Ted had mentioned that something we should try to see is a sunset at Canyon Village on the other side of the park. This was something we planned on doing yesterday, but it was rainy so we ended up not going (and the buffalo in the campground everywhere didn't help either). But today, since it would be our last day in the park, was the day to see it. It was a little cloudy in the morning, but it seemed like it would be ok conditions to see the sunrise. Around 4:30, Rachael woke us up to see if we still wanted to go with her. Even though I was completely exhausted from getting almost no sleep because it was so cold last night, I decided this was something I didn't want to miss. Joey on the other side opted to go back to sleep. When I got out of the tent, I found there was frost on everything and even little puddles of ice on the roof of our tent from the rain yesterday. It was so cold; I was glad that we were in a nice warm car to go see the sunrise. As we were driving, there was almost no one on the road. It turned out to be a pretty foggy morning, but even the fog was gorgeous. We didn't really ever find too good of place to see the sunrise because everywhere we went there was a ton of fog. Even still, it was a beautiful morning to be seeing the park. On the way back to the campground, we saw an elk with antlers. The entire drive we probably only saw about 2 cars, which was a nice change of pace. We were back to the campground by about 6:50. I helped Rachael pack up her tent (our fingers were almost numb by the time we were done because there was so much frost on the tent!) and then we said our goodbyes. She drove off to return the gear and I went back to bed! I felt like I could have slept for an entire day because I was so sleepy. Joe woke me up around 8 to start getting packed up. We had some oatmeal for breakfast and were a little disappointed that there were no buffalo in the campground this morning. After we were finally packed, we were on the road by about 20 after 9. The ride into West Yellowstone was pretty quick. We didn't have a ton of miles to do to get there and a good portion was downhill. Soon enough we were in Montana again. It's interesting that all of these states we have ridden to we have first been there on our bikes. But since we went to West Yellowstone 2x to eat with Rachael, Nick and Matt, MT marks the first state we've come into in a car first! Whatever the case, we still rode into MT so we took our state sign picture. As we were riding through town, we saw Nick and Matt's tandem outside of a little cafe. We stopped in real quick to see how the rest of their night went last night and weren't surprised to hear they took a hotel when they got here. Joe and I went to the library after our quick visit so that we could use the computers a little bit. Since we were both exhausted, not from riding, but from lack of sleep, we decided that we might take a hotel today, even though we had only ridden a few miles. After we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things we went hotel searching. We found a Comfort Inn that had a pool, hot tub, and continental breakfast! It was a pretty reasonable price, we both really needed a shower since it had been almost a week, and the next town was about 70 miles way, and we hadn't taken a hotel since SD, so it seemed like a perfect time to take the hotel. We checked in around 12:30, which was also great because we could really spend time relaxing and enjoying the hotel. After having a shower, we had a little Ramen for lunch and ended up watching 2 movies! Afterwards, we did some laundry in the guest laundry room while we sat in the hot tub for a while. It was wonderful. After another shower, I went to the hotel computers to upload some pictures and Joe relaxed in the room. While there, I met a nice couple who were from South Carolina. The interesting thing though that the gentleman was originally from Orchard Park and that he used to own Capelli's Pizzaria there! He said that when we get back from the trip to go there, say we met him in Yellowstone, and they will give us a free pizza! We love our pizza, so that is definitely something to look forward to. It's amazing how small the world really is! I had a great time chatting with them as I waited for pictures to upload. Later on we had some oatmeal for dinner along with the rest of our bananas that we bought at the store today. I watched part of another movie before hitting the sack. We only rode 16.10 miles today, but are still really glad we decided to stay in a hotel.
