The Awkward Pose

August 6, 2015 – Sun and clouds, 70 degrees

Miles Today: 111

Miles to Date: 5,295

States to Date: 21

I saw more of Yellowstone than I anticipated, which turned out to be good thing. I planned to leave my campsite at Grant Village and take the west side of the Grand Loop, to see Old Faithful and then head north on US 89 past most of the geysers to Gardiner, MT. However, a ranger told me there was 17 miles of construction, i.e. gravel, north of Norris. So I revised my 76-mile route into 110 miles by taking in Old Faithful and then looping back to Yellowstone Canyon, up and over Mount Washburn, past Tower Falls and back through the northern tier of the park to get to Gardiner. I began at break of day and spent thirteen hours pedaling, stopping at vistas, and talking to folks.

The requisite picture of Old Faithful

I was intrigued by how many people were glued to their lens throughout the entire event. A worker in the Park told me that selfie-stacks are the most popular sales item.

The steam glistens off the smooth earth in the morning light.

Nearly twenty years after the 1988 fires, new longpole pines are growing through the fire debris.

Gibbon Meadow is a beautiful stretch of mountain scenery.

Gibbon falls are spectacular. I met Michael Joseph Oswald, author of Your Guide to the National Parks. His camera would probably not even fit in my panniers: his books must have terrific photos.

I was in the Canyon area at lunchtime, the only time I experienced the impact of over three million summer visitors to the park. The canyon is incredible, the chaos of people, traffic, and animal gawking a lot less inspiring.

Everything calmed down as I climbed up Mount Washburn.

This outcropping that towers over the road blew me away.

The northern portion of the park is the least spectacular, yet I found it very satisfying in the early evening light, and Undine Falls was a treat to close my Yellowstone day.

August 4, 2015 – Clouds and sun, 80 degrees

Miles Today: 34

Miles to Date: 5,106

States to Date: 20

A short day of intense riding. Eight miles along an easy bike path and then fortified myself with a huckleberry shake in Victor, ID.

Eight miles at 6% grade plus three miles at 10% grade to climb Teton Pass. Met couples from LA, MS and CA at the Wyoming sign.  Am I going backwards? I’ve already been in Wyoming! No worry, Jackson Hole beckons.

The descent is more hair-raising than the climb – brakes full throttle for four miles along the old road turned into bike path: too many switchbacks to count.

Arrived in Jackson by two. What am I doing here? A tourist mecca flooded with Asians and guys with big guts all wearing Jackson Hole T-shirts. Don’t they already know where they are? However, the antler arches in the main square are great and it’s cool how the mountains form the backdrop to absolutely everything.

My warmshowers host is a long time Jackson summer resident and bit eccentric. Hooray!

Off to Yellowstone tomorrow – my first night of sleeping outside and no Internet. Goodbye civilization as I know it.

August 3, 2015 – Overcast and rain, 75 degrees

Miles Today: 79

Miles to Date: 5,072

States to Date: 20

  Everything about today was super-scaled, which left me feeling a bit small and overwhelmed. It started at WinCo, a new grocery chain to me where I stopped to pick up breakfast. It’s Costco meets Safeway: I watched people load cartons of milk and pop and dozens of bags of groceries into the back of their pickups at 7 a.m. while I ate my yogurt and drank a Powerade.

 I had a nice 35-mile ride through farmlands and towns. Eastern Idaho is much more populated than I expected, cultivation like Minnesota at the immense scale of the Dakota’s. In Rexford, a squeaky-clean Mormon town, I stopped at Walgreen’s. When I gave the fresh-scrubbed counter boy my card and asked him about tomorrow, he said, “We’ve been following you!” Turns out he’s an exercise physiology student at BYU-Idaho and his professor used my blog s a case study. How cool is that!

