Day 12--Twin Falls, ID to Burley, ID

Day 12—June 30, 2006—Twin Falls, ID to Burley, ID—38 miles—1178’ climb

How to protect against sunburn . . .
if you don't care that you scare little kids

A lazy, lovely day . . . clear and sunny but with milder temps than we’ve been experiencing. Also cooling breezes that served as a tailwind to push us over the puny 38 miles of today’s ride to Burley, Idaho, a small farming community off I-84. (Burley’s only “claim to fame” is that three cows traced from the Canadian mad cow herd were found here.)

Many slept in this morning because with the short day we didn’t load until 8 am. Riders planned on stopping by Shoshone and Twin Falls on their way out of town, such stop requiring steep curving downhills . . . and their opposite (photo below). One of the riders talked to a ranger at the bottom and found that there is a bike trail that runs for a couple of miles up to and along the ridge to the spot where stuntman Evil Knievel attempted (but failed) to jump the gorge in 1974.

Last night groups formed teams and plotted strategy in anticipation of today’s scavenger hunt. At luggage load, I revealed the list of items to be found. Some were so eager to get a head start that they’d read last year’s web site to see if any of the required items were listed. The scavenger hunt is always enjoyable, and the inventiveness and ingenuity of the riders makes our post-dinner judging of the teams a riot of laughs. This year we had two big teams: Team Rails to Trails whose leader was Bill Weidenfeller, and Team High Rollers, lead by Barb & Steve Hauke and including Ken Iobst, Rob Dahlstrom, Annie O’Grady, and Lois Evans, all of whom also shared the presentation of objects. The presentations were very inventive, but Team High Rollers won by a slim 3-point margin and will now get to be first in all buffet lines for the next week.

Our route today followed the Snake River Canyon for about 9 miles. Then we broke away and followed I-84 on frontage roads. It was quite a lonely route except for the sound of interstate traffic and the pulsating sounds of the watering systems that were virtually everywhere. There were fields of sugar beets, newly planted beans, and white russet and red russet potatoes, as well as colorful swatches of yellow wild mustard and an occasional sunflower. Also along the roads flowed many irrigation ditches, which attracted birds and other wildlife. There wasn’t much climbing today either, unless riders opted to ride down to the Snake River and back up (and many of them did). Everyone got in early, ate lunch at one of the nearby restaurants, gathered their scavenger hunt items, and got a good rest in preparation for tomorrow’s 112 miles.

OVERHEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY:

* “Where’d the road go?” [from riders who missed the turn under the Interstate and found themselves at a “Pavement Ends” sign].

* “Gotta love a tailwind.”

* “This was a great day!”

SHOW & TELL: Yesterday Abe watched and took photos of parachutists base jumping from the bridge high above the Snake; one rider saw an emu; many of us saw the small yellow crop dusting planes up close and personal. I was following behind Jeff & Julie when both planes flew not 25 feet over our heads and landed at their refueling station which was just up the road from today’s SAG stop.