week 3

We left Baker City on Sunday 20th June and made it to a place called Halfway. One big hill along the way! Next day we crossed into Idaho, our 3rd state and moved into a different time zone, forward one hour. Idaho is wilder than anywhere we've been before and the scenery is spectacular! Rivers, mountains,pine trees....its immense!As we cycled along the Salmon river we saw all these people fishing. We chatted to one guy who told us how he hunts and gathers all his own food. He catches maybe 30 salmon to fill his freezer. He shoots bears, wild turkeys,cougar and elk! We were impressed!! He said that his wife shot a bear last week!! Guess they have a big freezer!
We travelled through Idaho over the next 4 days, staying at Cambridge, New Meadows, White Bird, Kooskia and Lowell. We bumped into our cycling buddy Russell a couple of times along the way. We had a nice time in the motel bar in Kooskia chatting over a couple of beers with a bunch of motor bikers!
Just as we arrived at Lowell on friday we pulled up at the shop and a man came over to chat to me. He asked me had I seen the bear two miles back...... 'BEAR'....I stammered, 'WHAT BEAR?'
He said he passed us immediately after he passed a bear who was sitting at the roadside and he couldn't figure out how we'd missed it!!!! Damn!!!! I so wanted to see a bear!!!! Still plenty of time!!
After Lowell we were faced with a 66 mile stretch of uphill wilderness...nothing at all along the way! However it wasnt as bad as we had anticipated as the climb was pretty gradual! We reached our accommodation only to find that our room which I had booked was not booked and we were faced with a night in the TENT! We were allowed to camp for free as they had made a mistake with our booking and told us to go behind the shop which was beside the kiddies play area. As we tried to sleep, shattered, at 8.30pm, the kids were still playing outside!! We got through the night (just about) and enjoyed nice pancakes in the lodge for breakfast. Another long day on Sunday, up and over the Lolo Pass at 5225 ft and then we crossed into Montana and sped downhill all the way to Missoula.55 miles later. We are now enjoying our day off there and have just had our photos taken for the wall of fame at the Adventure Cycling Headquarters. We have bought the next 9 maps which will guide us all the way to the Atlantic ocean (we hope).We are availing of the free ice cream, pop and computer use at the HQ! Off to relax in the sun now, 1000 miles under our belts and temperatures now in the 90s...HOT! Clothes finally getting looser!!! There has to be some bonus for all those hills!