Today may be the only day of my trip that took me in all four directions as I skirted west and north before Highway 33 turns east and finally south into the Teton Valley. Potato fields undulated deep green, wheat shimmered in the breeze, the distant hills were spotted with fir trees, and in the far distance the Grand Tetons, seventy miles away, dominated the horizon. Despite the overcast skies they were a mighty force.

I detoured to visit the site of the Teton Dam disaster; a tremendous pile of dirt still stands almost forty years after the 280 foot deep dam broke in 1976 and devastated the nearby towns. The Teton River snakes along a narrow path at the bottom. It looks so benign yet countered man’s attempts to tame it.

By the time I reached Tetonia the sky turned from grey to dark. Three miles outside of Driggs the rain began to fall. Within a mile I was drenched. There was no place for cover, so I just kept coming on until I reached The Pines, a really pleasant guest house in town. I was a dirty, wet, tired creature. After getting clean and dry I walked to the fancy supermarket across the street and got delicious ribs, salad, and watermelon for dinner, with cookies for dessert. I climbed into bed by nine.

August 3, 2015 – Overcast and rain, 75 degrees

Miles Today: 79

Miles to Date: 5,072

States to Date: 20

  Everything about today was super-scaled, which left me feeling a bit small and overwhelmed. It started at WinCo, a new grocery chain to me where I stopped to pick up breakfast. It’s Costco meets Safeway: I watched people load cartons of milk and pop and dozens of bags of groceries into the back of their pickups at 7 a.m. while I ate my yogurt and drank a Powerade.

 I had a nice 35-mile ride through farmlands and towns. Eastern Idaho is much more populated than I expected, cultivation like Minnesota at the immense scale of the Dakota’s. In Rexford, a squeaky-clean Mormon town, I stopped at Walgreen’s. When I gave the fresh-scrubbed counter boy my card and asked him about tomorrow, he said, “We’ve been following you!” Turns out he’s an exercise physiology student at BYU-Idaho and his professor used my blog s a case study. How cool is that!

Today may be the only day of my trip that took me in all four directions as I skirted west and north before Highway 33 turns east and finally south into the Teton Valley. Potato fields undulated deep green, wheat shimmered in the breeze, the distant hills were spotted with fir trees, and in the far distance the Grand Tetons, seventy miles away, dominated the horizon. Despite the overcast skies they were a mighty force.

I detoured to visit the site of the Teton Dam disaster; a tremendous pile of dirt still stands almost forty years after the 280 foot deep dam broke in 1976 and devastated the nearby towns. The Teton River snakes along a narrow path at the bottom. It looks so benign yet countered man’s attempts to tame it.

By the time I reached Tetonia the sky turned from grey to dark. Three miles outside of Driggs the rain began to fall. Within a mile I was drenched. There was no place for cover, so I just kept coming on until I reached The Pines, a really pleasant guest house in town. I was a dirty, wet, tired creature. After getting clean and dry I walked to the fancy supermarket across the street and got delicious ribs, salad, and watermelon for dinner, with cookies for dessert. I climbed into bed by nine.

August 2, 2015 – Sunny, 100 degrees

Miles Today: 60

Miles to Date: 4,993

States to Date: 20

Sunday in the summertime and the living is easy. I got up to the smell of good coffee and enjoyed a breakfast of homemade oatmeal with all sorts of mix-ins on the patio with my warmshowers hosts. I reluctantly took leave after eight, knowing that I wanted to ride in the cool morning rather than the hot afternoon.

Pocatello is a railroad town; the bridges over the tracks are more spectacular than the roads that span the concrete-lined Portneuf River. I wove north and east to Hiline Road, a great route out of town through big pastures. Hiline connected back to US 91 at Fort Hall, the Shoshone-Bannock Indian Reservation where preparations were underway for their annual festival next week. The road is poker straight past the Indian casino into Blackfoot, one of the poorest towns I have traversed.

