So far Idaho has been a pleasant mixed bag. I started out riding along interstate highway 84 since there are no local roads going all the way across the state. Saw lots of huge rigs - some trucks out here actually pull THREE trailers! Looks like a small train! When they go by the wind actually gives me a boost and I was able to do over 73 miles in one day! However, I was able to get off the highway for a while and take local Route 30 through some beautiful farm country. The first photo is the Snake River. Yesterday I rode through part of the Thousand Springs area in which underground water pours out of cracks in ancient lava formations and tumbles down into the river. The next photo shows bales of early summer hay which are stacked just about everywhere. It also seems that many small towns have their own small museums, most of which feature pioneer history and fossils found in the area. Well, last night I pulled into the small town of Filer, ID and was looking for a place to camp (even inexpensive motels can really start to add up night after night!). I couldn't find a campground or an RV park so I asked a couple of EMT guys I saw cleaning their ambulance. They said there's a rest stop just at the western edge of town and that I could camp there. I'd passed it on the way in so I knew where it was. Found a nice picnic table and had some dinner while I wrote in my journal. Unfortunately, there was no indoor running water, only hole-in-the-ground park toilets, so I wasn't able to wash up easily. I waited until it started getting dark and then did my best to wash up at one of the few outdoor cold-water spigots! Brrrr.... Then I snuggled into my nice, dry and warm sleeping bag for the night. Well, around 3:45AM I was awoken to the sound of what I thought was rain on the tent. But I had pitched it under a small shelter covering the picnic table. What could it be? Guess those nice EMT guys forgot to tell me about the park's lawn sprinkler system! So, in the middle of the night I was forced to quickly grab all of my gear, move the bike and pick up the empty tent and move it all to another area that didn't have sprinklers. It's all very funny now but, I can tell you I wasn't laughing last night! Somehow I managed to dry off and get back to sleep for another couple of hours when the sun came up. Mental note to self: look carefully for buried sprinkler heads before deciding where to pitch your tent! The rest of today should also be pleasant back roads and then I'm back to the interstate for another 60-70 miles before I get off again and start heading into the eastern edge of the state.
Total mileage so far: 824.
Please consider making a small donation to help cancer survivors (sadly, my mom was not one of them) http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2008/steveonhisbike
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