Tonight we are camped at Zim’s Hot Springs near New Meadows, Idaho. We rode 77 miles today and it was mostly uphill. It was the kind of uphill that follows a river so it wasn’t extreme but it definitely wears you out when you are plugging along all day long. The river we followed all day was the Salmon River and there were a lot of fisherman. It was a beautiful ride. We saw quite a few bicyclers today who are doing the Transamerican going West to East, and a number of them that I talked to were from England. I have very weak cell service and no wifi here where we are camped so I won’t be able to send any pictures. The hot springs here is 140 gallons a minute of artesian water that is 180 degrees. They have a big swimming pool and two smaller pools. They have a mixing valve like what is on your shower valve to regulate the water temperature in all of the pools, and they blow it up in the air in the pool to help cool the water off a bit. We enjoyed ourselves in the pool tonight relaxing the overworked muscles.

Woke up this morning to pouring rain, and it has been poring rain all day long. This morning when I saw the rain I opted to ride in the pick-up with Dave. I felt terribly wimpy as everyone else took off this morning on their bicycles all bundled up in their rain gear, but as we rode in the truck with it pouring rain having trouble seeing the road I began to feel very wise😀 The forecast is for the rain to go away tonight and tomorrow to be nice. We will see, the weather man has been wrong on numerous occasions on this trip. I really hated missing the ride today because I only had three more days of riding before I bail on the group to go fishing on the Snake river, but I hate riding in the rain. I can’t see very well with my glasses off and when it is raining I can’t see at all which makes me very nervous, and then cars pass you and they spray more water all over you and trucks just about drown you. I hate riding in the rain, but I think I said that already, not complaining, just stating the facts. I am looking forward to a nice sunny day of riding tomorrow and the next day and then fishing!

We left Lolo Hot Springs at 9:00 am today, we usually leave at 6:00 am, because it was so cold and rainy hoping the rain would quit and the sun would come out. The rain quit for awhile but the sun never did come out today. We rode over Lolo pass today at about 7,000 feet and then had a fun ride down the other side. We also crossed into Idaho. We followed the Locksa River all day. There were places where it was the wildest river I have ever seen. There were a bunch of rafters camped where we camped tonight and one person that I talked to said it was in the top five rivers in the Northwest for difficulty in rafting. We rode 62 miles today and camped at Wilderness Gateway campground. There was no cell service all day as we rode through the wilds of Idaho, the reason this blog is a day late. It rained off and on all day. My least favorite thing to do in all of life is ride a bicycle in the train. Camping in the rain is a close second, but I am not grumbling and complaining.😀 Wasn’t much to do in camp with it raining so we walked to a covered area, built a fire in the fireplace and fed the chipmunks Ritz crackers.

Today we rode 67 miles. The first 40 miles were on a paved bike trail. It is so relaxing to ride with no traffic. It seems like a person would get used to the traffic, but it is hard to get used to cars zipping by at 60 and 70 mph just a couple of feet away from your left elbow. You don’t fully realize the tension you are under until you have a day like today. After the 40 miles of bike trail we had 30 miles of uphill riding in low traffic. Overall, today was a 9 day with 10 being perfect.

We arrived at Lola Hot Springs about 2:00 pm and promptly put our swimming suits on and hit the pool. There is the big pool where the water is about 100 degrees and the small one that is 110 at the end the water comes in at and the cooler end is 103.

We no sooner got started swimming than the thunder and lightning began and they ran us out of the pool, citing danger to our lives. I am in the restaurant because they have good WiFi and there is none in camp nor cell reception.

The waiter and waitresses keep eying me suspiciously when they they walk by me, I think it because I keep falling asleep. There are quite a few people playing the slot machines so I figure they should be taking care of me. When the lightening quits I am heading back to the pool. It is open until 12:00 pm so I may not get much sleep tonight.

Tomorrow we follow the Louksa River all day as we enter Idaho. As result of following the river we have a gradual downhill all day long and I am anticipating great scenery and a very relaxing ride.

