A friendly Park Ranger, an atomic festival and a visit from some special kids made this leg of the trip especially memorable. And even though weren't any biker bars for skinny wheeled folks Eastern Idaho has some delicious milk shakes.
July 13 - Headed out of Carey.
And into the Craters of the Moon National Monument.
With lots of different lava formations to keep things interesting.
At the visitor center a park ranger took our picture. He said he had passed us earlier on his way to work.
Smoother rode ahead. For Donna's engineer buddies ... a chip sealed shoulder is the pits ... especially when they use 1/2" minus round pebbles!!!
Coming into Arco, the first town in the US to be lit by atomic power.
Downtown with Number Hill in the background. The high school class dates start with 1922.
We just happened to be here for the annual Atomic Days festivities. The next day there was a parade, softball tournament, stock car race, and rodeo.The local park was the center of activities on Friday evening.
This was the best job to have on this hot day!
The kids were having a blast.
And the horseshoe tournament was being enjoyed by the big kids. There was also a serious volleyball match happening behind the horseshoe pits.
Don't think we are the kind of bikers the sign is referring to!
July 14 - Our breakfast stop on the way out of town. They had monster pancakes. We hit the road at 7:15.
We had a heck of headwind most of the day (about 40 miles out of 67). Hard to get a picture of that. It was a good ride otherwise through rolling terrain and with a good shoulder. It was just that we had to pedal downhill to get up to 10 mph.
This is the back edge of the thunderstorm that passed over us before noon. We took a break and had something to eat. It also gave us a brief respite from the wind.
We saw these 2 volcanic cones for hours. They are East Butte (left) and Middle Butte (right) and are only 2600 years old.
Hard to imagine elephants here but it sure looks like it could be good buffalo country.
Finally some green as we leave the lava fields of the Snake River Plain and head into the potato fields. Actually these are the first potato fields we've seen since getting into Idaho.
Mile 67 entering Idaho Falls at 4 pm - The thickest, most delicious chocolate milkshake ever and the cows were right behind the store so it was really fresh too!
July 15 - Our day started with a couple at the motel asking about our journey and then sending us on our way with a very touching prayer for our safety.
These are the falls that give Idaho Falls its name
This little guy was very serious about taking a picture of his grandfather.
About a mile outside of Rexburg. This was a short day to make up for yesterday. About 10 miles north of Idaho Falls a truck pulled over and out jumped Cody and Abby, Doug's grandkids. They were on their way to the Wild Bear Park for the day with their other grandparents. We plan to camp with them on Tuesday in Yellowstone.
A friendly Park Ranger, an atomic festival and a visit from some special kids made this leg of the trip especially memorable. And even though weren't any biker bars for skinny wheeled folks Eastern Idaho has some delicious milk shakes.
July 13 - Headed out of Carey.
And into the Craters of the Moon National Monument.
With lots of different lava formations to keep things interesting.
At the visitor center a park ranger took our picture. He said he had passed us earlier on his way to work.
Smoother rode ahead. For Donna's engineer buddies ... a chip sealed shoulder is the pits ... especially when they use 1/2" minus round pebbles!!!
Coming into Arco, the first town in the US to be lit by atomic power.
Downtown with Number Hill in the background. The high school class dates start with 1922.
We just happened to be here for the annual Atomic Days festivities. The next day there was a parade, softball tournament, stock car race, and rodeo.The local park was the center of activities on Friday evening.
This was the best job to have on this hot day!
The kids were having a blast.
And the horseshoe tournament was being enjoyed by the big kids. There was also a serious volleyball match happening behind the horseshoe pits.
Don't think we are the kind of bikers the sign is referring to!
July 14 - Our breakfast stop on the way out of town. They had monster pancakes. We hit the road at 7:15.
We had a heck of headwind most of the day (about 40 miles out of 67). Hard to get a picture of that. It was a good ride otherwise through rolling terrain and with a good shoulder. It was just that we had to pedal downhill to get up to 10 mph.
This is the back edge of the thunderstorm that passed over us before noon. We took a break and had something to eat. It also gave us a brief respite from the wind.
We saw these 2 volcanic cones for hours. They are East Butte (left) and Middle Butte (right) and are only 2600 years old.
Hard to imagine elephants here but it sure looks like it could be good buffalo country.
Finally some green as we leave the lava fields of the Snake River Plain and head into the potato fields. Actually these are the first potato fields we've seen since getting into Idaho.
Mile 67 entering Idaho Falls at 4 pm - The thickest, most delicious chocolate milkshake ever and the cows were right behind the store so it was really fresh too!
July 15 - Our day started with a couple at the motel asking about our journey and then sending us on our way with a very touching prayer for our safety.
These are the falls that give Idaho Falls its name
This little guy was very serious about taking a picture of his grandfather.
About a mile outside of Rexburg. This was a short day to make up for yesterday. About 10 miles north of Idaho Falls a truck pulled over and out jumped Cody and Abby, Doug's grandkids. They were on their way to the Wild Bear Park for the day with their other grandparents. We plan to camp with them on Tuesday in Yellowstone.
3 comments:
Happy to see your trip is going well. You are going to miss one of the biggest bike rides in the world, the RAGBRAI in Iowa is happening about 2 weeks before you get there. It used to have 8,000-10,000 riders years ago but I think they cut back. I used to live there and it went across the state every year. I remember coming across some cross country riders who happened apon it and wondered what in the world was going on.
Will keep checking on your progress.
Terry Kneen
dnd,
Saw your MOM yesterday--she gave me this address. WOW!! Way to go, U2!! About your headwinds--remember on the way back they'll be your tailwinds!!!! Also, life is NOT a spectator sport.
Enjoy your adventure!!
Love ya', Unc Warren
I had the pleasure of meeting Doug and Donna yesterday in Winthrop, IA. My mom's done two east-west cross country rides (and two north-south), so I'm familiar with the drill. I always feel sorry for folks who get stuck out in the corn fields here in this crazy humidity, but Doug and Donna appeared to be taking it all in stride. What a great adventure!
Post a Comment