsite."

 

 

Anyway, after eating I rode. And rode. And rode. Yeah, turns out 150 km is a lot to ride. Over the mountains and through the desert, to Vale we go...

 

 

In total, most of today was riding without much else to occupy my time; a few tens of miles of mountain, and then 60 miles of desert. I did stop at a bar partway through and get a beer though, that was nice.

 

Pictures of desert.

 

  

 

 

 

My trophy pics of the mountains I've scaled (The last one is cute, the hill thinks it deserves an elevation sign")

 

 

 

 

One sign you never want to see.

 

 

 

And a pic I took of my bike setup while resting under a rundown building, in case you were wondering what the setup looks like together.

 

 

Once all those miles were behind me I met up with Nate and his dad at the motel in Vale (all the land was agricultural, nowhere to pitch a tent) We head out tomorrow for the Boise area, which should be a nice break compared to today!