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The four of us ended up staying up pretty late because the cleaning lady was vacuuming and waking up pretty early because the hotel staff had to turn the lights on at 6am. But none the less, we were all grateful we had a place to be indoors for the night. We were so hungry by the time we woke up that we ended up getting a little breakfast at the Lodge. Joey had a huge cinnamon bun and I had a bagel with cream cheese. After we sat on the couches for a while because we were all so tired, we went on a walk around old faithful to see all of the geysers. It was incredible, we saw so many go off; the obvious one: old faithful, the riverside geyser, daisy geyser, the geyser that "thumped the ground" (don't remember the name of that one), the groto geyser, rocket (which is pretty rare), and castle geyser. While we were at the riverside geyser waiting for it to go off, we met a few really cool people. One of which was an older man, who was pretty much a geyser chaser. He told us so much about the geysers that we wouldn't have known and also knew when they were all going to erupt, so he took us along with a few other people around to the right spot to see them erupt. We also met a girl, Rachael, who was on a mini-vacation by herself in Yellowstone. She is very big into traveling and being active, so Nick, Matt, Joey and I got along well with her. One of the guys that works at the Lodge, Ted, who we met last night was also amongst our group as we walked around. We all had a great time chit chatting and seeing the park. Ted is very passionate about the place that he works and so it was fun to hear some of the stories he had from working there. By the time we were on our way back to the Lodge we were all starving. Ted suggested that there were some good pizza places in West Yellowstone, so Rachael, Nick, Matt, Joey and I all piled into Rachael's car and we went out for pizza. When we came back we saw another geyser go off and later on had dinner at the Lodge again. By the time we were done with dinner it was already pretty late. Earlier in the day we planned on riding to the Madison Campground which was only 16 miles away. Since it was already so late, we asked if we could leave all the bikes in the employee rec room for one more night. The staff had absolutely no problem with that, so we planned on riding with Rachael to the campground (and even considered going to the hot spring we went to yesterday to camp) and then coming back for the bikes tomorrow. One of the other guys that works at the lodge that we met yesterday, Jake, had walked around with us for quite a bit today while we were touring old faithful. After hearing our plan, he offered for Rachael to use his tent and sleeping bag tonight if she wanted so that she didn't have to sleep in her car. It was so nice of him to let her use his gear. So, Rachael was all set for the night and the rest of us rounded up what we needed to camp. Just as we were getting the last minute things we needed put into Rachael's car, the manager of the rec center came to us and said we could no longer keep our bikes there and that we had to get them out, even though about 2 hours before that he said we could. By that time it was already almost 8pm, but we had no choice. We had to ride to the campground. So Nick, Matt, Joey and I all put as much as we could in Rachael's car so we could ride faster and started riding. We were not too excited to be riding at that time of night, but luckily it didn't get pitch black until about quarter after 9. Luckily we made it to the campground a little after 9 (we were riding as fast as we possibly could, and it helped that a good portion of it was downhill!). There was a little miscommunication so we had a hard time finding Rachael, Nick and Matt in the campground. Turns out the lady at the front desk was supposed to leave a note for us so we knew where to go (we got there about 15 mins after the front desk closed, so no one was there to ask). So as Joe and I were riding around looking for the rest of the group, somehow we missed them going out to look for us because they were worried. Long story short, we were waiting for a little over an hour before finding out where we were supposed to go. In the end, everything worked out just fine. We all shared a campsite and had a nice little adventure to go find wood to make a fire. In total we rode 23.04 miles (5 of which was around the campground).
The four of us ended up staying up pretty late because the cleaning lady was vacuuming and waking up pretty early because the hotel staff had to turn the lights on at 6am. But none the less, we were all grateful we had a place to be indoors for the night. We were so hungry by the time we woke up that we ended up getting a little breakfast at the Lodge. Joey had a huge cinnamon bun and I had a bagel with cream cheese. After we sat on the couches for a while because we were all so tired, we went on a walk around Old Faithful to see all of the geysers. It was incredible, we saw so many go off; the obvious one: Old Faithful, the riverside geyser, daisy geyser, the geyser that "thumped the ground" (don't remember the name of that one), the groto geyser, rocket (which is pretty rare), and castle geyser. While we were at the riverside geyser waiting for it to go off, we met a few really cool people. One of which was an older man, who was pretty much a geyser chaser. He told us so much about the geysers that we wouldn't have known and also knew