After a relatively short day of riding, where we got stuck in yet another Utah afternoon thunderstorm, we arrived at the house of our good friends Jesse and Michelle. We decided to take a few days off here to enjoy their company and explore Salt Lake City. Deb explored downtown SLC and Mark rented a mountain bike again to check out the local trails. We tuned up our bikes, did a bit of gym climbing (which was mostly a humbling reminder of how much your forearms don’t get exercise when bike touring) and met some of their friends at a barbeque party.
Our plan was to head roughly northwest and meet up with the Columbia River Gorge right around the corner of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Leaving SLC, we rode north, heading to Ogden where we had found someone on Couchsurfing to stay with. Our host Alex might as well have been a Warmshowers host though, because he was an avid cyclist who met us after his daily 10 mile bicycle commute from work, and took us to the local bicycle co-op to get Deb’s front brakes tuned up. That night we walked downtown, got burgers and beer, and slept well in his guest bed.
The next day started out just fine, biking on back roads up through Brigham City, but beyond that, civilization started to thin. After a quick lunch, we hopped on the interstate heading for the “town” of Snowville, really just a glorified truck stop. Thunderstorms threatened, but there were overpasses we could take refuge in every 5 or so miles, so we hopped from overpass to overpass, checking the radar on our phones at each one. At one point, the shoulder developed these wrist-jarring bumps every 10 or 20 feet, so we took a risk and tried hopping off onto a hard-packed dirt road to avoid them. After a few miles, that road deteriorated, but a barbed wire fence prevented us from retreating to the interstate. Eventually we were able to get back on the interstate, and thankfully the quality of the shoulder had improved. We cruised the rest of the way to Snowville, stopping just once to take shelter from another passing thunderstorm in an abandoned barn.
It turns out the needs of truckers and bike tourists overlap significantly, because Snowville felt like paradise after a long stressful day of riding. There were not one but two diners(!!), and a quiet, grassy park right next door to camp in. We had dinner in one diner and breakfast in the other, and set out the next day for Burley Idaho. It was another long day of desolate riding, but at least we were off the interstate today, and we crossed the border into Idaho just before lunch. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to bike tour through Idaho, just watch the video below on loop for about 4 hours, then go eat a sandwich, then watch for another 4 hours.
By the time we got to Burley we were both pretty sore and tired, but I had sunk into a dark determined state, wanting to push through everything and hit the Pacific as soon as possible. Deb was less gung-ho, and proposed slowing down a bit. I’m still pretty bad at enjoying the journey and not just focusing on the destination, but Deb reminded me that there’s value in that, and we decided to take the next day off to recover. I think we both needed the break, thanks Deb!
After our lazy day off in Burley, we did a short day to Twin Falls and then a slightly longer day to Glenns Ferry, where we had a wonderful stay with our Couchsurfing hosts Wayne and Marilyn. They cooked us a delicious dinner and breakfast, showed us around their beautiful garden, and gave us comfy beds to sleep in. We hit the road early the next morning to beat the heat, and managed to avoid getting dysentery riding the Old Oregon Trail Road through fields of windmills into Mountain Home. That night, we went to the local KOA to get a campsite, only to end up in line behind the lady who snagged the last spot. It turned out she was on a (motor)bike tour of her own though, so when we saw each other we chatted a bit, and she invited us to stay with her. That night we swapped stories, and even ended up inviting another late-arriving motorcyclist to our campsite.
The next morning, we hit the road early again to beat the heat, and cruised into Boise where my old CTY friend Dave Hooper had invited us to stay with him. Somehow we managed to forget to take any pictures with him, but we did get some of his super cute dogs, and the natural hot spring up in the mountains he took us to that evening. Thanks Dave!
