Beautiful Moutains & Glacial Waters

The ride into Mt. Rainier National Park was really wonderful. Although the first part of the ride was mostly climbing, the second half was so sweet. During a 7 mile climb, a jet flew right by us, sideways, through the moutain pass. It was so loud and awesome, I think we all just yelled like crazy when we saw what it was. What are the odds?

After that, we all met up at a gas station in White Pass for lunch: one of my favorite parts of the day because we are all together and eating PB & J.  Then, we had a buunch of downhills, maybe 12 miles or so which I really loved. The best part was definitely seeing that gorgeous mountain after a days worth of hard work. It looked so beautiful, pictures will hopefully be up soon. I've never seen a mountain like that before, nor have I dropped my jaw so hard at the sight of, well, anything.

The campground was great even though it was hot. I think I liked it better than Yellowstone. Less touristy, less RVs to dodge, and tons more huge trees. Matt H, Caroline, Christa, Kristen and I met a family with a ton of little kids and they took us down to the river/ creek. It was glacial water so of course, we jumped in! It felt like swimming through a really cold Icee and it felt sooo goood. Highly recommend jumping into glacial waters if you ever get the chance.

I just rested on the rest day. Some people went to hike around Mt. St. Helen, others took trails, etc. It was nice to relax though, and it was peaceful and quiet so I really enjoyed those two days. Plus there were so many cute little chipmunks running around the campground. We didn't know if we should get them away from our food or watch them since they are so adorable. This day also marks our last day camping as a team (all 22 people); most people are relieved I would say, and so am I!

Washington & Finally Oregon!

Merry X-Mas in July! To celebrate X-mas we had a Secret Santa, which was really hilarious and fun. Matt Harlan had me as a secret santa, and he drew me an awesome picture to frame and stickers to put on my water bottles. Wayy too cool. A lot of the other gifts were gags, and costumes to wear on our bikes. Tim rode with lights and garland to resemble a X-Mas tree, and he surprisingly did not get that many weird looks as anticipated.

Washington was hot! Every newspaper we came across broadcasted the recordbreaking temperatures, and we can attest to that! We had one 102 mile day that actually wasn't that bad. The group I was riding with stopped to pick cherries, apricots, and unripened grapes. We also stopped periodically to run through the sprinklers, which was a necesity because of the heat. Unfortunately, atleast half the team ate too many cherries, which was evident by the lines outside of the bathrooms.

I drove the day into Mt. Rainer, which was a beautiful, (but again), hot ride. Our campsite was awesome, and the trails through the waterfalls and forests were amazing. On the rest day, some of the team and I road tripped to Mt. Saint Helen, which was really cool to see. Most of the trees are still floating in the lake, and you can see everything that had been singed by the explosion in 1980.

We made it to the coast yesterday! The ride yesterday was hilly in the beginning, and it flattened out towards the end. It was the best feeling when we rolled into Seaside. The other groups arrived before we did, so they cheered us on as we tossed our clothes and bikes aside and ran to the Pacific Ocean. On our way into the ocean, we got high-fives and hugs, which felt amazing. We made it coast to coast! We had access to the hottub, pool, showers, and TV (with Disney movies!) at our stayover. There's not much more that we could ask for.

Today's ride was the last "real" ride of the trip. We ended up in Hillsboro, which is about 25 miles outside of Portland. The ride was hilly and bumpy! We were on really bad roads for about 50 miles, but for the last 25 the road was smoother and bearable. Our stayover is amazing! We have a shower, laundry, pizza, and SaeBin's parents are providing dinner for us. Awesome!

Cruisin Down the Freeway in the Hot Hot Sun

The ride to Naches, WA was 108 miles in over 100 degree weather. To say the least, the day was long and hot. We woke up at 4:30 AM to beat the heat and make sure we could get in on time which was a great idea.

[The day before, after the ride, a bunch of us were sitting outside and saw part of an air show from the church courtyard. That was really awesome to see, the jets were doing crazy things!]

Back to the long ride. Christa, Kristen and I stopped I can't even tell you how many times to stop and pick cherries and apricots off of trees. They tasted so good. Mt. Rainier cherries are the most delicious cherries ever. We even took break just to stand in the sprinklers watering the orchards, man that felt so good.

