Day 70 - Burns Day Off

Do you want to know what you do if you're on Bike & Build and have a day off in a town of only 2,800 people 12 days from the end of the trip? You go to the local library and try to get your post Bike & Build life in order. We've got this, you guys!

I wasted close to 30 minutes playing around on Google Maps, mapping out the rest of our route. Only 11 rides left!

Glory Days Pizza invited us to have a free dinner since we didn't have a host dinner planned. They were extremely generous and even offered to let us stay there. Hopefully next year's route will be in contact with them prior to their arrival because we had a blast hanging out there. They had a huge projection screen; we watched the Big Bang Theory while we ate dinner and afterwards we watched Up. Glory Days even let us have free bottomless slushes so I was drinking Dr. Pepper Icees all night long. 

The Catty Corner:
Dug from "Up": "I was hiding under your porch because I love you."

Day 69 - Juntura, OR to Burns, OR

WOW! What a scorcher! I think we were all under the impression that today would be easy... Little did we know we were to cross 2 mountain passes, all while facing the fiercest heat of the trip. I was behind from the start since I asked to be vanned the first 6 "bonus miles" of gravel back to the main road. (At this point, I'm boycotting gravel because it tears up my body and it tears up my bike.) Then, Erika ended up getting 3 flats. As she was changing the 2nd flat I all of sudden almost passed out. My vision went white and fuzzy and I had to immediately sit down on the side of the road to rehydrate and eat before getting back on my bike. I was pretty scared that the heat was going to beat me up bad. But I was able to continue. By the time she changed her 3rd flat, sweep was upon us. We made it to lunch an hour after the previous group had cleared out. After lunch though the road flattened out and we only had to bike faster than the storm that was chasing us.

The first of 2 mountain passes that we biked today was Drinkwater Pass at 4,212 feet. 

I have no idea what the name of the second pass was but it was at 4,848 feet. See how lazy I was, taking pictures from my bike instead of getting off to pose. 

This is seriously my favorite sign ever. When I see this sign, my whole world lights up. Downhills are glorious. 

Erika and I ended up racing a storm the last 20 miles into town. We experienced some serious crosswinds and were being blown from the edge of the shoulder toward the rumble strip. I thought for sure that we would get stuck in the rain but we made it to the host just in time. The other groups that made it in ahead of us didn't have to bike through the crosswinds. Naturally... The last groups always experience the worst weather. On the other hand, the first groups did have to bike through the raging sun whereas we had cloud cover and wind to cool us down.

Burns is so cute! Almost every 500 feet are spray painted bicycles decorating the trees and street lights.  

I played the video lottery for the first time in my life. I literally had no idea what I was doing... I only did it for the experience and I ended up just pressing buttons and walking away $1 poorer.

There are 2 white cats that live in the local bookstore! Can I always live in a city that has bookstore cats, please? Or a cat cafe. Or something cats?!

The Catty Corner:
Logan: "So where's the best place to experience the night life here?"
Lodge Bartender: "HAH!"

Day 68 - Ontario, OR to Juntura, OR

Today was a little all over the place and on the whole we had to fly by the seat of our pants. To start, recent forest fires in Washington and northern Idaho have caused quite a ruckus and emergency relief has settled in Juntura as a home base for operation. Because of this, our host had to cancel on us and we were left without a place to stay. Fortunately, we found a campsite that was 6 miles down a gravel road that could accommodate us on such short notice, which upped our total expected mileage from 71 to 77 miles. During the ride through the desert though, there was a construction site where the workers wouldn't let us through. Many of us decided to hitch rides with strangers all the way into town. Due to these complications, my bike ride ended up being about 20 miles shorter than it was originally supposed to be.   

Eastern Oregon is desolate to say the least. For the first time no one had service for almost the entire ride. Once we left Ontario there was nothing but a tiny gas station with one pump until we reached Juntura which didn't have much more than a cafe and some campgrounds. 