Beyond Blackfoot the Snake River Valley is a wide flat plain crisscrossed by an elaborate canal system. Monster irrigation systems snake across green fields, tall rows of trees shelter houses from the wind. Where the sprinklers came near the road, an underdraft of cool air broke the mounting heat. By ten it was near eighty degrees, by eleven it was over ninety. A few feet beyond the sprinklers reach the grass is tawny and dry. The heavy rains of Colorado are long past; the fire monitor gauges all read ‘Danger Very High’, and it’s easy to see how one match would enflame these brittle fields.

I stopped in Firth for a liquid lunch: two yogurts and a Little Debbie cake chased down with a quart of chocolate milk; the perfect protein-infused refresher to push me into Idaho Falls before 2:00 p.m. After a writing break I visited the falls, which as more elaborate than I anticipated. The Snake River is a broad stretch of water, until it tumbles over rocks for several blocks near downtown. My host for this evening Sam, is more a couch surfer than a warmshowers guy. He gave me great tips to connect with folks that way on the road. He headed out to his favorite burger joint, but much is closed in Mormon-centric Idaho Falls on a Sunday night. So we wound up at a roadside diner. The food was adequate; the coconut cream pie dessert was extraordinary.

August 1, 2015 – Sunny, 95 degrees

Miles Today: 70

Miles to Date: 4,933

States to Date: 20

 Vickie Nelson and her friends at the Rocky Mountain Red Brick Inn got my day off to a good start – bacon and eggs, biscuits and gravy, fresh fruit, yogurt and delicious coffee. The difference between a B&B and a Super 8 is all about quality and presentation. Vicky placed her fresh cooked food in beautiful bowls. Since I was eating before the usual 8 a.m. time she let me sit in the kitchen where they were preparing things for the other guests. I liked it much better than sitting in the dining room.

I was on the road by eight, pedaling north on a cool morning that wouldn’t stay that way for long. Idaho is big on historical markers and I enjoyed learning about how the area’s history; the Mormon settlers, the fur trappers, the Bear Creek Massacre where several hundred Shoshoni Indians were slaughtered, and the railroad expansion. The most fascinating area was Red Rock Pass – the easiest pass I have traversed to date. The gentle ridge defined the limit of the ancient Bonneville Sea, which used to cover the entire area to the south and has now shrunk to the Great Salt Lake.

I passed several small towns with elaborately carved metal welcome signs. By noon I was ready for a break and stopped at the Little Rock Cafe in McCammon for a terrific burger and fries topped of with a noteworthy cinnamon roll. While I was eating, a throng of Mormon’s arrived: nineteen extended family members celebrating their eight-year-old son’s confirmation. I chatted with the parents while our seasoned waitress handled the rush with aplomb.

My nemesis the wind reared its head for the last twenty miles into Pocatello, but I landed in town before four and took a writing break before meeting my warmshowers host for the evening. My official host was Caitlyn, a college student just back from a three-week cycling trip to the Northwest. But Caitlyn directed me to her parent’s house, my de facto hosts. We had a terrific homemade pizza and beer on the patio. After Caitlyn and some friends went out for the night, Kathy, Mike, and I talked until ten. The sun never seems to set out here.

July 31, 2015 – Sunny, 100 degrees

Miles Today: 35

Miles to Date: 4,863

States to Date: 20

Today was an upside down day. I hung around Logan all day – exploring Logan Canyon, visiting Utah State University (where same gender domestic abuse posters populate the men;s room), taking an afternoon writing break, and visiting ANCA (Association of Nature Center Administrators) to talk about tomorrow. When I headed north out of downtown in US 91 about four, the thermometer hovered at 100 degrees. Logan is typical of so many American cities; a few landmark buildings preserved downtown with miles of strip commercial leading in and out of town. Since I hadn’t eaten since my Econolodge breakfast I decided to stop for an early dinner while the sun was still hot.

Move over Chinese Buffet, I discovered Golden Corral, the touring cyclists perfect feast. Fresh fruit, salad, rotisserie chicken, enchiladas, sautéed zucchini, mushrooms, squash, and cauliflower, chocolate covered strawberries, brownies, cookies and banana pudding. It is amazing.