Once we got in, everyone left for a bike shop but LUCKILY we found a copy of The Lion King and popped that in and lounged for a couple hours. After that, we watched Aladdin of course. It was really nice to just lay down and watch a movie, and a Disney one at that; especially after the longest day ever. Once everyone got back, they just plopped themselves down too and this Western family watched old movies together, how nice.

Christmas in July (Even Though it's August)

This summer, the team had Secret Santa/ Christmas in July to celebrate the end of the ride, have some fun, and show a little love. I had Christa and since we hang out a lot, I knew just what to get her. We happened to go to a nice used bookstore in Missoula, Montana and she was pining for a cute little antique bike toy thing. Luckily, she didn't buy it, so I got it for her for Christmas.

The presents ceremony was a great success. We celebrated in a high school and everyone got great things: thoughtful/funny/strange. Many riders took to stopping at garage sales or picking stuff up off the side of the road. Matt Strick got me a great big wrench to start my tool set (how thoughtful)! Tim got a "christmas-tree-decorated helmet' that flashed, Conor and Clinton got baked goods, Isaac got an obnoxious fantastic four costume, and it only gets better. I think we all enjoyed the holidays as the Western family that we are.

Illini 4000 in Portland!

The I4k journey will soon be coming to a close... for those supporters, parents, and other friends of the I4k coming out to Portland to visit, here's the scoop:

The Portland U of I Alumni Club will be hosting a picnic at Overlook Park in the Heart of central Portland - the park is located west of Interstate Avenue at Fremont St.  The event will take place at 11 p.m.  For more information, visit the Alumni Club's website at: http://www.portlandillini.org/events.asp .

We'll see you there!

Seaside tomorrow

Not sure when the last time I updated this was, so I'm not sure where I left off.  Mount Rainier was really cool... I think I've decided I like to camp.  Our campground was pretty sweet and sorrounded by a lot of trails, which I explored on runs both days we were there.  On the rest day, I again didn't rest at all and after a hilly 12 or so mile run, I went for an epic hike with James and Matt Strick- two super sweet dudes that I don't know if I've mentioned yet.

It was 4.2 miles to the top of Shriners Peak, where an old abandoned water tower was located.  It climbed 3800 feet in elevation and took us about 2.5 hours to get to the top.  We spent about the whole last hour telling ourselves we were really close since we really had no gauge of distance on a trail this hilly and rocky.  I didn't know walking could be so tough.  When we got to the top, the view was well worth it.  360 degrees of beauty.  We had an amazing view of Mount Rainier and could see Mount St. Helens in the distance as well as the Cascades.  We even spotted a few small forest fires ourselves that had been lit by some lightning from the storm that we somehow managed to avoid.  We chilled at the top for a good half hour 45 minutes and ate our lunch before heading down at a much fast pace.

Todays ride was 95 miles and about the same amount of degrees farenheit, which made it brutal at times, but I just took it pretty slow with Adam and James, comin in a good hour and a half behind the rest of the guys, only beating the five ladies.

Tomorrow our route has us taking two ferries to cross various rivers and then we hit the coast... I'm pumped.  Its late, goodnight

Day 62 - So close, yet so far...

Mt. Rainier, WA to Castle Rock, WA

Riding to Castle Rock was another long one, but the terrain was again beautiful, and we had some rolling hills as we got farther away from Mt. Rainier, but nothing too steep.  The main problem we have been dealing with is the heat, as it was once again close to 100 degrees today, and people keep telling us that we have brought the heat with us because it is not usually as hot as this in Washington.  My mom is already in Portland, which is cool, I can't wait to see everyone in a few days, and then head home.  We go to the coast tomorrow, which is really exciting, and I am pumped to be able to say that I have seen both coasts in a little over two months, not to mention the fact that we will be heading to Oregon, our final state.  Castle Rock is only like 50 miles from Portland, but since we are heading to the coast, we will be taking three more days to get to Portland, a little frustrating, but we know the ocean is gonna be totally worth it.   

States traveled through:18(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID, WA)
Distance today: 95 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3896 mi (ah!)

