Day 10--Boise, ID to Mountain Home, ID

Day 10—June 28, 2006—Boise, ID to Mountain Home, ID—50 miles—1277’ climb

We’ve been on the road for nine days (664 miles) and have climbed a cumulative 24,539 feet in that time—that’s 4.6 miles. Jetliners cruise at 30,000 feet, less than one mile higher. Think about that the next time you see a jetliner at cruising altitude. Riders have already climbed nearly as high on their bikes, just took them a little longer.

All had a great day off and almost hated to take to the road again and leave Boise. In fact, mechanic Jim pedaled to Mountain Home and then turned around and returned to Boise . . . in the van, to pick up Ron’s rebuilt bike. This because when Ron was washing his Raleigh in Boise, he discovered that his titanium frame was cracked. Georges bike store is only one block from the motel, so Jim and Ron took the bike there where they stripped it of all its components and ordered a new frame. Raleigh overnighted (that’s only a real word in bike lingo) a new frame, and one of George’s mechanics rebuilt the bike. Today Ron rode Michelle’s Kestrel and claimed to love it.

Shaded rest stop off I-84

Today we left Boise along a lovely paved bike trail for about 7 miles. At times the bike trail paralleled the Boise River and a Native American wildlife area. After leaving the bike trail, we climbed out of town on Rte. 21, in the process crossing the New York Canal. The NY Canal was built in 1882 by a group of New York and East Coast investors who organized the Idaho Mining and Irrigation Company, a Boise canal company. Soon mining engineer Arthur D. Foote planned an enormous project that Boiseans called the New York Canal. Seventeen feet deep and 27 feet wide, it would run 75 miles and feed more than 5,000 miles of lateral ditches. Foote projected that nearly a half million acres of arid land could be brought under cultivation. It was much more of an undertaking than originally planned and was not opened for use until 1906.

At about the 12-mile mark, we got on I-84, and spent most of the rest of the route on it. Since it was a short day, we had one SS today, set up by Christine at an I-84 truck stop. She found a little shady area under a pine tree. Riders all parked their bikes along an adjacent wooden fence. Thank you Joyce and Bill and others who ate dinner last night at The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant, and asked the server if they could buy a fondue skewer. When they explained the tour and our SAG stops and told the server that they wanted the fondue skewer to replace my hand carved pickle stick (a sharpened stick), the server gave it to them for free. Riders fished pickles from the jar with newfound facility.

Yesterday it was 105˚F in Mountain Home. Today we were blessed with cooling headwinds and cloud cover so even heat wienies like me managed a comfortable ride. It was a short, relatively easy day and all were in by 1 . . . despite numerous flats due to the wire strewn shoulder of I-85. The Mountain Home Best Western where we have stayed for the past several years had set up coolers of cold water, Fritos, chips, other salty snacks, a basket of granola bars, and another of apples for riders, many of whom chose to cool off in the waterfall-fed pool while waiting for their rooms to be made up.

OVERHEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY:

* “Where’d the bike trail begin? I missed it!” This from a rider who was carrying his bike to the trail from the adjacent road. (Several riders missed the beginning of the trail.)

* “What a beautiful pool!”
* “Sun bad; cloud cover good.”
* “Where’s the nearest DQ?”