After a wonderful stay with Dave and his pups, we gathered up our stuff for some Boise exploring. I toured the Idaho Capitol (did you expect anything less?) and learned that it is the only capitol building in the U.S. heated by geothermal water! Next, while Mark enjoyed a visit to the movie theatre, I took a shuttle ride a couple miles north where I rented a tube and floated back down the Boise River right into the center of town. What a relaxing and wonderful way to enjoy a new place! As I was repacking my bike after this adventure, a man behind me exclaimed “Is that a Brooks saddle?” and I spun around excitedly, always loving to talk about anything bike related. The man, Stacy, had been tubing with his wife, Robin, and two of their friends. They asked about my trip and after a couple minutes of chatting they insisted that Mark and I stay at their place for the night, enticing us with the promise of dinner and a hot tub. On the way to their house, I picked up a new (used) phone to replace my old last one (it was run over by a car in Utah, and sadly that is why I have no pictures of the Capitol or tubing) making this truly a remarkable day! We had a wonderful evening eating, drinking, laughing, roasting marshmallows, petting a beautiful dog and soaking in the hot tub at Stacy and Robin’s.
The next morning, we were in for a haul…and the final state border crossing of our trip!! After a mostly uneventful day, Mark decided to spice things up a bit and run over an enormous bolt on the road while going downhill at full speed. The bolt managed to slice open his tire AND puncture his wheel. After some minor surgery we were on our way again, stopping for the night in Huntington, Oregon.
In Huntington, we ran into two other touring cyclists in a quaint little park on the edge of town. We introduced ourselves and enjoyed dinner together at a nearby restaurant. Over food, we exchanged crazy tour stories and got to know our new friends a little better. It turns out that Derrick and Stacy had started their trip in Memphis and were heading to Portland, OR where they planned to start living after completing their tour. After dinner, we crossed the rows and rows of train tracks behind the park to get to a small stream and soak our tired feet. We camped out in the park for the night. In the morning, Mark and I had a few technical difficulties, so we said goodbye to Stacy and Derrick as they set off, not knowing if we would cross paths again. Little did we know about what was in store for us the next few days!
We caught up with Stacy and Derrick again at a rest stop, and decided to keep riding together. After all, Mark and I had spent more than enough time together (not that we were sick of each other or anything :P ) and it was nice to have some more company. It was a fairly hot day, but we managed to stay cool one way or another as we biked about 50 miles to the town of Baker City, which ended up being a little bike tourist haven. We had a fantastic dinner at a local restaurant and followed it up with some treats at a nearby Dairy Queen. We then did some exploring looking for an acceptable place to camp, and found quite possibly the most luxurious dugouts on the planet. Outlets! Benches! Water fountains! We were in heaven.
The next morning we biked back into town and went to a bagel shop for breakfast. During breakfast, we met 4 separate groups of bike tourists. The largest group was a supported ride biking cross country to raise money for cancer research. The rest were couples or friends doing various different tours. We spent some time at a bike shop and library and then met another bike touring couple at a cafe during lunch. We finally got on our way and headed to the town of Union, where Mark had lined up a warmshowers host on a farm. These hosts, Mark and Judy, were absolutely wonderful. We stayed in their adorable bunkhouse (converted from a chicken coop!) and the next morning they made sourdough waffles for all 4 of us. They were to die for! After breakfast we spent a little time exploring the property and formed a great friendship with their horses and barn kittens.
Then we were on our way again, with plenty of climbing in store for the day. We were set to cross the Blue Mountains, which have an elevation of 5,158 ft. After hours and hours of climbing, we rejoiced as we reached the summit. We then layered up in preparation for the chilly descent. This downhill ride was one of the most gorgeous sections of our entire trip, consisting of wide, curvy roads snaking through hilly fields as the sun set in the background.
At the end of our long descent we entered the small town of Weston looking for dinner. Much to our chagrin, we saw that everything was closed. We biked a few miles to the next town, Athena, trying hard to enjoy the still beautiful sunset with our grumbling tummies. Once in Athena, we met the same unfortunate fate as before. There was a minivan parked outside the closed grocery store, and we asked the people inside if there was ANY place where we could get food. They told us no, everything was closed. We headed to a nearby playground and brainstormed. Mark and I had a few emergency food supplies, and using our stoves and cooking gear the 4 of us could go to bed hungry, but not starving. Then, once again, we were blown away by the kindness of strangers. The people we had talked to in the minivan saw us at the playground and drove up, offering us cans of soup, bags of jerky, jars of peanut butter, and a few other random snacks that they had. It was such a wonderful thing to happen and we couldn’t believe our good fortune. They would accept no money, and only requested that we pay it forward. We feasted on our newfound goodies, and then set up Stacy and Derrick’s’ tent (which was just big enough for all 4 of us) inside of a jungle gym on the playground.
At this point, we’d been having so much fun biking with our new friends that we decided to just stay together until we made it to Portland. It would be another 4 days before we made it there, but they were very adventure filled days for our fun little troupe. Stay tuned for the next post to learn about our fortunate and unfortunate encounters that followed!