Day 60 & 61 - In the middle of mountains

Naches, WA to Mt. Rainier, WA

The ride into Mt. Rainier was a hot one, but we were happy to see that we were only going 55 miles and then getting to our campsite.  We also had some really amazing views of Mt. Rainier coming in, it was really cool because we didn't have a view of it at all until we were almost on top of it, and then we came around a corner and it just popped out of nowhere.  We were camping just inside of Mt. Rainier Natl. Park.  I have firmly realized that I do not like camping, and will be very glad to be done with camping for this trip.  I do not like: being wet, being covered in mosquitos, being dirty, not having clean bathrooms, not having good food, smelling like smoke and bug spray at all times, and the list goes on and on.  There was a river next to our campsite, and despite it being very cold, we braved it for a bit to use as a shower, and some braver souls(Tim) ventured out to the other side of the river to hang out.

Our rest day was spent traveling in the van with a group of 7 other riders to Mt. St. Helens, which was pretty cool.  It's crazy to think that this mountain was exploding and causing so much chaos just 29 years ago. Got some sweet pictures, and walked some trails to get some better views, then did some more adventures that I will talk more about later.

States traveled through:18(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID, WA)
Distance today: 56 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3801 mi

Day 59 - Swimming in Cherries

Kennewick, WA to Naches, WA

Our ride was long and hot into Naches.  We knew we had a long day, so we rode pretty fast to get in early and made pretty decent time.  It was pretty hot, and we heard that temperatures went up to almost 100 degrees.  Some riders found a cherry stand right outside town and ate about a pound of cherries each, but their digestion made them regret it later.  Someone also brought a huge crate back, so I had some, but not many, and also tried Mt. Rainier cherries, a larger white cherry that is apparently very expensive in Chicago, but tasted great.  Once we got settled in, we went to Margaret's, a local restaurant, and had some delicious chocolate malt milkshakes and our picture taken so that it could be put on the wall.  We also went to a local pool to cool off, which felt really good, and when we got back, found a VHS player and watched Aladdin AND The Lion King, so it was a pretty great night.  The town was very small, but very welcoming, and we were sad to have to leave, but Mt. Rainier calls us.

States traveled through:18(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID, WA)
Distance today: 109 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3744 mi

Day 58 - A long day in Washington

Waitsburg, WA to Kennewick, WA

Today started out great but didn't end too well.  We had a short ride, only 55 miles today, so we were excited about that, and we rode pretty fast as a result of a downhill and tailwind combination that let us average over 20 mph for the first 40 miles, and despite a flat in my front tire 30 miles in, we were still the first group to make it in at around 11:30 AM.  Until we got the flat, we were riding with a huge group, almost every one of the guys was riding together, it's funny but that almost never happens, it usually splits up into at least 3 or 4 groups within the first few miles.  It is really hot here in Washington, and it is almost a desert out here in the eastern part of the state, so there are no trees for shade and we felt like the grass today, brown and dried out and hoping for some cooler weather.  We did start to see a bit more green today, we saw multiple wineries and apple farms, so I suppose its not really all that dry, it just felt like it today.  We were happy to be inside when we made it to the church and in A/C and even happier to take a hose shower.  After that, we had the whole day to ourselves, so we went to get some amazing root beer from the A&W down the street and got some donations, so thanks to everyone we met there!!  After getting back, I just relaxed and read and listened to music(almost done with Volume I of the Sherlock Holmes books!), and we got a free look at the "Air" portion of the Kennewick Air and Water show from the church courtyard, which was pretty awesome.

At night, I realized that the reason that I hadn't seen my personal bag of snacks in two days was that they were no longer in the van.  So all of the Cliff bars and snacks and cereal that I had bought and been saving for the upcoming climbs into the mountains and for the stay in Mt. Rainier are gone.  It appears that someone took my bag of stuff with my name all over it and decided that it looked like trash, so I was pretty upset about that, and had to got to the store at night to buy more supplies so that I would have something to eat at the snack stops since the team is out of supplies and we are on our own for the rest of the trip.  I guess it turns out this trip has a lot more miscellaneous costs that you don't know about until the trip starts, what with all the extra food we buy almost every day, tubes, tires, food for rest days, and now all our snacks, but it is for a good cause, and I'm not complaining.  I'm cheering myself up now by watching the beautiful Washington sunset and rocking out to some music while I write this.  Everyone is dreading tomorrow, a 100+ mile ride in what is supposed to be over 100 degree weather, but we are all so close to 4000 miles that no one wants to sit it out either.  Justin is scheduled to drive and has been desperately searching for someone who doesn't want to ride tomorrow, but hasn't found any takers yet.  We are only two days from Mt. Rainier, so tomorrow we are starting early(4:30AM) to beat the heat and hoping that the hills aren't too bad.