when they were all going to erupt, so he took us along with a few other people around to the right spot to see them erupt. We also met a girl, Rachael, who was on a mini-vacation by herself in Yellowstone. She is very big into traveling and being active, so Nick, Matt, Joey and I got along well with her. One of the guys that works at the Lodge, Ted, who we met last night was also amongst our group as we walked around. We all had a great time chit chatting and seeing the park. Ted is very passionate about the place where he works and so it was fun to hear some of the stories he had from working there. By the time we were on our way back to the Lodge we were all starving. Ted suggested that there were some good pizza places in West Yellowstone, so Rachael, Nick, Matt, Joey and I all piled into Rachael's car and we went out for pizza. When we came back we saw another geyser go off and later on had dinner at the Lodge again. By the time we were done with dinner it was already pretty late. Earlier in the day we planned on riding to the Madison Campground which was only 16 miles away. Since it was already so late, we asked if we could leave all the bikes in the employee rec room for one more night. The staff had absolutely no problem with that, so we planned on riding with Rachael to the campground (and even considered going to the hot spring we went to yesterday to camp) and then coming back for the bikes tomorrow. One of the other guys that works at the lodge that we met yesterday, Jake, had walked around with us for quite a bit today while we were touring Old F aithful. After hearing our plan, he offered for Rachael to use his tent and sleeping bag tonight if she wanted so that she didn't have to sleep in her car. It was so nice of him to let her use his gear. So, Rachael was all set for the night and the rest of us rounded up what we needed to camp. Just as we were getting the last minute things we needed put into Rachael's car, the manager of the rec center came to us and said we could no longer keep our bikes there and that we had to get them out, even though about 2 hours before that he said we could. By that time it was already almost 8pm, but we had no choice. We had to ride to the campground. So Nick, Matt, Joey and I all put as much as we could in Rachael's car so we could ride faster and started riding. We were not too excited to be riding at that time of night, but luckily it didn't get pitch black until about quarter after 9. Luckily we made it to the campground a little after 9 (we were riding as fast as we possibly could, and it helped that a good portion of it was downhill!). There was a little miscommunication so we had a hard time finding Rachael, Nick and Matt in the campground. Turns out the lady at the front desk was supposed to leave a note for us so we knew where to go (we got there about 15 mins after the front desk closed, so no one was there to ask). So as Joe and I were riding around looking for the rest of the group, somehow we missed them going out to look for us because they were worried. Long story short, we were waiting for a little over an hour before finding out where we were supposed to go. In the end, everything worked out just fine. We all shared a campsite and had a nice little adventure to go find wood to make a fire. In total we rode 23.04 miles (5 of which was around the campground).
We woke up nice and early today, because we move kind of slow and didn't want Nick and Matt to have to wait for us. Somehow though, our bikes were packed and we already ate breakfast and it was only 8am, so we ended up having to wait for them, which was no big deal at all. We were on the road by 9. It was a little chilly this morning, but it warmed up pretty quickly. The beginning of the ride was pretty hilly. Eventually we were leaving Teton National Park. Nick and Matt had heard about a hot spring that was somewhere behind the Flagg Ranch visitor center, so when we go there we went exploring. The road to the hot springs was closed to vehicle traffic, but we were able to ride our bikes on it. After about 2 miles, we found a trail to ride down and not too long after that came to a creek. Since we knew we were heading in the right direction for the hot spring, we unpacked what we needed, including stuff to make lunch, and headed across the stream. The current was pretty strong, and we all felt like we could have had our feet swept out from under us, but we all made it across without anyone getting we above the knees. When we found the hot spring, it was awesome! We all changed into our bating suits and went in. The water was steaming and there was even a small waterfall of the hot water that was almost too hot to get under. Even though it was too hot to sit in for a long time, it was so relaxing and felt great on our muscles. There was no one around and the best thing is that it was free and natural, not like some of the hot springs that they make into a resort and charge 30 bucks to go in. We made some mac and cheese for lunch and then got ready to head out since we knew we still had a lot of miles and lots of climbing to do. Joe and I were really glad that Nick and Matt heard about the hot spring because otherwise we wouldn't have ever known it was there. After we made it to Yellowstone, the rest of the ride was pretty much all uphill, with the exception of the last 8 miles or so. There was still a lot of snow everywhere in Yellowstone. After only a few miles into the park, Matt and Nick had a flat on the wheel of their