Two Grads and a Dad Bike Across the USA: Day 16

Mileage: 9.6
From: 4 mi West of Riggins, ID
To: Riggins, ID

This morning Pim & Pam made us a huge breakfast—pancakes with fresh blueberries, eggs, homemade sausage, fresh squeezed OJ, and apricot preserves from their little orchard. It was absolutely delicious, much like dinner. We had an almost teary goodbye, and headed off to the rafting company to meet Lisa & Anna.

So today was our first real rest day! Our rafting company took two boats, and the five of us bicyclists had the one, and a family had the other. It was a great group to be with. I think the father of the kids in the other boat must have been a retired pro football player, and he was a hoot. We had a couple water cannon wars, but other than that it was pretty relaxing and laidback.

The river was pretty low for this time of year, so it was a little tamer than it could’ve been. It was still fun, and there were still some good rapids. Our guide was pretty new, but she was still good. It was nice to have everything taken care of for us for the day. The guides prepared our lunch and snacks, and we basically just sat back and relaxed. We had a nice spread for lunch, too.

Apparently we’re already famous in Riggins, because another boat group that joined us later asked, “So which of you are the world-class athletes biking across the country??” We all sort of sheepishly raised a hand, laughed, and said we’re not really world-class athletes.

We’re camping with Lisa and Anna tonight in a little free campground on the river. There are some people who seem to be living out of trailers here who are a little bit obnoxious, but it could be worse. No showers either, but it’s not like we really sweated today anyway.