States traveled through:18(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID, WA)
Distance today: 55 mi (plus 5 to A&W and Walgreens)
Total Distance traveled:  3635 mi

Day 57 - Christmas in July!!

Lewiston, ID to Waitsburg, WA

Today was Christmas in July!  The 25th of July, and a secret santa party at night, but we had to get to Waitsburg first.  One of the church members cooked an amazing breakfast for us in Lewiston and made it hard to leave, with huge omelettes, pancakes with blueberry syrup and fresh fruit.  Then we had one of our best Moshers yet from Justin, his first time, and we all acted out our favorite land mammals, a continuation of a conversation from Yellowstone.  We only need to get Conor and Clinton and everyone will have done a Mosher.  I was a squirrel, in case you were wondering.  Other highlights were Clinton's cat, James's wallaby, and Conor's platypus.  Jay, one of the church members rode out with us in the morning, we were all impressed that he could manage to go the first 25 miles and stick with us.  The ride was exceptionally boring for the first 60 miles, but it was cool to get into Washington, its unbelievable to think that we in a state bordering the Pacific, and that we only have one state left until we are done!  The ride was pretty long and we had to climb out of a valley.  We had one long climb 10 miles in for about 12-14 miles but it wasn't too steep until about the last 5-7 miles, and then another at the 60 mile mark that was shorter than expected. Washington is a very dry state so far, and so we saw a lot of browns and sands today, but once we got closer to Waitsburg, it got nicer and we saw some really cool scenery.

Finally, after dinner we got to have Christmas and that was really awesome.  Everyone had great gifts, and it was really fun because almost everyone really put thought into it and had great stuff.  I got some beef jerky and some new keys for my collection from Matt Cady, which I absolutely loved since I've been looking for some cool keys in a few places along the trip, but hadn't been able to find anything yet. Other highlights were Cady getting ear candles(which was interesting to watch later, those things are crazy and gross), Tim's light-up helmet(awesome), and Isaac's sweet noise-making Fantastic Four shoes that actually fit over his riding shoes so he can ride with them on his bike(hilarious).  Tomorrow is a short one, but a hot one, it's supposed to be over 90 degrees again!

States traveled through:18(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID, WA)
Distance today: 80 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3574 mi

Happy Anniversary!

Today marks the two month anniversary of this ride, and it looks like we have a lot of catching up to do. Idaho was unexpectedly beautiful, and luckily mostly downhill. We continued the tradition of "Indecent Idaho" where we took our shirts off to ride the huge downhill coming out of Lolo Pass. The next day we rode what was supposed to be a 60 mile day, but turned into a near-century. We arrived at our campground, only to find that it was closed. So, we hung out in steaming hot springs while we searched for alternate campgrounds. The next full campground was 30 miles away. Along the way we had the good company of other touring cyclists. Boy did they make what we do seem easy! One was touring from coast to coast for his 70th birthday!

Washington was surprisingly hot as we rode through record high temperatures. Despite the heat and lengthy miles, our rides through cherry, apple, and apricot orchards were extremely delicious. The whole team learned their lesson about gorging on too much fruit which was demonstrated throughout the lines outside of the bathrooms at our stayovers.

We rode to Mount Rainier National Park and everyone was shocked when the mountain actually appeared before us. It is a staggering 14,000 feet and topped with glaciers. Luckily our max elevation for the day was around 4,500. We then had a rest day at the park and half the team took the day as an opportunity to visit Mount Saint Helens.

Today was our last near century ride of the summer. As we rolled into town were excited to stop at a local bakery and purchase a little bit of happiness. We were also surprised with showers, laundry and a wonderful potluck dinner from some members of the congregation at St. Paul's Lutheran church.

Tomorrow brings: Ferry Rides!

Day 56 - Christmas-time is coming...

