Day 14: Idaho Falls

The last two days have been pretty easy. Yesterday, as Paul reported, we rode 110 miles over mostly flat terrain with the wind at our backs the whole way. It was like having a motor on our bikes. Today, we had a 34-mile sprint to Idaho Falls over pancake flat terrain. Paul and I rode the train--in a paceline with the group of fast riders. It made the miles go very, very fast. Now, in Idaho Falls, we are in the Red Lion hotel, whose motto is--nobody gets a room before 2pm, no matter what. And if someone makes loud, snide comments in the lobby about how the hotel must not rely on repeat business, that bozo will wait until at least 3pm. Needless to say, Paul and I are still waiting for our room at 2:30.

Since we were the first ones into the hotel, I got the first massage from Heidi, a large gregarious woman who drives here from Wyoming to provide massages to the ABB hoard. Usually she has help from some other masseuses she knows, but since today is Sunday, all her Mormon friends are out of service. She wasn't totally happy about that. I asked her to explain red state thinking to me, but she couldn't help me. She said that she was the only person in her town with a Kerry bumper sticker. I'm still far from learning the truth.

There's not much to report. Yesterday's high point was finding an impromptu sculpture garden--basically whimsically decorated sprinklers that some farmer welded together near Aberdeen, ID. (Blogger won't let me upload pictures. See picture of the sculptures at the "trip photos" page of ride4haiti.org.) The ride was pretty without being breathtaking. I kept on thinking of amber waves of grain.

The town of Blackfoot was basically a large strip of chain stores, car dealers, and fast food restaurants, utterly lacking in charm. We ate dinner and breakfast al fresco, I think because there was no restaurant in town that would have been worth dining at. The food was brought in by caterers and was actually quite good. They set up tables with table cloths and silverware, although paper napkins and plates diminished the ambience slightly. The food came a little late last night and I worried for the safety of the caterers as very hungry cyclists were milling around anxiously. One of the caterers is about as tall as I am and probably 80 pounds heavier, so he probably discouraged a riot. And they brought more than enough for the feeding frenzy, including multiple deserts, so everyone left happy. The large caterer told me that he liked bicycling, but would never consider trying to ride over Teton pass and the continental divide--our next couple days of riding.

Idaho Falls appears to be a real city. It is built around a dam and falls, and a nice park along the Snake River. I plan to wander around for a bit before our early dinner. Big caterer says that tomorrow will be a challenge.

Cheers,

Len

PS, The word is that the au pair has a boyfriend. One of the young studs said that someone once told him, "A boyfriend isn't like a mountain," meaning what???