Kim

Whoooooeeeeeee 51 days of bicycling across the United States. Tomorrow we will be in Idaho and only ten days from home, whooooeeeee! We are in Hamilton, Montana, tonight at a lovely Campground called “Anglers Roost.” We are right on the banks of the Bitterroot River and which offers world-class fly fishing. People come from all over the world to fish here.

We rode 73 miles today with a big hill at the start and then lots of downhill. I got up to 45 mph several times. Tomorrow we are on a bike trail most of the day. It is a paved trail just for bicycles, no traffic, or trucks to contend with. Tomorrow night we will be at Lolo Hot Springs and will have a wonderful time swimming in a pool that is 100 degrees and you can jump over to the next warmest or the next warmest after that which is about 108 degrees. Very nice after a long hard day of bicycling.

Last night we had another bicycler join us until the end of the trip, Paul Risinger, so now we have six riding and Dave is driving the pick up.

Even though today was 75 miles it was a fast ride so we were in camp by 2:00 pm and have had lots of nap time, read time, eat time, and general relax and do what you want time.

Today we had two huge hills to climb, and they were both over 7,000 feet in elevation where we hit the pass. But what goes up must come down, so we had some awesome downhill rides. I got up to 45 mph going down one stretch, and Cliff said he got up to 47 mph. When you are going that fast on a skinny bicycle, it is a major adrenaline rush. Also, on the downhill after the second pass, we had a 20 mph tailwind. It was a 25-mile gradual downhill, but with the tailwind, we cruised along at 20 mph for most of the way without hardly ever pedaling. That is a nice way to get some easy miles. We have had almost a bug free trip so far, but today we got into the mosquitos. So we broke out the deet and applied liberally. We rode 70 miles today and again had breathtaking beauty with all the snow-covered mountains. June 15th is when the BLM land opens for grazing so we got engulfed with beef cows being herded up the road to pasture. We are camped in a town called Wisdom, Montana. Tomorrow we have a very similar day as today.

Today was a good day of riding even though we had a very strong head wind for the last 15 miles of the day. We also had a big climb the first 12 miles of the day then it was mostly flat after that. The scenery was beautiful with lots of snow-covered mountains, streams, lakes, and big fields that I imagine have lots of deer, antelope, and elk feeding in them. We did see quite a bit of wildlife today as we rode along. I had a minor wreck today. I was riding along looking at the scenery and I got to close to the edge of the road and went off into the gravel and then down a slight embankment and flipped over. I didn’t get hurt and my bike was fine, and the most important thing, nobody saw me! We are at a bicycle hostel tonight which is very nice. This old guy who is a bicycle enthusiast leased land from the government and he built four log buildings and finished them very nice. There is a bathroom, a shower, nice eating area and an area to sit and read or do whatever you want. There is plenty of area for cots, pads and sleeping bags as well. He did this as a service to the people who bicycle the Transamerica route each year. There is no charge to stay here though I did see a little donation box on the door. We bicycled 72 miles today and we are in the town of Dillon, Montana. I think we are done with the rain for the rest of the trip; hallelujah!

The weather for the last three days has been terrible to ride a bicycle in. It has downpoured, snowed, been very cold, and the wind has blown 30 mph. So we have not ridden our bicycles for three days waiting for this storm to blow over. We have driven the planned route with the bicycles in the trailer and we have stayed in motels, the cheapest we can find. Today we are camping in Ennis, Montana and riding our bicycles tomorrow to Dillon, Montana. The weather prediction is winds averaging 20 mph with gusts to 40 mph and most of it will be headwinds. I am predicting a very difficult day on the bicycle. After tomorrow I think it is going to be mostly good weather with moderate to little wind. The three days of not riding have given me a good time of healing up various ailments so the next ten days of riding should be good. One of the things I have done while waiting out the storm is to go back and read my blogs from previous bicycle trips. They have all had their adventures, challenges, and set backs.

