Day 11 Journal Mountain Home, ID to Twin Falls, ID

I rode 98 miles today. What a wonderful ride! I could hardly believe how easy those near 100 miles rolled on by and before I knew it I was here at the motel in Twin Falls, ID. The luggage truck opened at 5:45 AM and there was a long line ready to throw their bags onboard. Most then went next door to AJ’s Restaurant for breakfast. Lois, Chuck and I had already eaten something in our rooms (remember I swiped an extra banana from the salad bar last night!) and we wanted to get a super early start before the heat warmed us too much and the long mileage day. We wanted to get right out there at the butt-crack of dawn. We were on the road just before 6:00 AM. There was daylight, but barely. But the roads we took were very quiet with hardly any traffic for miles. Lois and I made sure we didn’t get too distracted with chatting this time so that we would not miss any of the cues for the turns. The surrounding mountains in the distance were beautiful, and as the sun came on up over the hills it was a photo moment to capture. There was a lot of farming all around. All the fields had irrigation systems. As we continued we could see flat top buttes for miles. Had a blast going down some hills that led us right down to the Snake River bed and through a narrow pass between the butte. The first 30 miles we saw no other riders pass us and we rolled into the first SAG/snack stop by 8:00. Within minutes the “fast riders” who we call the Peleton came in. Ate some bananas, a quick potty break, and on the road again. Nancy arrived too and she started out with Lois and I. We had a climb out of the little town we stopped in and I was going down the hills at a good clip and just continued to pick up my speed from there on out. Nancy and I paced between 15-18 mph most all day. We stopped at this really sleazy store/café on the side of the road at about mile 50 and bought some cold drinks and were off again. The cook was grilling catfish on the grill right behind the counter. We came up to a “detour” sign on the road, but that didn’t stop us, we went right on through – and it was really nothing to hold us back. The road equipment was off to the side, and it was only some new blacktop surface that was being laid that kept the road closed to cars. For a bicycle, no problem.

We had such fun trying to get in the line of the water falling from the irrigation equipment. We would cycle through the sprays of water, and say “Ahhhhhhh!” It would be so cooling on our body! The sun came out towards the end of the ride, and we were getting a lot warmer those last 10 miles.

We passed a lot of dairy feed lots for many miles today. The smell got a little rank in some places, but it was quite an interesting sight to see so many Holsteins being raised in this area. The fields were growing lots of hay, alfalfa and Idaho potatoes all along the route today. The biggest break of all today was the cooler weather because of the cloud cover. That really helped keep us considerably cooler compared to the last 5 days of riding. And another huge plus was the tailwind all day long! We got in early, had a chance to relax and then attended route rap at 5:00. Tomorrow is a short mileage day – only 39 miles. The route does do some climbing, but we’ll get in early for sure. Some will stop at the waterfalls and swim. There is going to be a scavenger hunt tomorrow. For those that want to participate we were going around forming our “teams” at dinnertime. I’ll be on a team of 6. The winning team gets a prize: FIRST IN THE DINNER LINE FOR A WHOLE WEEK!!! For us that’s a big deal, cuz we are always hungry and love to get our food – fast! We will get the list of things to find and collect on the hunt/route during breakfast tomorrow. We ate about ¼ mile down the street tonight at the Golden Corral. All you can eat – and for the bikers we were filling those plates mighty high!

I thank all of you who are remembering me, and all the riders in your thoughts and prayers. It has been just an incredible time these past 12 days – I have no words to really tell it like it is! I am thoroughly enjoying myself everyday. God is Good!

Road Kill today: 3 rattle snakes. 2 birds (owls, maybe), 1 skunk, 1 bobcat, 1 bungee cord, 3 nuts and bolts

Bananas: 3

Weather: upper 80’s. Two times in the early morning it rained very lightly – once I put on my rain jacket, but really didn’t need it for more than a minute. The second time I just kept riding through the sprinkles that lasted only about 3 minutes.