Sunday, July 19th, 2015

Start/End:Boise, ID/Ontario, OR
Mileage: 61.4+
Weather: Sunny and not too hot!

Today was a pretty delightful day, as it was shorter than a typical day and remarkably not windy, a great relief from a few days ago. Because of this, we woke up a little later than a typical morning and were not as rushed as normal to get our bags together. We are so thankful to a rider’s family in the Boise area who generously provided breakfast this morning of donuts and watermelon. It was delicious. We are also incredibly thankful to the First United Methodist Church, or the Cathedral of the Rockies, in Boise who has just been amazing hosts for us for the past few days. They had an amazing facility, complete with laundry machines, which are always a plus. Additionally, eye were very close to downtown which allowed a great location for us to explore.

This morning we also did not rush because we were set to meet fellow Illini! A man and his wife were members of the church which we stayed at and both had a very interesting experience with cancer. Both came from families where cancer was very prevalent and took lives of loved ones. But more recently, they have both been battling cancer. In 2012, John was diagnosed with a cancer of the lymph nodes. He underwent very aggressive radiation treatment, while also experiencing a more holistic treatment, learning about yoga and meditation. He has beaten it, but now him and his wife Pam have switched roles, as she has been diagnosed with a similar cancer and is undergoing a similar aggressive treatment. One thing that John did mention was the book titled, Anti Cancer which talks about ways that one can take an aggressive stance against cancer through prevention, based on medical studies. I have not read this, but it may be something to look into after the ride! It only seemed fitting to dedicate today’s ride to John and Pam and their fight against cancer. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us!

The ride went remarkably quickly that it is a little tricky to recall the main points, but let’s see how that goes! Leaving Boise, we got a little tripped up as we were taking the Greenway Bike Path, which had a few points of construction. Overall, though, it was a beautiful path. After that, we took Idaho-44 for quite a while through a few smaller towns. Northwest of Boise is a lot more populated than south of Boise which we travelled through coming into town.

Eventually we did get into a much more sparsely populated area. We were impressed by the amount of horses and foals (baby horses) that we saw along this stretch. Another interesting thing that we saw (well, smelled) were fields of onions! It makes sense that they would be grown in fields, but I don’t think I had ever seen that before. Oh. And we saw some great looking corn growing! It was like a beautiful reminder of where we come from and how far we have come since our first training ride, when the fields around Champaign-Urbana were not even tilled.

Today we entered the Ore-Ida region (in case you were wondering where the name of the frozen potato products came from). From Idaho to Oregon! We are not far from the border where we are staying, but it is crazy to think we have entered a state that touches the Pacific Ocean! Ah!!!

We are so thankful for our wonderful hosts this evening who prepared us a great cookout meal with burgers, salads and pasta. Additionally, they set up with several nearby households to open up their homes for us to shower in. This was very appreciated and just such a kind gesture from this community. I know that I really enjoyed sitting in someone’s house, getting to know them and kind of feeling like a real person :)

We are also thankful for the support we received with the many letters and packages that arrived here for our rider’s. Wether they were words of encouragement or some necessary supplies to help us get through our next stage, we just want to say thank you! Also, we should be finalizing some of the information about our San Francisco arrival. Once we have the information, we will be sure to post that here!

Another reminder, 3 straight days of camping coming up! We are excited (and hoping for good weather)..and cell reception. See here is to happy trails and tailwinds!
-LAH