Bob trailer, so we had to stop to repair that. While riding through we also passed Lewis Lake, which was still almost completely frozen. At one point we rode by a huge group of elk that were near the road. Throughout the day we crossed the continental divide 3x. When we finally made it to Old Faithful, where we planned on splitting on a hotel room because there is nothing else open, it was about 6:30. To our disappointment we found out the Snow Lodge and Old Faithful Lodge were completely booked, even though its really early in the season. Luckily, the lodge staff were very accommodating and made some phone calls to find a place for us, since the next closest place that had rooms was 45 minutes away by car (almost a full day of riding by bike). Since there were no rooms, they were going to let us sleep in the Lobby at the Old Faithful Lodge. It ended up working out better, even though we didn't get a bed, there are couches we can crash on, and the best part is we didn't have to pay for a room. We also made it to the Lodge just in time because about 10 minutes after we got their, it got really windy and started to rain. We enjoyed a nice meal of Lasagna, veggies, and garlic bread at the cafeteria, along with getting souvenir cups that we could get as many free refills on as we wanted. I also had a really tasty brownie! The 4 of us watched Old Faithful erupt and then took a walk around the park as it was getting dark. On our walk we saw a bison standing right next to the pathway. We are all really excited to do the walk again tomorrow in the daylight (hopefully it won't be raining). After we got back, we went to get things out of our bikes, which the staff was nice enough to let us put in the employee gymnasium/rec area. They also invited us to play a little basketball or ping pong if we wanted. We had an awesome day, although it was really tiring since we did so much climbing. Although our sleeping arrangement isn't the best because the cleaning ladies are going to be vacuuming and we have to be out of the lobby by 6am, we couldn't be happier that the staff was so helpful. It's kind of cool to think that because we are riding bike they made special arrangements for us. If we were in a car they probably wouldn't have done anything but send you to the lodge that was 45 minutes away. We rode 62.55 miles today. We woke up around 8 and had cereal and milk for breakfast before saying goodbye to Oscar (Scott had already gone to work) and getting on the road. We stopped at the Yellowstone visitor center that wasn't too far out of town. As we were riding, the view of the Teton Mountains kept getting better. It didn't take us long to get into Teton National Park. What a beautiful area to ride through! We made a stop at the Teton National Park visitor center to double check which campgrounds were open before riding down a bike path for quite a ways. Eventually we made it to Jenny lake. It was gorgeous with the Tetons in the background! We ate lunch in a picnic area on String Lake, again, such a picturesque spot! While we were setting up to make our Ramen Noodles a couple who were doing a 5 week car trip with their bikes in tow, stopped to inquire about our journey, so we enjoyed talking with them for a while. They had ridden one of the adventure cycling routes across the US a couple years ago, and have done other tours besides that. Not long after being on the road again, we rounded a corner and there were a bunch of cars pulled over to the side of the road. We saw a bear and her cubs!!! Mamma bear was sitting at the base of a tree and one of the cubs was sitting on a branch in the tree. Unfortunately they left after a short while because there got to be too many people in the area. We were so excited that we saw our first bears! The rest of today's ride was primarily in wooded areas, but there was another place that we passed a lake, along with the Jackson Lake Dam. When we made it to our planned stop for the night, Colter Bay Campground, we stopped in their "grocery store." Boy were were we glad that we stocked up on food before we left because the food was being sold for 3x the price of a regular grocery store; a bag of marshmallows was $3.50! When we went to the visitor center, we learned about a "hiker biker" rate for the campgrounds that was 7 bucks a person, which was a lot better than the regular camping rate. When we when to the office to get a campsite they only charged us 10 bucks total! After we made some Quintoa with salmon in a packet and seasoning for dinner, we set up our tent. As I was in the bathroom changing out of my cycling clothes, I could hear Joey talking to someone. When I came out I found out it was the two guys who we saw touring the other day, so we got to meet them after all. It is such a funny coincidence that they arrived in Jackson the same day we did, took a rest day the same day we did, and ended up camping at the same campground we did. For the rest of the evening we chit-chatted with them. They both go to the University of Wyoming and are D1 swimmers. Nick is originally from Juno, AK, and Matt is from Fort Collins, CO. They left about 5 days ago or so from Larming, WY and are headed to Seatle, WA where they plan to take a plane or a ferry to Juno. We were so glad that we had a chance to really talk with other touring cyclists and that we may even ride with them for a while tomorrow since they are going the same direction we are, into Yellowstone! We rode 45.52 miles today and are camping in Teton National Park.
