Two Grads and a Dad Bike Across the USA: Day 13

Mileage: 35
From: Halfway, OR
To: Brown Lee Dam, ID

At first Halfway seemed run down and sketchy, but in the morning we realized it was a really cute town. It really was a lively little town, and we were almost sad to go. The town museum curator was walking down the street next to us to open to museum for us as we were riding out, and we felt bad that we couldn’t stop and visit. We had delicious cinnamon buns from the farmers market that a lady made at 3AM this morning. Also, avocados have become our staple food. They make great snacks along with some Doritos or Sun Chips, and they also go great with lunch wraps.

So later in the day, we FINALLY crossed into IDAHO! Yay! As Lauren says, Ore-GONE. The sign was less exciting than I would’ve hoped… Just a tiny “Idaho State Line” sign.

We took a sort of half day today, because we’re getting pretty exhausted. We need a real rest day, but we’re trying to hold out for rafting in Riggins, ID. The campsite tonight in Brown Lee Dam (above it—dam hills are the worst) has an amazing view and access to the water, but is incredibly hilly, has only one entrance, and tent sites are 0.75 miles from the entrance (although the map claims it’s on route). We spent some time hanging out in the water, and then we laid in the shade on top of the un-pitched tent and read/napped. Dad says he has a really hard time not falling asleep whenever he isn’t riding because of the whole ride, eat, sleep mentality.

We had to relocate to a different tent site, because there was an incredible wind storm after the sun set. It kicked up right in the middle of cooking dinner, and we had to scramble not to lose our tent and all of our stuff. I think that must be the norm here, because now that we look around, there are a bunch of damaged tents fixed up with tarps. We made hot chocolate in the shelter of the bathroom/shower house.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the Powerade from heaven! We were walking back across the parking lot after showering, when lo and behold… an ice cold, sealed, 32 oz, blue Powerade was just sitting unscathed in the middle of the road in front of us. It was truly amazing. We split it, and it hit the spot.