Today was long and really hot and not very fun, but wasn't one of the worst days we've had.  We climbed lots of hills all day and got lost multiple times.  The ride was supposed to be only 70 or so miles, but turned out to be over 85 miles, and the uphills were pretty killer.  A few roads that we planned to take turned out to be gravel so we had to go around, which added about 8 to 12 miles.  We also turned down the chance to take a really awesome downhill because it was another climb to get there and we didn't think it would be worth it, but everyone said that it was one of the coolest downhills of the trip.  We are staying at the United Methodist Church here in Lewiston, ID, and they made us some amazing grilled dinner, burgers, hot dogs, pasta salad and some really good apple pie dessert.  Afterwards, I went and got my presents all set up for Christmas in July, which consists of a secret santa tomorrow night, mainly consisting of funny items people have found along the side of the road.  I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow because we have to climb out of this valley that we're in, so we definitely have some more hills tomorrow and it will be another long hot one, but we get to enter our second to last state, Washington!!

States traveled through:17(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID)
Distance today: 86 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3494 mi

Day 55 - Uphill 'til the end...

Wilderness Gateway Campground, ID to Kamiah, ID

Our ride today was short since we had tacked on an extra 30 miles yesterday, so we only had 59 miles to Kamiah, which we made the most of.  We had another 20 or 30 miles of the same beautiful but repetitive mountains and streams from yesterday.  At the lunch stop, we went down to the river and sat in the cold rushing water until the last group came in, and tried to take in the amazing scenery of the river and mountains and amazing weather.  It's crazy to think that we almost take this kind of beauty for granted now, the flat land in every direction back in the Chicago suburbs will be a shock when we get back.  The ride was similar to yesterday's scenery-wise, but we found some civilization near the end of the ride and actually had to worry about cars on the road today.  Kamiah is nice, the city is spread out through the hills and of course, as usual, we had to climb up a final massive hill to get to the church.  The amazing people at the Pine Ridge Baptist church made us a delicious dinner and we stuffed ourselves with spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and brownies with ice cream. 

States traveled through:17(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID)
Distance today: 59 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3408 mi

New timezone unlocked: Pacific!

The following post was written yesterday:The past couple of states have been so picturesque it is getting hard to appreciate the majesty of our rides. That being said, Idaho is beautiful. If I had known better I would have taken some photography classes before coming on this trip. My pictures will never do this state justice. For the past two days we have been riding mostly downhill with a river on our left and mountains surrounding us. And forests. The line of trees has been almost unbroken since Missoula.Some of us got in the stream during our lunch break today. After 40 miles of riding, it was a nice way to cool off. Yesterday most of us took a long, long break in the Jerry Johnson Hot Springs. It may not be as convenient as a hot tub, but those hot springs were pretty. And great. They were pretty great.I got to ride in the van for 30 miles yesterday because of a camping mixup. It turns out that the camp grounds we were supposed to stay in had be closed. For a while now. So we decided to head down to the next camp ground about 28 miles away instead of hiding out in a deserted campground. The reason I got to ride in the van is because I was on cooking duty until this morning, and needed to get dinner started so that it would be ready in a timely fashion.

Day 54 - Indecent Idaho

Missoula, MT to Jerry Johnson Campground, ID

The ride today was interesting.  It was hard to ride away from Missoula, the city was so nice and felt like a really big and bike-friendly place where you would definitely want to live if you were from Montana.  We woke up and planned to go 68 miles into Jerry Johnson Campground, Idaho.  We made it into Idaho with not much of a problem, and since the border of Idaho is also the time zone change into Pacific Time, we enjoyed a day with an extra hour as well.  We had a downhill as soon as we got into Idaho, and made it from Mustache Montana to Indecent Idaho, so we all rode the first 5 miles into Idaho shirtless and with hiked up shorts, so hopefully that will help my tan lines a little too.  Brad decided to shave his mustache at the border with only a water bottle, which seemed really painful and unnecessary, but he wouldn't be convinced otherwise, so we'll see if he has any skin left there tomorrow. The ride was interesting, we had a downhill almost the entire way from the Idaho border to our campsite, and the scenery was a very "deja vu" experience, as we kept following a river on nearly identical mile-long stretches twisting through huge tree-covered mountains.

    Once we got close to the campground, we stopped under a mile away from the campground to check out some hot springs.  This time, the hot springs were actually really hot, and were mixing with a freezing cold river right next to it, so it was really weird to sit in these pools that had formed.  On one side of you, you could have your hand in freezing water and feel like ice, but your other side would be burning from the water continuously spraying from the rocks.  I've never felt anything like it, it was a really bizarre experience.  We found some pools that were the perfect temperature, and managed to squeeze about 10 people in and just hung out for as long as we could. 

