June 29 on the TransAm

We left Oxbow a bit later than we intended. A motorcyclist greeted us outside the restrooms and we had a long conversation about what we were doing. He was so very interested as well as impressed with it all. You could tell he was wishing he could do the same thing, especially with his kids. It made me grateful to be able to share how the Lord provided this time to spend with my family and especially with two of my sons. 

The road out of Oxbow greeted us with a short but difficult climb up to the Oxbow Reservoir where the water was so still that the reflections of the hillsides and sky were absolutely spectacular. Within 10 miles or so we reached the Brownlee Dam, a time change, and Idaho, which greeted us with a beastly climb–the one the campground attendant warned us about. It went up, and up, at a very steep grade. We were told the climb was 13 miles long. But thankfully it wasn’t without some relief. After about 6 miles we reached a convenience store where we stopped for lunch. After lunch I went outside, sat on the sidewalk of the store next to my bike and tried to take a short nap. I was tired from the climb and I wanted to give my food a few minutes to settle. A little later I was approached by a man getting out of his truck with his family. Once again I had the opportunity to share what we were doing and how very thankful to the Lord I was for the opportunity. He was very impressed and wished us well. 

The climb to the store had been of medium difficulty, but the real climb was the second half. So after fueling up with food and Gatorade we headed off. It was a challenging 7 more miles requiring many breaks, but praise God we made it. The summit was a delightful sight and another Kodak moment. 

The ride down into Cambridge was great. The road twisted and turned as we descended, just like every other downhill. But then suddenly we found ourselves in the thick of something moving across the road by the thousands. Rocky and I were cruising along nicely and then we heard squish, crunch, pop. The road was covered for as far as we could see with giant moving things. And we were riding over them! What were they? They were jumping up and hitting our legs, jumping between our spokes–or at least trying to–as we drove by. They were everywhere! We had to stop and see just what this was all about. As it turns out they were huge Mormon crickets. Apparently they come through every 4-5 years and we just happen to coincide with the timing. They clung to the tall grass like caterpillers. They were crawling across the road like ants. There were thousands splattered by cars for hundreds of yards by the cars. The live ones were canabalistically feeding on the dead ones. And they just kept coming. It reminded me of the Egyptian plague of locusts. It was gross and we couldn’t get out of there fast enough. We got back on our bikes and pedaled as fast as we could though the flood of crickets–as they bounced off our legs and crunched under our tires. It was disgusting. 

We cruised through Cambridge and made it to Council, ID by 8:30. Another long day–63 miles. We stopped at the gas station for a Gatorade and headed on to the pizza place for dinner. After an awesome pizza we rode through town to locate the American Legion. Behind the Legion was a very nice park and we were told we could sleep on the lawn near the back of the park. But when we arrived the sprinklers were going and the lawn was soaked. So we decided to pull out our air mats and sleeping bags and sleep on the concrete floor of the gazebo in the middle of the park. What a nice night it was. The cool breeze and open air feel made for a great night. 

Tomorrow? A long ride. We’ve got to get as close to White Bird Hill as we can so we can climb it with the strength of the morning. 

Thanks for praying and thanks for following. Sorry… I still can’t get pictures to load 🙁

Until next time… 🙂