Tonight we are in Ennis, Montana. It is a big fly fishing center with every other store in town being some kind of fly fishing place. The Madison River runs through town and there are lots of guides, drift boats, and rubber rafts. It is raining here and very cold, in fact, an inch of snow is supposed to fall tonight🥺😫 Whooooeeeee I hope that doesn’t happen. We opted to stay in a motel again tonight because of the weather. With the price of gas, unexpected breakdowns, and bad weather lodging expenses I have gone way over my planned budget for this trip. I have come to the conclusion that the best way to do these trips economically is to do them without a support vehicle, at least not a pickup but a high mileage little car with a bike rack, and to limit the number who go at a time to four. The reason for the small number is to be able to take advantage of “warm shower” host homes. “Warm Showers” is an organization of about 100,000 homes who are bicycle enthusiasts around the USA who will let you camp in their yard or even stay in a spare bedroom, take a shower, and usually feed you breakfast and dinner, and they do it for free. The problem is that most host homes will only host groups of four or less. As I wrote before, my favorite areas to ride in are the Western United States, so I think I am personally going to stay in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, California, and Oregon for all future rides. Also I will plan the rides to be 40 days or less, I like the 60 day trips but there are so many other things I want to do besides ride a bicycle. There are thousands of miles of bicycle club sanctioned bicycle routes in these States as well as a growing number of paved bicycle paths exclusively for bicycles. They are called “Rails to Trails”, which are abandoned railroad tracks with the rails and ties being removed and the gravel paved. They are very nice because you don’t have to worry about a car or truck running over you. I have a trip all routed and planned to hit every State in the lower 48 States. It would start in Maine and end at my house, would be 6,000 miles long, and would take three to three and a half months to complete. I have almost for sure canceled that out of my life. I also have planned a trip to go from the tip of Florida to Fairbanks, Alaska. That trip, as well is going to happen only in my dreams. It is kind of sad when my age and health catch up with my dreams, and cancel them out. Oh well, the things I will do when I get my new glorified body and am in the Kingdom of heaven with Jesus will be many times greater than anything I have done here.

Are you going to be in the Kingdom with Jesus and me? If you don’t know for sure you probably aren’t. It would be good to take care of that before it is too late.

Today we are in West Yellowstone in a cabin at a KOA campground and it is pouring rain so we are sticking around here today and heading out tomorrow for Ennis, Montana. I am reading mostly, doing some writing, sending out emails, and I am going to work on the trailer if there is a break in the rain. I looked at the weather report for each town on the date we will be there through the end of the trip and it looks like tomorrow will be our last rain day, here’s hoping!

I am not going to ride the last four days of our trip. The afternoon that we arrive in Baker City, Oregon I am going to get picked up by one of the guys that is camped in Huntington, on the Snake river catfish fishing, and I am going to camp there with them for a week of fishing. So that means that the 22nd of June is my last day riding. That also means that I have ten days of bicycle riding left. So far on the 46 days of our trek I have not ridden for eight days, either we were taking a day off because of rain or I rode in the pickup because of bicycle problems or I was taking a rest day. That means that I will end the trip with 48 days of riding with an average day being 70 miles which calculates out to 3,360 miles of bicycle riding.

I now I have lost 15 pounds of weight and I am going to work hard at losing 5 more pounds before the end of the trip making a total of 20 lbs. That is only half of what my goal was, but I am always so hungry when we get into camp that I eat like a horse or a pig. But 20 lbs is 20 lbs and I am going to work very hard to exercise great self-control and lose 20 more in the next couple of months. I feel so much better when I keep my weight down under 200 lbs, though it has been so long since I have been under 200 lbs I can’t hardly remember how I felt! Do you ever get disgusted with yourself for not doing what you want to do, or doing what you don’t want to do? I experience that feeling often! I repent mentally afterwards, make goals, establish strategies, and mess up again! Sometimes it seems like two steps forward and then three steps back, or four or five! I am looking forward to the day I get my new, glorified body that won’t have a sin nature, wow! In the mean time I will run the race with endurance, pressing on to maturity, asking Jesus everyday to forgive me and asking for His strength. Living life is like being on a bicycle trip, just keep pedaling.