The constructions workers stopped us once we got to the construction zone and told us that we couldn't ride on the road. They offered to shuttle us in their pilot truck but they were only taking us 2 by 2 and sometimes they wouldn't take any of us at all. After sitting around for close to a hour we realized it was going to take all day for us to get through. So we decided to ask random people driving pickups if we could ride with them.   

The majority of the construction zone was ridable in my opinion; we've been on much worse. So I was sitting anxiously in the truck bed, upset about missing the ride. But then we drove by a section of wet tar that would have been impossible to traverse. Even after the construction zone technically ended, the road wasn't completely paved. None of the riders felt compelled enough to stop the makeshift pickup caravan so we ended up riding into town where we ate lunch at a cafe as we waited for host arrangements to be made. I guess this is all a part of the adventure. Sometimes you have no control over being able to complete a ride. 

We camped tonight about 6 miles from Juntura at Chukar park. With no cell phone service we quickly ran out of things to do. After making bracelets, crocheting, giving/getting massages, playing guitar, and relaxing in the river we ran out of things to do and just hung around until it was dark enough to go to bed. (Oh, and we crossed into the Pacific time zone! But no one knew until our phones changed the next day when got service the next day.)

The Catty Corner:
Erika: "Wait... What? I just found broccoli in my cleavage and I didn't eat any today!"

Day 67 - Boise, ID to Ontario, OR

Today's ride was pretty low key. It was flat except for maybe 5 really short hills so we moved quick. It's funny that I wouldn't even really count today's hills after all I've biked up this summer. It did get pretty hot but we got the host early so we missed the worst of the heat. The only hitch in the plan was that there wasn't a state sign on the road we took into Oregon so we had to bike an extra 2.5 miles past the host to get a proper state line picture. But it's all gravy.

Before the route meeting this morning everyone put on self-adhesive mustaches for a Mustache Bash. I'm not sure why... It's not even Monday... 

Before leaving Boise, I broke into the stadium because I just had to have a picture on the infamous blue turf. 

There just happened to be a couple guys already on the field. Ashley and I struck up a conversation with them and we told them what we're doing this summer. I think we impressed them. Haha... Shout-out to #20 Terrell Johnson! I'll be looking for you this coming fall. I seriously can't wait for football season!

Apparently we passed a cheese factory today and got a huge cheese donation? Feta. Brie. Pepper jack. Provolone. You name it, we've got it! And I'm not complaining! I think we should have cheese at every lunch stop and it's possible that we might just have enough to last until the end of the trip. Then again, we eat a ton. 

I've come all this way and until today haven't taken a single picture in a corn field. I'm glad I waited because this was the tallest corn we've seen. It was at least 8 feet tall!

When I crossed into Oregon today I was seriously so excited. I can see the finish line and I know now that I'm going to make it. There was a while were I was thinking that there was no possible way... But here I am, just Oregon and California to go! 

The Catty Corner:
Erika: "OOOOOWWWWWWWWW OW OWOWOWOW!"
Erin: *drops bowl of cheese and grapes* "Geez! What just happened? I thought you lost your teeth."

Day 66 - Mountain Home, ID to Boise, ID

Today's ride was a disaster. The SC2SC route doesn't usually go to Boise so the leaders didn't know what roads would be best to take. Basically, the only 2 options were the interstate or gravel backcountry. They made the call (with the best of intentions) to take the road less traveled by thinking that it would be more safe. Ironically, I've never felt more unsafe on this trip than I did today. I ended up flipping over my handlebars at about mile 10 and rode the next 20 miles to lunch steaming mad. When I got to lunch I immediately pulled one of the leaders aside and told her (as I was in tears) that I was very upset and felt uncomfortable. She gave me the option to cut back to the interstate to finish the ride, which I did. The interstate was paradise comparatively. Even though there was more traffic, the shoulder was at least 8 feet and was extremely smooth and clear of debris. Most of the riders tried to continue on the gravel after lunch but ended up having to turn back and head for the interstate as well after getting lost in the desert. Due to the troubles they faced I ended up at the host first even though I left from lunch last. I'm so thankful that I got out of that wasteland when I did. 

