Day 22 06/12/22
We woke up to a dilemna. Where do we go today and how far can we get without being rained on? The weather forecast was rain all afternoon and into the evening and again the following day. Call us what you want but we don't like riding in the rain. So we opted to ride 23 miles to the next town (Council) and attend church at 10:00am. Sarah is not a morning person but she personed up and we broke camp in record time. We got into town at 9:30am, set up our tent at a new campground and made it to Council Community Church right on time. We both were hungry since we had broken camp, rode 23 miles, set up camp and went straight to the church. There wasn't any coffee brewing in the whole building when we arrived. Scandalous! We took our seats, sang the songs, heard the announcements, enjoyed the missions presentation and finally got to hear the Word taught. Sarah leaned over a couple of times to say how hungry she was and that is saying something from a woman who rarely has an appetite. The next thing I know, I glance over and she's eating peanut M and M's and she offers me one. I was hungry as well but I declined with spiritual superiority. In all honesty, I too was having a hard time ignoring my stomach. Right about then I heard the Pastor say, "well done good and faithful servant" and immediately my mind was fixed on the hamburger I had the night before which, coincidentally, was well done. The Pastor said that he had hoped that the Word had spoken to our hearts today but I can honestly say my stomach had spoken to me and it was saying lunch! When church was over we had quite a few curious folks wanting to know about our trip and we had a good time chatting. As soon as we left there we headed to Seven Devils Cafe for lunch. I wrote about our assault burger experience ( see I can't help myself post) in my other post. We got back to the campground around 3:30 took showers, ate dinner and watched the news in our tent. O the good life! I met a Dutch national in the laundry room who is riding the same trail as us. He told me quite an encouraging story that I will save for another moment so stay tuned.
Rode 23 miles today
Day 23 06/13/22
It rained most the night and we woke up to a cold morning in the low 40's. I brought all of our clothes into the campground laundry room and cooked our oatmeal on the folding table. We pulled it all together and hit the road by 8:00am. We put on multiple layers and two pairs of gloves. Our first stop was New Meadows at a distance of 25 miles with a nice climb in between. With some rain, we rolled into New Meadows cold and wet. Spent some time in a coffee bar and had a long discussion with the proprietor about the changes in the economy. To say the least she wasn't happy. We left and headed down the street to a Subway sandwich shop. We talked with some people who were interested in our trip. We still had another 35 miles to our destination, Riggins. It was getting colder outside and snow was falling just above us in the hills so I put on some riding pants over my shorts. That made all the difference. The next 30 miles were downhill following the Salmon River. You talk about exhilerating and beautiful. We pulled into Riggins and decided to have a dry night in a motel.
We pulled into the Salmon River Motel with this on the marquis, "We love God, guns, freedom and our neighbors." I walked in the door looking to pull someone's leg. Three women were standing at the front desk when I said in a loud voice and a smile on my face, "I hate God, I want to ban guns and I voted for Joe Biden." The proprietor, named Sharon, smiled and said, "We can find you a nice room down the road." We had a good laugh and checked in. She recommended a place to eat and said she would be there tonight.
As dinner time rolled around we walked to Sommerville's Steakhouse and Pizza Bar. Sure enough Sharon and her husband were there. She was happy to see us and made sure we got what we wanted. We had a great pizza, salad and beer. Everybody there was so nice. When it was time to pay the bill, I walked up to the bar to get the check and Sharon was sitting there talking to a guy named Joel. He wanted to know where we were riding to and when I told him, he wanted to pay for our drinks. Upon looking at the check he saw that we only had one beer between the two of us and insisted on paying the whole bill. I can tell you from experience we have seen nothing but kindness on this journey.
Rode 60 miles today
Day 14 06/14/22
Rode out of Riggins on a cold morning but we had 30 miles of some fairly flat roads to cycle before we hit White Bird. The Salmon river ran alongside us the whole way and it was brimming from bank to bank. The waters are very high due to the unseasonal rain we have been receiving. At the 10 mile mark we saw our favorite sign, Espresso. Pulling in we ordered a drink which warmed us up a bit. A little further down the road I saw a 30' long by 20" round log rushing down the Salmon river. I clocked it on my bike doing 14 miles per hour. That is some serious water movement. Just to give you an idea of what we talk about on a typical day I asked Sarah a question. We had just camped the past four nights and my question was, "How have you liked camping so far?" and she replied, "Good."
But it continued on with, "as long as there are showers and as long as there are no bugs" and I chimed in with, "as long as it doesn't rain and as long as their is no dew on the ground in the morning" and she said, "as long as the restrooms are close by" to which I replied, "I guess we really like camping!" We arrived in White Bird and off in a distance we could see the next portion of our ride. There were these tight switchbacks snaking their way up the side of this vibrant green mountainside. At that moment I knew I needed to get something in the tank. In this town of 90 there was only a cafe, a general store and a few other small businesses. We chose the cafe and ordered a breakfast split between the two of us. There was so much food Sarah could not finish her portion.
The pass was a long 10 mile climb with some 4% grades to make it manageable and we made it to the top and over the summit to Grangeville. Upon arriving in town we went to get groceries and then found a cafe where we had chocolate shakes and inhaled them! We found a campsite at an RV park, set up our tent and showered. A hot shower is golden after a long ride. Dinner was eaten in style because there were two leather recliners in the laundry room and we kicked back in those bad boys. We need to add laundry rooms to our list of camping comforts. We will be riding some pretty remote stuff the next few days. The real camping with the Grissley's begins. Bon.appetit!
Rode 53 miles today