We slept in a little today since we knew it would be a rest day. After having some of our left over cereal from yesterday for breakfast, we got ready to explore Jackson a little bit. We walked quite a ways, admiring the western feel of the downtown area. After walking pretty far, we caught a ride on the free town bus to the library to do a little computer work. Next, our favorite thing to do.. eat. We were planning on going out to eat in Jackson, so we went to Pizza Hut for their lunch buffet. Although we thought about going to a local place, we opted for the buffet because then we knew we would be able to eat until we were full and really feel like we got our money's worth. We enjoyed the salad bar, all you could eat breadsticks (my favorite!!), pizza, and cinnasticks. There is one thing that holds true, we can NEVER go wrong with buffets! After lunch, we hopped back on the free bus to go to the post office to pick up the replacement plastic supports for Joe's rear panniers. There were two post offices in town, and we found out the zip code we mailed it to was the post office closer to downtown. Although we were close to the other post office while at Pizza Hut, we knew we mailed it to the other one so we didn't bother going there. Turns out, after we rode the bus all over town, general deliveries are only accepted at one post office... the other one. So, we took the bus back to the other post office that was across town. After touring the town for a while, we walked back to Scott's house to fix the panniers. It took us about 2 hours to talk the bags apart and put the new plastic liners in. What a difference the new liners made though! There is now plenty of room between the bags and the wheel! I played with Oscar for a little while and we watched TV for about an hour before deciding to go the the grocery store. So, back on the bus. When we got to the grocery store, we met a guy who was touring, although Jackson was his destination. Every year he rides from somewhere in AZ or UT to Jackson to work at the airport for the summer, and camps all summer long He was riding a recumbent bike and was pulling a "kid" trailer for his puppy, who he said runs a good portion of the ride. We were so excited to see someone touring! After we got our groceries, we headed back to Scott's and relaxed the remainder of the evening. We didn't ride any miles today.
Although we knew that the service at the church we set up our tent behind didn't start until 10:30, there were people at the church bright and early. We figured we would be all packed and headed out before anyone got there, but we woke up to music playing in the church at 7:30. Since it is Mother's Day, I'm sure the choir was probably just practicing. So, we packed everything up and headed over towards the grocery store since we planned to have cereal and milk for a change of pace. When we arrived, the store didn't open for another half hour, so we figured it would be worth the wait. We called our mothers and enjoyed the sunshine while we waited. While we were walking around the store, we saw the case with the donuts, and they looked so good we decided to get a half a dozen of those too. After enjoying our cereal, milk, and donuts, we hit the road. The ride to Jackson was so beautiful. We meandered through the valley following the Snake River. There were some rolling hills and beautiful scenery all around. As we were riding through the canyon, we saw a few cyclists out for a ride. Soon enough we made it into Jackson. Since there was a McDonald's we made that our first stop so that we could look up some more information about the Tetons and Yellowstone. While we were sitting on the patio there, a very cute chocolate lab came to visit. Also while we were sitting there, we saw a couple guys bicycle tourists go by!! They were on a tandem and had a Bob trailer along with their regular panniers. We were a little bummed that we didn't get a chance to talk to them. Since we had left so early in the "touring season" these were the first touring cyclists we had seen so far. Luckily that should change now that the weather is getting warmer. Zack, who is riding the southern tier route across the US right now said that he sees people touring almost everyday, of course its warmer down there. It was a little after 4 by the time we made it to Scott's house (the cyclist who we met yesterday that invited us to stay at his house). When we got there, we had showers and then enjoyed a nice meal of cheeseburgers, veggies, and yams. I had a lot of fun playing with his kitty, Oscar, too! We watched a little TV and then had some rocky road ice cream with strawberries on top, such a yummy treat! We were very glad to get to sleep in a bed again. I guess we have to enjoy it while it lasts because once we start to get to the point where it will be closer to ride to AK than to ride home, we will be doing nothing but camping. We only rode 39.41 miles today, so it was a pretty light day. The replacement plastic liners for Joe's panniers should be at the post office here in town by now, so we plan to pick those up tomorrow. We will probably stay the entire day in Jackson tomorrow so we can fix the panniers and explore the area a little bit.
