Rain overnight cleared the smoke and cooled the air making it a beautiful morning for riding. Riding down the good old US-95 is not always conducive to a good time, but riding through a National Forest, Payette, makes it very much better. Some nice undulating road - more improvement. Grooved pavement on the road prior to resurfacing - less improvement. It's a nasty surface .. Motorcyclists are often warned about it.
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| Boring I know but just wanted to make sure you got the idea |
We were warned by signs last night that there would be roadworks over 40 miles of our route today and so it was. The works were spread out in small sections along the road, with one at the end that was a grand finale. The tar was still being laid as we rode past. Very hot and smelly. Up side is enjoying nice smooth surface of new roads.
A small group had been allowed through ahead of cars and after a while we ended up riding on the left hand side of the road as cars drove towards us led by a pilot car. Then we finished our run on the shoulder at the far left of the road - familiar territory for me. It was with great relief that we left them behind but some of us had to stop to scrape tar off tyres.
At the last day so of the day the owner of the nearby house, a woma who has lived there for 63 years came out to talk to Y, and the cyclists as we came through. She is a great fan of Betty Hoop, as shown by her mailbox among other things. Another woman pulled up, just out of curiosity, to hear what we were up to, where we'd come from and where we are headed. It was quite a social scene.
Today was a short day, only 75km/47 miles. Ha! We got into town in time for lunch at Bucky's Cafe, best lunch yet, then into the motel before the dust and wind storm hit. The weather changed immediately and became very unpleasant indeed. One local said it might stay like that until 10pm, lots of suggestions about dinner if Patty couldn't cook in those conditions. All unnecessary as after a couple of hours the sun was back. Delicious spaghetti for dinner.
After dinner back to Bucky's for some pie. The sun was still strong and still had a bite. The pie wasn't bad, but I found I'm not a fan of strawberry pie. I did enjoy a cup of tea however, something it's not always easy to get in an American motel room but where there's a will there's often a way.
As we ride through the fairly remote small towns it is disheartening to see so many businesses closed permanently, a phenomenon not peculiar to the States as I have been through many towns in similar circumstances in Australia. It is not universal of course as we go in to local cafes and shops which are going strong. Sadly for us we often ride through before they open out on the days they are closed. Ash well, can't be helped as getting on the road ahead of the heat is a primary concern. Speaking of which, good night .... Got to get up early tomorrow and rider up a hill.
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