into idaho

I was real sad to leave Baker City -such a nice town: good eats, great coffee, wonderful library, but I knew we needed to push on eastward. Plus the Hell's Canyon motorcycle rally was coming to town for the weekend - lot's of hogs! I will carry fond memories of Bella (where we bought cycling jerseys designed by a local artist for the Elkhorn Bicycle Race next weekend), Mad Matilda, Geiser Grand, Brewery.

We reluctantly set off on Friday, June 12, in the rain from the Bridge St. Inn and rode up to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. They should have a shuttle at the base for cyclists because it is one long steep hill to get up there - we had to walk the last half of it. Spent 2 hours there - terrific displays, amazing view and special events. After leaving, still kind of rainy making it hard to get motivated for cycling, but I dogged it along, making it to Annies in Richland for a late lunch. Met some real nice people - customers and owners. Even though it looked threatening outside and it was already 3 pm, we decided to go on to Halfway and were we glad we did. After one big tough 7 mile hill which we did in 1 hour 15 min., we found a huge descent into a most lovely valley. One little pocket of beauty after another. We rode into the Halfway Motel and barnyard at 5 pm and were surprised to see 9 other cyclists. We tented in the barnyard with 4 Canadians at $5/head, showers and bathrooms available. It was great! Splurged on a nice meal across the street at Mimi's. I tell you, not a bad salad to be had in all of Oregon: great fresh greens everywhere. It was real nice chatting with the Canadians - very experienced touring cyclists.

We decided to take an easy day on Sat. June 13 and enjoy a beautiful morning in this quiet place called Halfway so we were the last to leave (the other cyclists were heading west) at 9:30 and continued to have some traffic from the motorcycle rally. All of them were polite drivers and interested in what we were doing. Chatted with a number of them at Scotty's in Oxbow. All they had to eat there were dogs so that's what we ate. So glad we didn't skip the eats because we had a couple of steep climbs to 2 dams on the Snake River: Oxbow and Brownlee.


After crossing the Oxbow Dam we met the Snake River! It is just beautiful so wide and windy. We had a long ride beside it with headwinds and sprinkles, on this road that was signed 'owned by the Idaho Power Company. Then just before the Brownlee Dam we crossed the river and we were in Idaho - a first for me. At 1 pm we arrived at this huge campground - Woodhead Park - run by the Idaho Power Company. Is all of Idaho owned by Idaho Power?

It was so nice to arrive in early afternoon: we had time for a snack, ate a camp dinner in a little rain, it cleared up and we took a nice walk up to the info kiosk for overlook of the reservoir and dam.

Corpus Christi Sunday - June 14 - and our 35th Anniversary. Ate a camp breakfast in the rain but thankfully it cleared up for the packing. Tent was pretty wet as it rained much of the night but we were nice and dry. Weather is real squirrely around here - comes and goes and changes quickly. Said goodbye to the beautiful reservoir about 8 am and stopped at a store up the road 2 miles. We met a couple of families from Chicago on a 4 day raft trip on the Snake River. One of the women was originally from Birmingham, MI, went to Groves HS! Their tour guide told us about a river trail for our next day from Cambridge to New Meadows. We may take that instead of the highway.

Another ascent of about 2000' in about 9 miles which we did real well in about 1 1/2 hours. At the summit we had just enough time to pull on the rain gear. For the next 17 miles we rode downhill in heavy rain. Rolled into Cambridge at noon to motel it, get warm and clean, to Mass at 3:30 at Holy Rosary Church. Reuben asked the priest for a special blessing for our anniversary and he obliged.

Every mountain that I see, I ask Reuben if that is part of the Rockies. He answers No. This makes me look forward with more than a little fear. was real sorry