Unfortunately, we eventually found out that somehow the campground which we were planning to stay at was not open and hadn't been for a long time, so we all decided to ride an extra 28 miles to another campground along the route.  We were still making great time because of the time change, and we made it into the new campground by about 4 or 5PM.  Everyone agreed that it was probably the easiest 97 miles that they had ever done, and many people said it was one of their favorite days as well.  We also had a really cool guest rider, Tom, who rode along with us for almost the whole day and camped with us at night. He is touring from Jackson Hole, WY to Eugene, OR so we were impressed with his riding since he had to go up all the same hills as us except with 50 extra pounds of stuff on his bike and he was doing it alone.  It's cool to be meeting more cyclists out west as we get closer to our destination. Dinner was a pretty good lentil and sweet potato stew, helped out by my custom treat of cocoa puffs in peanut butter eaten with a spoon. 

States traveled through:17(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID)
Distance today: 97 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3349 mi

Makin it hot

Things I'm not gonna miss: waking up at 6 am, showering with a freezing cold hose, calling things ("I call first shower" "I call the couch" "I call the raisin bran after Kristen" "I call the pump next"), my eyes hurting constantly from all the wind

Todays ride was just ok... pretty tough- a few decent climbs and a huge downhill stretch... but man, it was just so hot, upper 90's at least... and I don't think its gonna cool off anytime soon according to the forecast.

As soon as we got into Lewiston, we went straight to wendy's.  I got 2 jr bacon cheeseburgers, a double stack, crispy chicken sandiwch, fries, and a frosty.  Then I spent some time going to some bike shops with some other guys to look for a new tire and water bottle cage and we returned to a nice feast of burgers, dogs, pasta salad, and such provided by the united methodist church here.  Spent some time working on my bike, hose showered, and now its time for bed...

Training camp starts tomorrow... someoneout there DVR the T.O. reality show for me

cell phone service at last

7/25

We had the coolest downhill ride today ever. We rode uphill for about 40 miles straight and when we reached the top, the trees opened up into a grand view of the rolling hills of Idaho. We started at a pretty low elevation and just looking over the shoulder of the road made me feel uneasy because of how high we were. The descent lasted about six miles, but it was super curvy and the most fun I've had on a bike yet. The lack of a guardrail was somewhat unsettling because a tumble over the edge of the road would most likely lead to death. Funny enough, when we reached the bottom, the local newspaper had an article about a man who died from falling down a cliff after toppling over the shoulder of a neighboring road while on his bicycle. I'm glad all of our bikes held together for the whole ride.

7/23

So far, Idaho has exceeded my expectations. I imagined Idaho to be another state full of farms, but instead, as soon as we crossed the Montana/Idaho border, the bare mountains of Montana transformed into a lush forest growing from the mountains. The road through the forest ran adjacent to a winding river that had cut a path through the mountains. The cliff walls were extremely steep, but amazingly, trees were still able to grow and cover the walls entirely. It was a scenic ride through the mountain pass and it was mostly downhill as well, since we were following a river.

Right by where we were supposed to camp, we came upon some “warm springs,” which are definitely more hot than warm. After riding 65 miles in the roasting sun, hot water was the last thing we wanted to sit in. Fortunately, we found a place where the hot water drained into the ice cold river and people had moved giant rocks around to build little artificial tubs. The rocks blocked out just the right amount of water from the river and kept in the right amount of hot water to create a pool that must have been almost exactly body temperature. There were other less than perfect tubs that let in too much water from the river and were freezing cold, but the one that had perfect temperature was so comfortable, that we laid in there for over two hours.

Early in the ride, we passed by a touring cyclist named Tom, who was riding from Jackson Hole, Wyoming to Eugene, Oregon. He had just left from Missoula that morning as well, but was only planning on riding 45 miles that day. He decided to put in another fifteen miles to reach our campsite so he could have someone to camp with. When we reached out campsite, however, it turned out that the site was closed. We had a vote whether we should camp there anyway, or ride 28 miles to the next campsite which had bathrooms and running water. We almost had a unanimous vote to turn the day into a century and ride to the next site for a better campsite and so that we'd have an easier day the next day. This was unfortunate for Tom, because he was doubling his planned mileage and had never ridden so far. The next campsite was well worth the ride, though, because the route was so scenic and the campsite was right by the river. The temperature was perfect, unlike freezing cold Yellowstone. We shared our signature lentil soup dinner with Tom so that he wouldn't have to do another night of Top Ramen and peanuts.

