Day 8 (June 27) - Idaho at Last

Today we have a short 62 mile ride from Ontario, Or into Boise, Idaho.   We are pretty excited today about seeing Idaho and also getting our first day off (Tuesday in Boise).   We all need to do laundry and could use a little down time in preparation for the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole next week.   Here are some details.


Crossing the Snake River into Idaho.  After 8 days in Oregon, we are ready for Idaho


My Favorite Idaho.  As we cruise into Boise, we are all wearing our America By Bicycle blue jerseys.   Everywhere we go, people want to talk about our trip.  It's really pretty exciting the way people are just amazed by this.   So am I.


ME in Idaho.  I couldn't resist this shot.   After 8 days in Oregon, I am glad to see my new favorite Idaho.

Barry and I enjoying the Idaho Hills

Lucy and Sharon at our first SAG stop today.   We are about to turn left into some of the most beautiful farmland you have ever seen.

Pretty farms in Idaho - Lots of retired military here living high on the hog

Some painted horses along the way.   Look at the standing water and the green grass of home.


A Texas Longhorn in Idaho?  Can you imagine these horns before they were sawed off?


Dinner tonight??  After 8 days on the road, I 'm ready for a steak.   This one looks a little thin, but it'll have to do.


Oops, looks like I teed off the big daddy.  He's about to jump over the fence and have me for dinner.


First let's do lunch at a biker bar (Hyde Park, just west of Boise).  It has got to be more than 94 degrees today, too hot to ride!!


Here we are in some nice air conditioning just before the ride into the Capitol. (ME, Blythe, Barry, Montreal Mike)


And here we are at the Idaho State Capitol, Blythe and Mary in foreground


Boise - The State Capitol.  We are riding into Boise in full dress uniform.   Just behind the capitol is our hotel, the Courtyard Marriott, where we will spend the next two nights, including a well deserved day off on Tuesday.


The start of our first day off (Barry, Karina, ME, Lucy, Sharon)

As a side note, we have lost two riders to knee injuries.   He have several others with saddle sores (very common on long rides).   So far, I am doing great, enjoying my riding companions, the great food and welcome breaks from the long ride, and many exhilarating moments seeing America from a bicycle.   I am reminded of an Emily Dickinson poem that goes like this.

"Exhilaration is like the going of an inland soul to sea,
Beyond the houses, beyond the headlands, into great eternity......"

A not so well known fact is that Miss Dickinson wrote these lines shortly after her first bicycle ride!

More on Wednesday after we leave Boise.
Love to All,
ME