Day 16 Mountain Home to Gooding 99.9 km Uphill 2458 ft Downhill 1974 ft

Boy, who needs an alarm when all the tent zippers around you start zzzipping at 5 a.m. I resigned to the fact that sleep would be no more and joined the gang packing up. Still no dew in the morning. How sweet it is to pack up the tent and ground cover dry. I did take advantage of the internet being up (the internet was rather fickle last evening) and quickly checked my email….this put me back 5 minutes and the ‘team’ was ready and waiting for me. Tomorrow I’ll have to be ready early to make up for this. Although in my defense, we have been leaving at 7 a.m. and today they were ready to head out at 6:45 a.m. Go figure!

Paul & Teresa headed out just before us. Our instructions were to turn Left on 6th S St. John turned Right and we all followed (we have maps, but they are tucked in our carriers, only John’s is right in front of him). Paul and Teresa watched us with much amusement. We corrected our error, passed them and then we missed the next turn….after correcting It, we again passed Paul & Teresa. I’m so glad we can provide them with these light hearted moments. Once we got on Old Hwy 30/Old Oregon Trail Hwy we were okay.

It’s kinda cool to see how the farmers irrigate their fields when they want the hay to grow. What a switch from Southern Ontario were you rely on the weather report as to when you should cut the hay and then you prayer for no rain. It appears to me that the farmers in Idaho set up the irrigation pipes, water the field, then they cut. Imagine the work and time of having to constantly move the pipes. Maybe relying on the weather man isn't all that bad! At the half way marked we stopped in the town of Glenns Ferry and treated ourselves to coffee and cinnabuns. Now we need the sugar to kick in from the cinnabun so we can peddle thru the headwind that is attacking us. The guys handle the headwind better than Barb and myself. Today we couldn’t find the ‘sweet spot’ so the ride today was a tad more difficult for us but we still made it in 4 hr 16 minutes. My computer has us traveling 106km at an average speed of 25. Top speed 50km.

Some photos of the day:

We seemed to be going thru some badlands. Pete VN

Here is a photo of the river. It’s nice to see a patch of green grass in the midst of all the dry ground. On our way to Gooding we passed thru the town of Bliss. Another photo opportunity.
Tonight we are staying at Gooding High School. Our tents are parked under the trees, wonderful shade. When we inspected the showers we notice that there was a washing machine. Barb and I ask permission to use it and the answer was Yes. Bonus! So now our laundry is hanging up. We’ve had our shower, and I’ve heard that the internet is up and running. Life is good.
P.S. Gooding has a population of just over 3,000.
P.S.S. John has the inside tract. He already has the map for tomorrow. 130km with another climb of 1,000 ft. Guess I’ll set my alarm for 4:45 a.m. and then I’ll be all set to go by 6:30 a.m. Don’t tell the guys, I want to surprise them!

Till later, Cynthia