July 15, 2024
To Sourdough, ID
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I've been frustrated with RWGPS this trip. We were supposed to have eight days of over 3,000 foot elevation gain. I picked our mileage and overnight spots based on the climbing effort for the day. Today was another of those big climbing days. Indeed, if you look at the elevation profile - it's all uphill. Yet, I still didn't get the advertised elevation gain.
I was out the door at 7:30, in anticipation of climbing in the cool temperatures. Jacinto was still in bed when I left. He doesn't care if it gets hot. Another advantage to leaving early is beating the traffic.
My route out of town was different than my route in. This included a couple of stiff little climbs, just to let me know what the day was about.
Garden Valley was only two miles down the road. We stayed there on our long ago trip. The motel was still there, but I couldn't even identify the building that was the restaurant all of those years ago. Once I passed Garden Valley, the traffic died to almost nothing. This is an excellent cycling road. You can't beat the scenery for riding alongside a river and seeing the mountains.
The day was one long climb with a big bump in the middle. I came to the big climb at mile 17, riding through a rock slide zone. I sure didn't want to stop here! But, it was steep, I would like to stop. I implemented the stop every mile strategy, and was watching the tenths of a mile for the first stop. Okay - some days are like this. I knew the top was mile 21. I could stop that many times. But, I think the mapping program was confused by the sheer rock walls. That one mile of stiff climbing was about it. At mile 18.5 there was a downhill section. What is this? I'm very sure mile 21 was the top. There was another up, but it wasn't too difficult. That works just fine for me. When I was in the rock slide area, there were some laundry basket size and smaller rocks all over both lanes of traffic. I was in a pull out area. The far side lane of traffic at that moment consisted of three vehicles. They politely waited for me to slowly get out of the way, then they crossed over and went around the rocks in the pull out area. Jacinto said by the time he passed through, the rocks were cleaned up.
Once I passed the big bump and realized the day wasn't going to be as difficult as expected, I was extra happy about the day. Jacinto and I agreed this was a fine cycling day. We've had several days of good scenery, but heavy traffic. It's nice to be back on a small road and finish our trip on a high note.
I stopped at a potty next to the forest ranger station. As I came out, a man chatted with me for a bit. He's 75, traveling around in his fancy Moab style camper van. His big activity is an August date in Glacier national park to take a guided tour to photograph bear. He said he's been trying to avoid fires the whole trip, but they seem to follow him. We talked about how Jacinto and I really need to take this road to Challis, as that's where our vehicle is. A detour around through Boise for us would take a week. He assured me with horror in his voice that we don't want to go to Boise, he was just there. It was 97 degrees, and completely covered in smoke. Boise sits down in a bowl, and the smoke is on top of the city.
I continued on my way. Ten miles to go. Traffic seemed to pick up. I was seeing more motorhomes, and a couple of buses pulling rafts. The sun finally came out and I was just starting to feel warm when I arrived at the Sourdough Lodge. It's the only thing here, rather like Broken Arrow, back at the beginning of the trip. Here, there is gas, a convenience store, and a restaurant, in addition to lodging. It's small, but it's all here.
There were two mountain bikers at the picnic table in front. I sat and chatted with them for a half hour. They were both interesting men. One man was starting law school in Boise this fall, and the summer is his last hurrah. The other man had a three week bicycle trip to Japan planned in September, and then he was spending six months in Argentina and Chile, riding. They had ridden most of their mountain bike ride and had six miles back to their car, on the pavement. They were going to watch out for Jacinto, but I bet he's not that close.
The check in guy looked very surprised that I wanted to check in, as that isn't until 4 PM. I told him I had talked with Matt last night, who said no one was in my unit the night before and I could check in whenever I wanted. Oh - in that case - no problem. In I went.
Our room was nice but extra small. I'm not sure why I got a one bed, but I sure wish I had gone for two. I showered, washed clothes, and went back to the restaurant to eat. The waitress told me that they didn't have any lettuce for salad, the produce truck doesn't come until tomorrow. That was believable. I was not happy when people sat at the table next to me, the man ordered a salad, and was served one! I was facing the food area. I saw my waitress go in the back, and reappear with a giant bag of chopped salad. I didn't confront her about it, but I sure wasn't happy either. I had a grilled chicken sandwich that was good. I would have eaten all of it easily, but I saved half for Jacinto. I was just leaving the restaurant, when he pulled up! Timing is everything. We sat at the picnic table. He wasn't as interested in the sandwich, but wanted a soda pop with the peanuts that he was carrying. There were horseflies at the tables, so we didn't spend too much time there, but went to the room.
I took a nap, with the fan blowing on me. It was barely tolerable. I'm sure it will cool off when the sun goes down. We walked back over to the restaurant for dinner. My waitress was now gone. The new server said they did have salad! Hurmp. We each ordered a salad.
I wanted either a yogurt or milk for the morning. In the milk case, at the very bottom were some potentially yogurt type containers. I asked Jacinto what they were - fishing worms! He got quite a laugh out of the idea I wanted to buy them for breakfast. He said that would be a real surprise in the morning. In the meanwhile, Jacinto and I both picked individual size milks. When they rang up, it was over $10. for the two small milks. The clerk suggested we buy a half gallon - it would be cheaper. It was $8.50 for the milk. They also had a V-8. $3.50 for that. Location, location.
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Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 1,526 miles (2,456 km)
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