True, most of the clientele doesn’t look like me. There are a lot of size 42 waists who snatch the tables closest to the buffet line rather than sit near the windows. But for $10.99 (I qualify for the senior citizen discount) there’s lots of healthy food for folks who can avoid the macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried chicken, pasta al fredo and bottomless Coca-Cola. I was fully fueled for my 28-mile ride through the Cache Valley into Idaho.

Riding in the evening is very pleasant, though I would only do it on easy stretches with steady traffic because there’s less time to address emergencies when the sun is waning. Fortunately I got to see more of my favorite Utah architecture – the ice shave stands that are all over the place – and passed into Idaho and on to Preston without any difficulty.

Preston was bustling because it’s Rodeo weekend, but I managed to book a sweet little room at the Rocky Mountain Red Brick Inn; a converted church that was my first night in a bed and breakfast.

July 30, 2015 – Sunny, 90 degrees

Miles Today: 62

Miles to Date: 4,828

States to Date: 19

Today I was a bicycle tourist in the truest sense of the word. I left Kaysville about 10 with the general idea to go to Logan, though if something interesting came up along the way, I didn’t have to get there, for I had meetings scheduled and no lodging arranged in advance.

I rather liked Ogden, which is less affluent than other places along the Wasatch Valley, but also less homogenous. The main street is littered with immigrant stores and restaurants: Mexican bakeries, Chinese buffets, Indian Tandoori, Mongolian Barbeque. Too bad I wasn’t hungry. Downtown featured wonderfully painted horses at the street corners. Just north of town I saw a sign for $5 haircuts. Really? I was straggly and so went in, where Corinne, the chatty wife of an Air Force solider, did a terrific job cutting my hair, at any price.

The next third of my ride was a perfect stretch of cycling. The breeze was cool. US 89 had light traffic and a great shoulder. The Wasatch Mountains loomed over me to the right, the Great Salt Lake spread out on my left. This stretch of agricultural land is like none I’ve seen in the West – sweet corn and fresh tomatoes; cherries, peaches and watermelons. Handsome orchards march up the mountainsides and farm stands sell terrific produce at ridiculous prices. I stopped at Granny’s for some watermelon, but I couldn’t eat it there, as they aren’t licensed for on-site consumption. They looked juicy and good, but not good enough to weigh down my pannier.

I decided that if Brigham City looked neat I might stay there. However, US 89 took a sharp right before the town presented a good face and so I decided to pedal on. Up, up, up another eight mile rise to a pass that eventually bought me into Logan Valley. I wasn’t psyched for such rigorous cycling. I just did it.

It was pushing six by the time I pulled into the Econolodge near downtown Logan. The town presented nothing but wide streets and preoccupied motorists, and I was too tired to seek out more character. At least it’s within walking distance of a few eateries. I got cleaned up and set out for dinner, pleased to find a Salvadoran food truck with tables under tents. I ordered the special, which included pamposas, yucca, fried pork and a sweet pancake dessert. Edgar, a local Guatemalan construction worker and college student, joined me in a great dinner conversation.

July 29, 2015 – Sunny, 90 degrees

Miles Today: 16

Miles to Date: 4,766

States to Date: 19

Today was a day of connecting with my own family and meeting another who is quite extraordinary. I spent the morning with my sister-in-law Julie and her son Steve. He makes an awesome breakfast.

 Then I visited Kadee and Brad Troop and their seven adopted children, four of whom have EB (Epidermolysis Bullosa) a rare genetic disease; the other three were born with drug-related syndromes.

I pedaled up the Rio Grande bike trail to my niece Jessica’s and spent the evening with Jes and her two children as well as my nephew David and his wife Jennifer. Ammon is a Lego fiend; we spent time concocting Star Wars sets at his Lego table. Emma is only four but just ditched the training wheels on her bike. She’s fearless on two wheels. I figure she’ll be ready to join me, maybe next summer?