We were pushed into Idaho Falls by a huge tailwind - fun and fantastic - the "hero snow" of bicycling as we only gained 468 feet. The scenery was the usual gorgeous agricultural land, and we enjoyed time with some of our ABB (America by Bike) comrades. AND, we met Ward along with Lucy and Bill in Idaho Falls. The only downside was that Polly didn't get into her room until 5:00 because 3 of the housekeeping staff quit as we got there. Guess we are just too much to handle! We stayed right by the falls, and thought it was a pretty little town. It was Sunday, however, and pretty much shut down. We tried to go to a bar for a beer but it was so smoky and scary that we turned around after 2 seconds and resorted to the lounge at the "Hotel at the Falls" - our place. Our friend Tom called it the hotel with the "turkey shit color." To change things up we went OUT to dinner with Lucy, Bill and Ward, our wonderful visitors. No buffets for them and a special treat for us! We went to a great Mexican restaurant and ate to our hearts content. So wonderful to see them all.
The bummer to the day was that one of our riders, Mike, had some heart arrhythmia, went to the hospital, and ended up having quadruple bypass surgery. He had no known medical issues before this, and fortunately this was discovered when he passed out in the hotel lobby and not when he was on his bike. Needless to say, he will be going home. So disappointing.
Day 14
Miles - 66
Total Miles - 987
Elevation Gain - 468
Next Stop - Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Link to Mimi's Garmin info
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| Early morning landscape |
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| Mts. South of Idaho Falls - late morning - pretty darn pastoral |
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| Richard & Tom show off their name tags and... |
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| Polly & Mimi show off their name tags too! |
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| Boston Al after a swim in the Snake |
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| Idaho Falls - pretty darn beautiful. Our hotel was just off to the left of this photo |
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| The Antiques at the falls |
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| Two teachers couldn't resist the history lesson |
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| and, more history |
Jackson Hole, WY
Tomorrow we'll fill you in on our ride to Jackson and have lots of pictures. We had to stop midway on this entry because our good friend Tom had a wreck today and broke his pelvis and sacrum. He'll be in the hospital in Jackson for a bit. So instead of blogging, we walked to the hospital to say goodbye. We will greatly miss his humor and kindness - and pulls!
Although Tom's accident put a damper on the day at its conclusion, we had an absolutely wonderful ride from Idaho falls over two passes, through gorgeous country and down into Jackson. A highlight was having our good friend Lucy join us for the beginning of the ride, which took us out of Idaho Falls and up towards the Tetons. We saw osprey and eagles and enjoyed the green of the mountains. Teton Pass was an ass-kicker. We started to climb after about 50 miles but the steepest part (10 percent grade) was the last 3 miles. We were thankful to have Ward chugging away in front of us to drag us up there. When we reached to top we were greeted by former ABB cyclists with cheers, cookies, cold water, and bagels and cream cheese. We celebrated for a bit, then headed off for an exhilarating downhill - again 10 percent grade but for more like 5 miles.
Day 15
Miles - 90
Total Miles - 1077
Elevation Gain - 5955
Next Stop - Dubois, Wyoming
Link to Mimi's Garmin Info
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| Heading towards Wyoming |
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| The Snake |
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| Happy Mimi and Ward - together again! |
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| Honorary Antiques Ward and Lucy join us |
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| The Antiques and pal Lucy |
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| Mustard and Blue Flax fields |
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| Yahoo - Wyoming, our 3rd state! |
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| Ward and Mimi on Teton Pass |
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| The antiques on Teton Pass |
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| Tom on Teton Pass - this lovely kit is pretty much shredded. And we have a great picture of us with him, he just has to send it to us, then we'll post it. |
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| Ward, the speed demon waited for us at the bottom and found this elk waiting for him. |
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| The Snake River and the Tetons - entering Jackson! |
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| TJ drinking an amazingly big shake at Moo's - a great ice-cream shop |
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| In the town square with the iconic antler arches at all 4 corners - Ward providing antlers for Mimi |
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| Classic! |
Here is the link to the map showing Polly and Mimi's progress across America. Cut and paste it into your browser.
ReplyDeletehttp://goo.gl/maps/n6nT
Wonderful blog Mimi and Polly!
ReplyDeleteCongrat's on an amazing trip. Great photos. I especially enjoyed the pictures with visiting guest Wardo! He told us about your days, wow.. and you're also maintaining this blog, awesome!
Enjoy the adventure and we'll see you at LALC in the fall, Mimi!
PS, it's Claudia (cb) and your pics really made me want to go to Jackson Hole too!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah Daignault, this link is working well and We can see here The map of Polly and Mimi's journey across America.
ReplyDeleteHotels in Idaho Falls