August 8 Riggins, Idaho

Finally got out of New Meadows - it was a pretty dismal little motel in a pretty dismal little town but as we rode from the drizzle & cold into the sun my mood improved considerably....what a difference a day makes! Idaho is breathtakingly beautiful - the capitol is Boise, the flower is the mock orange and their motto is "Famous Potatoes" and it seems that everyone we meet is either a cowboy or from California! I can't seem to keep track of what time it is much less what day it might be and that's a tad disconcerting and but life on the road is getting easier. A day like today is just about as perfect as it gets and I'm reminded again of how lucky we are to be able to do this,

Judith

Saturday, August 7, New Meadows to Riggins, ID, 39 miles
Well, today was our reward for the last couple of days. It was an awesome ride through indescribably beautiful country. Plus we got several doses of interesting color.
To begin with, it was cold and raining, again. We hung around the motel hoping for things to clear but they showed little improvement. Riding in the rain, even cold, is not as bad as you may think, if it comes upon you while you are riding. But as a mental thing it is very hard to get on the bike and start riding into rain. We set a deadline and waited but things didn’t improve so we finally suited up in all our rain gear and headed out. The riding was fairly easy and, of course (as often happens), either the rain ended or we rode out of it in within 5 or 6 miles. Our ride for today was targeted to take us to Riggins, as the setup for going to White Bird, which in turn is the setup for positioning us for a very hard climb after that. Our entire ride to Riggins is somewhat downhill, or at least gives up a bunch of elevation in the course of the day. We rode downriver (finally), down the Little Salmon which is white water in parts and took us thru some beautiful canyons. Strangely enough, whenever the canyons tighten in us, the wind picks up velocity and as it is a headwind we end up having to work fairly hard to go downhill. This, like walking downhill a few days ago, violates a principle of cycling but, hey, it is what it is. Could be much harder.
We stopped for lunch at a small pullover called Pinehurst. Pinehurst General Store & Café. Turns out to be a tiny place that manages to contain a complete general store, a gas station and the café has a pretty complete menu. The place is being run by a father and three boys who are all very friendly, we had a good chat about growing up in this part of ID and the chance to move to Boise for something new (oldest son), although it’s very clear that Dad has made exactly the life he wants tucked away in this hidden part of Idaho. As we waited for lunch a fellow entered who had been riding on a motorcycle and was soon joined at the snack bar by an older, very thin woman. She looked very out of place – although she was dressed in river rafting style she also featured a very tight face lift and a full ‘do. She teased me some about my fashion statement – I was still wearing tights under my riding shorts as part of my rain gear and looked sort of like a silly elf. We got talking some and she introduced us to the fellow with her – the famous Michael O’Leary, as she put it. It was then that we noticed Michael had not only ridden up on his big bike (Iron Horse, he called it) in full cowboy boots but was also wearing a holstered six gun. Very curious for someone from NY where such things are not common (understatement). Anyway, everyone was very friendly and it turned out the woman, Beverly who runs the “resort” next door, is not only from southern CA (half the people we’ve talked to in ID are from CA) but she lived in Montecito and Santa Barbara where Judith is from. Bizarre. They chatted and compared stories about old Santa Barbara and we over hear a young fellow at another table mention the Adirondacks! He turns out to be from Hague (15 miles from us on Lake George in NY) spending his summer in ID interning with a whitewater rafting company. Too weird, what a proverbially small world.
The rest of the days riding was awesome, steadily against the head wind but beautiful and just what we had hoped for. Along the way we say a real oddity – for a stretch the road side signs describing who had adopted the roadway in terms of litter pick up credited ”Yahweh’s 666 Warning Assembly” for taking care of the highway. Well, we are in ID, which has been famous in the past for survivalists, paramilitary groups and off beat religious rapture and end of world groups.
Rolled into Riggins early and unlike New Meadows it’s actually a pretty little town showing some signs of life. Found a great value at the “Big Iron Motel” (yes, there’s a picture of Marty Robbins in the lobby) who offer a special rate for cyclists and are equal to a good campgrounds. Got a decent dinner and a good night’s sleep after a solid day.
Two notes. First – I’ve mentioned how the rough roads are chewing up our bikes. Tonight I made the chance to clean them both up good and go over everything. I found one of my pedals is self-destructing and spent part of the night getting creative with petroleum jelly, chain lube, tweezers and ball bearings trying to rebuild it well enough to get me to Missoula. Here’s hoping.
Second – I’ve had some great news, it appears the Bob Daniels has not suffered any significant damage from his stroke event and is both home and on the mend. Great relief.
Michael