I wouldn't consider the road we went on a real road. In fact, I wouldn't even consider it a gravel road. It was more like a bumpy dirt path with rocks. Here, the road is flat and straight but when I flipped over my handlebars it was extremely steep, craggy, and winding. 

When I flipped over my handlebars I went straight up into the air in a handstand position and fell first onto my right shoulder and elbow and then onto my knee. Only my knee was scraped up but the real damage feels internal. It is hard for me to fully straighten and fully bend my knee and my elbow. And when I try to pick something up my shoulder screams at me to not. Right after the crash I stood up and called after the people I was riding behind and tried to get them to stop. But because the gravel was so loud they couldn't hear me and kept riding so I was left alone until Kaley and Michele found me. At this point so much adrenaline was coursing through my body that I was shaking uncontrollably. Kaley, probably the nicest, kindest person on our trip, offered me a tissue and some water to clean my knee and asked me if I was okay. It was then that I snapped. I started screaming and crying and cussing. Somewhere in the middle of my tantrum I yelled, "WHAT THE #@$*!?!? I'M NOT A @#%@#^& WAGON WITH HORSES!!!! WHY THE (!#& AM I ON THIS ROAD?!?! THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!!". Kaley was probably scared for her life. I'm sorry Kaley...

The Catty Corner:
Katie: "HEY! TURN! YOU GUYS ARE MISSING THE TURN! YOU GUYS!"

Day 65 - Twin Falls, ID to Mountain Home, ID

Let's break this thing into thirds. The first 38 miles before first lunch were so great. Logan and Joel asked me to ride with them and I had a great time hanging out. The terrain was mostly flat. Sometimes it would look like a hill was coming up but then the highway would take a sudden turn and we would avoid it. At about mile 25 we descended into the Snake River Canyon. As we rode into lunch my mood was immediately deflated because I saw an ambulance and a police car surrounded by a bunch of Bike & Builders. (Keep reading to find out what happened. Spoiler alert: everyone is okay.) The next 32 miles were equally amazing. I rode with Tom, Noah, and Dunphy. And I may or may not have completed the naked mile tradition. (Sorry, no photographic evidence.) I felt great rolling into second lunch and was super excited to finish the ride. Unfortunately, the last 25 miles were AWFUL. Strong headwinds slowed me down so much and I ended up so frustrated that I was screaming obscenities into the wind as I rode into town alone.

Seriously, this field... It's amazing. And purple, which is my signature color. So naturally I fell in love with it. 

Canyons are to mountains as troughs are to crests. Hence, I took a reverse summit picture at the bottom of the canyon.

Marine was hit by a car today. The car was crossing over the the main road from a side street and didn't properly stop at the stop sign. Once again, she walked away from the accident on her own with only superficial cuts and bruises. Unfortunately, her bike was totaled. Hopefully, a bike shop in Boise will be able to hook her up.    

For lunch I ate from the Taco Man taco truck which happened to be in the middle of nowhere and featured Idaho potato tacos. What a brilliant idea!

While you guys are at home playing Oregon Trail on your computers and dying from dysentery, I'm out here riding right beside the real Oregon Trail. The Oregon Trail is a 2,200-mile historic east-west large wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The Oregon Trail was laid by fur trappers and traders from about 1811 to 1840 and was used by about 400,000 settlers, ranchers, farmers, miners, and businessmen and their families.  

When I said that the headwinds were bad I meant that we actually rode through a wind farm for 15 miles. Really?! Why? Just why. 

I don't know if you know this already but today was CHRISTMAS (in July)! At family meeting we exchanged gifts secret-Santa style. We were assigned a person about 3 weeks ago and had to either find an item or purchase one under $3. I got a dinosaur and a note with "EXCELLENT" stickers from Safety Katie.