_We woke up nice and early this morning. It was a little chilly, but not so bad that we couldn't be in just our cycling shorts. We made some oatmeal and were on the road a little before 9. After only about 5 miles of riding we made it to the ID/ WY border! We took our picture by the sign, which wasn't super easy because the sun was right behind the sign so it was a little hard to see it, but we made it work. The ride today was beautiful, we wound through the valley with the little river following the road and admired all the mountains around us. After entering WY, we rode for about 10 miles before getting to the summit of Salt River Pass at an elevation of 7,630 ft. As we were riding up the pass, a cyclist rode by and chit chatted with Joe for a little while before continuing on up the mountain. It is always nice to see other people out riding, especially when they stop to talk to us. We rode down the other side of the pass and entered Star Valley, the home of a gold medal heavy weight Olympic Champion from 2006, which we were riding through for the rest of the day. We had lunch in a small town called Afton. It was very "westernie" and the main street with all of the shops was so cute. There were little bears statues and other western decor all over. We decided to get some steak to cook with our rice for lunch today, but while we were walking around the grocery store, we found out the deli was having a special. We decided to use the rest of the donation from Mrs. Kam to get a nice lunch. So instead of getting steak and having to cook everything, we got the 10 piece leg and thigh chicken special that came with a pound of potato salad and 4 dinner rolls. Ice cream was also on sale, so we bought a half gallon of that too. After eating everything except the 4 dinner rolls, which we took with us, our bellies were very happy (thanks again Mrs. Kam!). On the way out of town, we stopped at Subway to update our blog and were on our way again. Our goal was to make it to the town of Alpine, which was another 30 miles away. While riding towards Alpine, a cyclist who was driving home from riding in the race around Bear Lake this morning, pulled over to talk to us. He asked the usual where ya going, where ya from questions and also where we were staying in Jackson. Since we didn't know for sure yet, he offered for us to stay at his house! So, we exchanged information and off we went. A little bit before reaching Alpine, we stopped in a wildlife viewing area to snack on our Hawaiian Sweet Rolls that were left from lunch. When we arrived in Alpine, we found a nice church to camp behind. This camp location had probably one of the best views we have had in a long time; there are snow capped mountains to the left and then a lake with mountains behind it to the right (and nice plush green grass for us to camp on). Since we weren't super hungry because of having such a hearty lunch, we each had a packet of Ramen before going to bed, which was pretty early. Our miles totaled 67.88 today. We rode a few extra miles today so that we would have a nice light day of riding tomorrow when we head to Jackson.
We slept in a little today since we were in a nice comfy bed. When we woke up, Dave made us some yummy oatmeal and some hot chocolate. We also had some very tasty toast made with some of Paula's homemade wheat bread that was topped with homemade raspberry jam. It was so yummy, we each had a few pieces of toast and definitely had seconds! Since I hadn't typed my blog from yesterday yet, I did that this morning. For a good portion of the morning we just relaxed and planned out the best route to go towards Jackson, WY. Although the offer to stay a day at Dave's house if we wanted to was tempting, we figured we should probably get some miles in today, so we got everything packed and got into our cycling clothes. Since it was already 11:30 by the time we were getting ready to leave, Dave offered to make us some lunch before we left. He made us some delicious sandwiches with the homemade bread, heated up some soup, gave us some chips and salsa and some more bottled berries. We had some bottled berries last night and they are so delicious! They are just raspberries in a sugar water that absorbs some of the juices from the berries and becomes like a syrup; they just have so much flavor. Dave even gave us a few Snickers bars for the road! After an amazing lunch we packed a couple last minute things, said our goodbyes and were on our way. Since we weren't in any real hurry because we are so close to Yellowstone, we ended up not getting on the road until about 12:30. The weather was perfect again today. We only rode about 13 miles before entering into Montpelier, where we visited the National Oregon/California Trail Center. For the last 20 miles of yesterdays ride, and all of today's ride so far we had been following the Oregon Trail path. It was really neat to learn a little more about the history of the Oregon Trail. We decided to take the Living History Tour, which was a lot of fun! Our tour guides were dressed the way they had dressed back in the 1800s and as we walked through the museum we pretended that it was the year 1838. On the tour we pretended to gather supplies where the guide discussed how much everything cost and what was required for the journey. Part of the tour