Thursday, August 06, 2009

Day 52: Jackson, WY to Idaho Falls, ID

After a marvelous morning of drying laundry with a hair dryer, we set out to purchase some breakfast and send some mail. Our first stop was the post office, just down the street from our hotel. After setting the bike on a railing, Jillian and I went in to mail just over two pounds of receipts, maps, and small bits of gear back home. Then we were off to Albertsons, to get a late breakfast. I headed in first, grabbing two donuts, some yogurt, and a banana. Jillian went next.

While she was in there, I met a man outside the store who was curious as to just what we were doing. We talked about the two different routes we might take to Idaho Falls today. This was something I'd considered at length. We had two options:

• Over the Pass - At 88 miles, this is the shorter route by almost 20 miles. But it involves 2000 feet of climbing over a pass.
• Along the River - At 107 miles, this has the potential to take a lot longer. But almost all the route is along the Snake River, and therefore mostly downhill.

The man we were talking to was very much of the opinion that we should follow the river, stating that it'd likely take us a lot less time. Once he said he'd actually ridden both routes, I thought I should maybe actually listen to him. Then he started talking about some of his other stories, such as how he used to have a bicycle, but the cops had taken it after he'd been picked up on a warrant up in Montana.

Once Jillian returned and our new felon friend had left, we called Jillian's mother for more info on our two possible routes. The felon was probably right. We might average 4mph up the pass, so it might take us two or three hours. We'd probably be able to go twelve to fifteen along the river - potentially making up for the extra mileage. Since we were feeling a little lethargic, after an awful night in DuBois and a bad morning full of drying laundry, we decided to follow the river.

Being the very prepared people we are, we stopped at a gas station on the way out of town.

Then we were off, following US-26 South. We hopped off the road and got on a bicycle path that followed the road.

We had some trouble following the bike path, as sometimes it was hillier than the road, sometimes the path ran off into a development, and at least one the path just stopped, making us get back on the road. Once again, we completely failed at following a bike path.

Some seven or eight miles out of town, our road first found the river. On both sides of us we were surrounded by huge trees. This was a very, pleasant change after many days of riding through what felt like desert. Eventually we came to a gas station/grocery store at the intersection with US-189/191. We decided this would be as good a place any any to take care of our rather upset stomachs, and stopped to use a bathroom and have some coffee. I had discovered a new love of Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee and I was hoping they'd help perk me up. We also took some time to wait outside at a picnic table.

Riding along the Snake was fantastic, and we were able to maintain fairly high speeds the entire time. Plus, the scenery was gorgeous.

The snake is a popular river for white water rafting, so we looked for an excuse to pull over. When we saw a sign for a place called "Lunch Counter" we had to stop, hoping for some food. Instead, we found a lot of people on the water, riding over "The Lunch Counter."

A little disappointed, and quite jealous of the rafters, we got back on the bike. Another twenty miles later, we came to the little town of Alpine, which had another gas station for us to visit. We grabbed some more food, by now quite hungry. Alpine sits at the base of the Palisades reservoir, and we briefly considered stopping for the night, because we just felt so darned tired. But we rode on, heading North into Idaho.

Once we were in Idaho, the valley where the reservoir was started to close in and we'd move up and down short hills, with great views of the lake.

We also passed a dying fawn, stuck on the side of the road with a severed foot, but clearly still alive. It was quite awful to see.

But there were also awesome bird nests on top of most of the telephone poles. We figured they were Osprey nests.

We rode almost all 18 miles of the Palisades, when we started seeing tremendous storm clouds above the mountains to our East, back in Wyoming. We started playing the shelter game, again, and trying to move as fast as we could. We arrived at the Dam Store just as the rain started to break.

Jillian had the owner of the store call the sheriff to report the dying deer, while I tried to keep the bike out of the rain. We weren't able to get milkshakes at the store either, instead we some more coffee and attempted to take pictures of a hummingbird while we waited on the rain. I also called my mother, to get a more recent weather report, since this was coming out of nowhere. Fortunately, she said we were likely to be safe.

Then it was back on the road again, to Swan Valley, where we stopped at a Philips 66. It still looked stormy over the mountains, making us extra glad we'd decided against taking the pass. A few miles later we hit our first climb of the day.

After a long, crawling climb, we came to the top of a plateau with expansive plains and were able to pick our speed back up.

Some miles later, we came to a rest stop, which we badly needed, and which was situated high above the Snake.

We went into the rest stop. Minutes later, I could hear a terrible, terrible wind outside. Doors were being blown open, trash cans were blown over, and we had to chase down pieces of our gear. I looked downriver again, and we were no longer able to see the hills in the distance. Everything in the valley was a terrible shade of brown. Figuring we were no more than ten miles from Idaho Falls, we hopped back on the bike and rode as hard as we could.

It wasn't long before the wind got even worse, and we started having to ride the bike at a constant angle in order to keep the wind from blowing us over. A steady, constant wind we'd ridden in before. This was something different. Wind would cycle back, hitting us at a different angle. So I'd have to angle the bike 20 degrees into the wind, only to right it suddenly when the wind shifted to a headwind (never a tailwind). A few miles in, a couple in a Subaru stopped and offered us a ride, but Jillian was quick to decline and I didn't see any way for them to move our gear. Besides, we figured it was only some wind. We'd dealt with a lot of wind before.

Less than twenty minutes later, an especially strong gust of wind pushed us hard toward the center line of the road. I instantly shifted my weight upright, to counteract only for the wind to die out. Unable to re-correct quickly enough, our front wheel caught the sandy gravel on the side of the road, making us lose our balance. I quickly threw a foot down as we started to fall, but our bicycle, plus us, plus trailer easily weigh almost 400 pounds. One leg on sandy soil wasn't enough, and we were thrown onto the ground. Righting the bike in the wind was nearly impossible. Fortunately, we crashed nearly outside a gas station/Subway - the only one we'd seen all day, and the only building before Idaho Falls on our route.

Jillian went inside first while I tried to find somewhere to place the bike. No matter what side of the store I looked at, there was too much wind. Plus, ever fearful, we were hesitant to put the bike where we couldn't see it. Fortunately, the gas station clerk was willing to let us stash the bike in the entry way of the gas station, both outside of the elements and where we could see it.

We chatted with the clerk for some time, before her cousin asked us if we'd like a ride back into town. Since by now it was almost 9 and it was getting dark, we were all too happy to agree. Only problem is that he'd need to run home to get a much larger vehicle. Still, we were so very grateful. In the meantime, after cleaning up a little blood from the crash, we sat down at the Subway, had dinner, and bought a lottery ticket.

We actually won a few times, ultimately getting up to being almost $35 ahead, but reinvesting our money every time and mostly losing.

When our ride returned, we found a way to load the entire bike into the back of his truck and headed for the Motel 6. We met some folks outside and discussed the ways the winds in the west are crazy. We found some more fast food to snack on and crashed, dreading make up miles tomorrow.

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