Day 49

Blog posted a day late; we were all exhausted and ran out of time before bedtime at 10:00!7 squared is 49. We have been riding bicycles for 7 weeks and 3 weeks remain... We intend to make the most of it! Last night was not a good night's sleep for most of us because of the trains noisily passing less than 100 yds from our campsite, as well as the parties going on at nearby tents. Today's ride dedication was for Gina a dear friend of Kia, one of the Hydrosystems researchers who helped with the fundraising dinner (back on day 15 of our ride). She has been battling cancer for 15 years since age 12. Numerous times she had been told she only has months to live, yet still she perseveres and managed to contribute to countless clinical research trials to help others fight the illness.We rolled out for a long day: 103 miles from Crystal Hot Springs in Honeyville to Pocatello, Idaho. We have reached our 14th state! The Cache Gran Fondo race was going on in the opposite direction of the roads we were riding on today. For the first 40 miles, we watched professional and amateur cyclists race by on a fascinating variety of bikes. Throughout the day, we faced differing terrain and weather. As the sun rose early, we were cold and willed the shadows to disappear. Later, we wanted the clouds to come back to hide us from the severe heat.In Plymouth, the team met Susan, a survivor of endometrial cancer, who had an extremely positive look on life and generously made a donation to the team. In McCammon, there was a parade as we came in which was cool. The Harkness Hotel, located across the street from our rest stop, was a quaint boutique hotel owned by a couple from who were recently touched by cancer themselves.Our groups arrived late after a long day of riding. After up to 8 hours rolling time in the saddle, we were certainly relieved to be greeted by the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. They immediately whisked us away to showers at the houses of church members. It was terrific to be able to shower in a real shower in a house! Then we came back for dinner, which was Mexican chicken, rice, mac n' cheese, quinoa salad and so much more. Dessert was something we almost didn't have room with after all that yummy dinner, but there was ice cream, cake, and fresh strawberries. It's been a long time since anyone made a meal for us and we truly enjoyed it! Then we all went to sleeping bag, and slept like rocks because I think I can say for us all that we are totally exhausted.