We parted ways with Tom the next morning and continued our ride through scenic Idaho. Though the ride was easy, it turned out to be a day of terrible luck and clumsiness. I was messing with Connor by poking him with a long piece of wheat and he splashed me with his water bottle. When I splashed him back with my water bottle, I ended up unloading my entire bottle all over his camera instead. It doesn't take pictures anymore... hopefully the water will evaporate and everything will be fine again. Five miles from our destination in Kamiah, Idaho, a spoke in Clinton's rear wheel snapped and caused his wheel to lock up and instantly grind the rear tire to nothing until it blew out. We had to wait for the van to catch up to us, so we laid our bikes down on the side of the mountain wall and I climbed up the wall a bit to take a nap. While I was napping, I had my foot resting on a large rock, and suddenly it dislodged and slid down the side of the hill, and to continue my luck with destroying Connor's belongings by accident, it hits his bike and leaves a big dent in the frame. I was at a total loss for words, and I'm really glad he's a great guy and hasn't murdered me yet. I might need a bodyguard when I go to sleep though...

Time For You To Get A Watch

One of the most frequently heard sayings on this trip when asked what time it is, is becoming all too true to the riders of this team. As we approach Washington, August 2nd gets closer and closer; less than 10 days of the trip!

 Today's ride was confusing to start with: immediate cue changes within the first two miles which added 5-10 miles to our morning, so that wasn't so fun, but it was gorgeous out: amber waves of grain on all sides. Most of the ride was rolling hills which was a little unfamiliar since we have been so fortunate the past few rides with great downhills and awesome scenery. But today was a long day and it was a scorcher too. To lift our spirits and get us to the church, some of the girls and I stopped at a gas station (to ask for directions since we missed a turn, obviously) and it may have been the best gas station stop of my life. Listen to this: we got 44oz. fountain drinks for 69 cents (best deal in over 3,000 miles), ate some donuts and fritos, and then we applied some fantastic temporary tattoos and rode into Lewiston, Idaho with revived spirit and flashy new tattoos.

We were extremely surprised and so grateful for the amazing meal that the First United Methodist Church provided, veggie burgers, pasta with squash, and apple crisp for dessert. It was so delicious, how lucky did we get? Honestly. Plus, we all got a great hose shower with a superb view of the mountains and the sun setting just above them; it's pretty hard to beat that.

Updates from Idaho

After some great rides through Montana, and a rest day in Missoula, where I went tubing down the Blackfoot River, we reached Idaho.  There was climb to get to the state line, but it has been all down hill since then, over 100 miles of gradual downhill.  Yesterday we had to add an extra 28 miles to our ride because Jerry Johnson Campground, which we were supposed to stay at, is apparently no longer open.  So, after a spending about three hours in some hot springs, we tacked on the extra 28 miles to get to the next campground.  It was really not a big deal because it was all down hill.  Since getting to Montana and Idaho, we have started to meet a lot of other touring cyclists, including two yesterday.  One was a 69 year old man who is riding from Virginia to Astoria Oregon fully loaded with no support.  He also happened to be a cancer survivor, so his story was very inspiring.  We also met a younger guy named Tom who is riding from Jackson Hole, Wyoming to Portland, Oregon.  He actually camped with us last night.  It was great having Tom around, I just hope we didn't drive him crazy with all of our questions.  Today a spoke on my rear wheel broke while were going downhill and got stuck in my chain so it locked up my rear wheel, which caused me to skid and almost wreck, until the road burned completely through my tire and gave me a flat, at which point I finally came to stop.  This caused me to have to ride in the van the last five miles. Tomorrow, in Lewiston, I will have to buy a new wheel and chain.  Tonight we are staying at Pine Ridge Baptist Church in Kamiah, Idaho.  Everyone at the church was incredibly nice, and provided us with a great meal, so thanks to everyone who helped out and made us feel welcome.