Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Southern Idaho is not like Northern Idaho

This one is for Uncle Rick--Trucking Christian Ministries
Our campfire last night.
All Talk. Me, Hans, Pastor Len, Sara, Matt

Having fun on trusty "Old Highway 30"
Checking off another state line.

Monday's entry:

As of this weekend, I’ve reached the half way point of my trip in days, but not miles quite yet (not elevation either). We enjoyed a great tailwind for our 55 miles into Mountain Home, Idaho today. I have yet to see a mountain home, or a mountain for that matter.

We had a restful weekend in Boise. It was nice to be in a good size city again, for exploration’s sake. With a group our size, we take over the roads as we commute to swimming holes, coffee shops, laundry mats, church, bike shops, etc. etc. I hope we continue with transportation method when we return home.

We stopped at a truck stop off the highway for coffee--"food and fuel," said the sign. We arrogantly boasted that food and fuel are redundant in our case.

On Saturday, some of us helped out at the Boise Bicycle Project, which is a young program that fixes up donated bikes to distribute to the homeless and low-income families—a really awesome concept. The building consisted of 3 rooms lined with bikes and 2 piled with bikes. It was a great lesson in bicycle history. We spent our time stripping bikes to the bare bones for future re-assembly.

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The real today:

62 miles on bumpy road to Gooding, Idaho. Old Highway 30 in this section is so lightly used, it is covered in gravel for much of the way--resulting in rough cycling. But we can also ride "neighborhood bike gang" style, which can be a nice break.

This was an incredibly uneventful day for me, except for my first flat tire of the trip. It breaks my heart to think of my perfect streak shattered...well, maybe that's an exaggeration.

I rode with Jess Fox today--great company. The variety of riding combos is great--solo for ultimate freedom (but high probability of loneliness), duo for good conversation and simplicity, pace line for good cruising, gang-style for a good party on the road. No two days are alike.

I appreciate everyone's encouragement and prayers.


2 comments:

John said...

Say "Hi" to Jess Fox from a former Camp Roger staffer! She probably does not remember me - I think she was quite young when I was there in the early 90s.

Glad that your trip is going well Laura!

Laura said...

Will do, John.