we sat inside a wagon that moved and had sound effects like it was really moving down the trail. When we "made it to our destination" we were in the location of the original camp that was part of the Oregon Trail. When they built the visitor center they preserved the original soil that was there during the time the travelers were on the trail. After spending a little over an hour at the Oregon Trail Center, we climbed Geneva Pass, which was a lot smaller than I anticipated. The height at the summit was 6,923 ft. but the "steep" part of the climbing (it was only a 6% grade) was only a little over 2 miles. When I saw the pass on the map I was expecting the climb to be a lot tougher than it was. Shortly after we climbed over the pass, we made it to Geneva, which was a tiny little town, nothing like the Geneva, NY back home. On the way into town we saw a bunch of sheep and lots of baby sheep. I love this time of year because all of the babies are out and they are just so cute! We saw baby cows and baby horses in the earlier part of our ride today too. We found a nice church that had a pavilion with picnic tables that we decided would be home for the night. We made some Ramen and snacked on some Snickers bars! Even though we only rode 27.19 miles today and it was only 5pm when we got to Geneva, we decided to just call it a day. We have about a hundred miles until we reach Jackson, WY where Joe is supposed to have a package sent. We don't want to get there too early and have to wait for the package to get there, so we figured a short day would be ok. Since we had a little extra time before we went to bed, we played cards for a little while. Today was a very relaxing, enjoyable day.
After having some oatmeal for breakfast, we packed up and were ready for what we knew would be a lot of climbing during the morning. As we continued on through Logan Canyon we were riding at a slight incline for a couple hours. Today was another beautiful day, perfect riding weather. It was in the 70s and the wind wasn't horribly strong, even though it was a head wind for most of our day. After about 15 or so miles into the ride, the road started to get steeper. Eventually we reached the top and found a gorgeous view of Bear Lake. The water was so blue and we could see Garden City and Idaho off in the distance. After a very fast downhill into Garden City, I stopped at the post office to pick up the new gorillapod that was sent to me since one of the legs broke off my other one when we were on top of Berthoud Pass in CO. Having it sent to Garden City was the perfect place because I had it just in time to use it for the Idaho Border sign which was only about 5 miles away. Since we spent all morning and part of the afternoon climbing, we were really hungry by the time we reached Garden City. The Bear Lake area is famous for its Raspberries, and we had a recommendation from Rupert, our last Warm Shower's Host, to get a Raspberry Shake when we got here, so we used some of the donation money from Mrs. Kam to get Raspberry Shakes. Boy were we glad that we did! They were amazing; not the consistency of a regular shake, but better! They were made with homemade raspberry ice cream and were so thick and creamy. I've never had a shake like it before, thanks Mrs. Kam! After enjoying the yummy shakes, we rode down the road to find a place to make our lunch. We found a KOA campground and a grocery store that seemed like a perfect spot. After asking if we could use one of their picnic tables to make lunch, we decided to get a dozen eggs from the store and hard boil them for something different. So we made our usual Ramen noodles, and then snacked on the hard boiled eggs. Before leaving, we filled up on water and ended up getting 2 large hot chocolates from the grocery store. Another very tasty treat! After having another nice long lunch break today, we hit the road again, and before we knew it we were in Idaho. We took our usual picture by the state sign and continued on. As we were riding, we met a cyclist who was out for a ride. He inquired about our travels and rode with us for quite a while (well with Joey longer because he is faster than I am =D ). At lunchtime we called a Warm Showers host, Dave, the we found out was along our route and shortly after getting into ID we found out that the host was able to host us tonight. We only had about 12 miles left to ride before getting to Bloomington, where the host lived. When we arrived in Bloomington we were told to look for the post office and then go two blocks past that. Somehow we missed the post office, and found ourselves on the way out of town. Since Bloomington wasn't very big we knew we couldn't be too far from Dave's house. When we found our destination, Paula (Dave's wife) was home. We had hot showers, did some laundry and enjoyed some hamburger steak, mashed potatoes, broccoli and salad. Everything was so delicious! For dessert we got to have some ice cream and then for a "midnight snack" enjoyed some raspberries and popcorn (Joe also had a bowl of cereal and milk). We got to sleep in a really comfy bed too! We rode 46.43 miles today. We are only about 200 miles from Yellowstone and don't want to get their too much earlier than the 18th when more of the campgrounds open.
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