The Catty Corner:
Sarah K: "You're supposed to find out who gave it to you. It was me."

Day 64 - Twin Falls Build Day

For our build today we went to the ReStore in Twin Falls. Some groups worked inside, combining and reorganizing paint and carrying out other odd jobs. I worked outside digging holes for fence posts that we eventually cemented in.

Joel and I worked as a team, busting through rock, making sure the holes were 2 feet deep. Note: my leg is in the hole.

Joel and I's teamwork today was magical; so much so that we acquired shovel riding skills. Look out, Harry Potter. There are new seekers in town. 

At one point we hit a standstill because of a huge rock that was in the way. Fortunately, Reuben is a beast and after a long bout he ended up taking the rock out. 

Joel felt left out so I took a picture of him with the rock that he dug out of the hole.

One of the Habitat staff members invited us over for dinner. It was so nice to be in a real house, with real pet cats and stuff. I miss normal life... Bike and Build life on the road is getting old and tiresome. 

FINALLY! I've been waiting for some Idaho potatoes! These were loaded with bacon and jalapenos and they were delicious!

After dinner we went to Shoshone Falls, "the Niagara of the West". Shoshone Falls tumbles 212 feet to the canyon floor, more than 50 feet further than the famous falls on the New York-Ontario border. The falls are in full form in the spring. At that time the entire upper left section of rock is covered with water.

Before turning in, we watched the sun set in the canyon. The end.

The Catty Corner:
Me: "Finally, some chill music in this van"
Erika: "Finally, some MOVEMENT in this van. Aright, I'm done being a jerk."

Day 63 - Burley, ID to Twin Falls, ID

Hooray for the shortest ride of the trip! I felt like I was back home doing a training ride, before 80 and 90 miles became normal. 

There was a surprise canyon on the route! Overall, the ride was flat and fairly uneventful until we suddenly crossed over the Snake River. This was my first time seeing a legitimate canyon. It was amazing and beautiful!

Ashley E. and I were the "Idaho Sweep Potatoes" today. Don't get in our way! We don't play games. 

After a quick nap at the host we went to Bass Lake for a cookout dinner. While the hotdogs were grilling we were able to get out on the water with canoes, peddle boats, and paddle boards. Behind me you can see the Perrine Memorial Bridge.

After dinner, we had affordable housing presentations on the lawn near the shore of the lake. Suzette and Starkey spit the facts in rap form. Anytime Starkey is rapping, I'm in. And anytime Suzette happens to have written the script, I'm double in.

The Catty Corner:
Q: Why do potatoes make great detectives?
A: Because they keep their eyes peeled.

Day 62 - Snowville, UT to Burley, ID

I killed this ride! And I'm really excited about it! I started out riding with two of the fastest guys, expecting to get dropped. But I hung on and made it to first lunch feeling strong. After lunch, I was able to pick up right where I left off and we ended up passing the couple groups that were in front of us. My average mph for this ride was 16. 

Before leaving Snowville we ate at one of the two restaurants in town: Mollie's Cafe. The food was the best I've had on the trip and Mollie herself was there to pour our coffee. I couldn't stop talking about how cute she was. 

Come on, Idaho... You can do better than that. All you did was change the font of "Idaho"... Nevertheless, I'm ecstatic to see you!

Tattoo Tuesday was extra special since we had sparkly Ed Hardy tattoos.

Haha... We just cruised right by a truck that was painting lines on the highway.  

In order to get free pizza tonight we volunteered our time by making equipment bags for the runners of the upcoming Spudman Triathlon. There was some serious organization going on and we just hopped right in to the human conveyor belt assembly line.

The Sheriff's Posse was practicing their drills at the track on the fairgrounds where we were camping tonight. So for entertainment we posted up with a couple cold ones and watched the routine. 

And they even let us interrupt practice to have a go at riding horses!!!!! This was my first time and I was seriously so excited! I was cheesin' hard for at least an hour about getting to ride Lady.

The Catty Corner: LGB(Tent)