Today has been great! What a birthday.

This morning I went to the Hess museum just outside of Ashton. It is funny. I was in front of the museum reading the sign that said it was open by appointment (something I did not have) when a kindly gentleman drove by and stopped. He asked about the bike ride, and I told him I was out this morning to enjoy Ashton. I mentioned the sign and the appointment requirement and he asked if I would like to see the museum. It turns out I was talking to Mr. Hess.

I am not going to say much about the museum in this post. I have a lot of pictures and a ton to say about it. What I will say is that it was wonderful. They had everything from dog sleds to a Model-T to an Apollo space suit. WOW!!! What a great collection. But better than all that Mr. And Mrs. Hess are the nicest people you could possibly meet. Great tour guides, extremely interesting people who have lived extraordinary lives. They even sent me on my was with a homemade cinnamon roll (and it was gooooood!) I have so much more to say, but I will save it for when I have pictures and more time.

I have had a wonderful day of exploring. It was better than I could have hoped for. It does my soul good to meet such fine people in some of the most beautiful country on earth. What a great birthday.

Did I mention that Ashton used to be considered the world capital of dog sled racing? Or that it is now the capital of seed potato production? What a colorful past.

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Total miles today 80.1

Not as far as I wanted to go this morning. But 30 miles more than I wanted to go this afternoon. I took the bike in to be serviced in Idaho Falls. It took about 4 hrs. So, I thought about staying there for the night, but was so motivated to get to Yellowstone that I pushed forward. Mistake. I strained my neck while leaving town. So, I had headache the rest of the day. Not far out of town I started to look for a place to stay, but everything was booked. Town after town, everything was booked. I could not believe it.

I have really been pushing to get to Yellowstone by tomorrow and my body is telling me about it. It is time for some rest.

So, I am spending 2 nights in Ashton. It is a great town and I am excited to explore it. I also did not want to have to ride on my birthday.

One of the towns I was unsuccessful in obtaining lodging in was Sugar City(I know sounds sweet). While looking for a motel I stumbled onto an old sugar factory. I know not that interesting, but there was a sign talking about it. I am glad I stopped and read it.

It was built in 1904 and at the time it was the largest sugar factory in the U.S. Processing 700 tons of sugar beet per day. The capacity was increased to 1700 tons with it’s peak production year being 1933 (yes during the Great Depression). It closed in 1942. Here is the mind blowing stuff. During the 37 years of operation the factory produced 8,100,481 one hundred pound bags of sugar from 2,107,898 tons of sugar beets.

I also looked for a motel in St. Anthony. Cool little town. They have a beautiful old downtown and very nice park by the waterfalls on the river that runs through the town.

Right now I am eating at a log cabin restaurant. There are stuffed heads of elk, antelope, bison, deer and stuffed bears and the like. Lots of interesting things to look at.

Tomorrow, there is a fish hatchery, a museum, and some waterfalls to explore. That is of course after I get out of my nice, soft, warm bed at about 11.

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Just a quick update. I rode 93.2 miles yesterday. Good day!

I am currently about 120 miles from W. Yellowstone. So, I am going to push to make it there for my birthday tomorrow.

The weather is great, I feel great and I plan to break 100 miles today.

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Interesting piece of history here… On July 17, 1955 Arco became the first city in the free world to be powered by atomic energy. The power was being produced by that National Reactor Testing Station located in the desert southeast of Arco.

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Here is the picture. You decide. Lets review the facts.

I found this in a mountain stream. It is matalic and fairly heavy. You might want to note the color while you are deciding.

Oh well. I have decided to take it with me. I would hate to litter such a beautiful place

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Ok so I only went 7.5 miles this morning, but the guy at the restaurant told me about these hot springs at mile marker 214.5. So, I thought I would check them out. Boy am I glad I did! They are beautiful. Warm, crystal clear water flowing out in to a 4 Ft deep pull from broken lava rocks. There is creek smooth grave on the bottom. Wow! I could stay here all day. This cross country bike ride thing is hard. Soft grass to sleep on at night and natural bath tubs in the morning.

Speaking of the smooth creek gravel in the bottom. I found something in it. I will send a picture in the next post.

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Ok, I just did a quick mileage calculation and found that skipping Yellowstone will only save about 18 miles. That is great because I was thinking of heading east instead of north to Yellowstone because it seemed out of the way.

So, that being decided, I will head north into the Teton mountains on rt 20 looks like there is a pass into Yellowstone at 7072. Nice.

Today, I am riding into Craters of the Moon. I am at 4800 Ft now and I know I will be over 6000ft before I get to craters. So, lots of uphill today. I can see the mountains, they are beautiful should be a great ride.

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Today turned out to be a great day to ride. The sun was out and there was a head wind in the morning. Then, at about the hottest part of the day, there was a rest stop. Families were having lunch under the trees, and I took a nap. I am really growing to love the naps

When I woke up the clouds were covering the sun and the winds had changed. I jumped on my bike and followed this lush green valley for miles. There were snow capped mountains on my left and high brown mountains on the right. In the middle a carpet of green.

I passed through a small town called Picabo. What friendly people. The place I ate lunch was also a museum. They had some great old pictures. It was funny, they had pictures of people out hunting with Hemingway. The Hemingway. It turns out that after he lost his house in Cuba he moved to Ketchum, ID, about 35 miles from Picabo and spent a lot of time in the town. It was just him and a group of friends out and about. Ketchum is also where he shot himself. His house there is now a museum. While eating, I talked to a guy named Ken, who is working at a local nursery to save up for a trip next summer to South America. He was excited about skiing all summer (their winter) in Argentina. Great conversation.

Just outside of Picabo I also passed the world famous Silver Creek, known for it’s great trout fishing. I know this because I was sitting on the bridge over the creek watching the water go by and a lady on a bike stopped (at first I thought it was Lynn Blaney, a friend from Wheeling) and we talked about birds, the creek, the Oregon Trail, the snow covered mountains, and the animals. (Speaking of animals, I saw a fox hunting in a field of alfalfa yesterday. He was jumping up out of the clover and pouncing back out of sight. I waited and got a picture of him in midair!) Anyway, turns out this lady and her husband run a fishing tour company there at Silver Creek (hence the reason for all her knowledge about the area). It was great.

Over all I went about 50 miles today. A little short of my 70 miles a day goal, but it was a great day. I met some great people and saw some gorgeous country.

It is raining now, so, I set my tent up and will be sung to sleep by the pitter patter of rain on my tent. I am sure I will be dreaming of Craters of the Moon. Everyone says it is like the earth was bubbling away and then dried that way. We will see in the morning. I plan to take the 7 mile loop and do some hiking (another short mileage day)

Good night…

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I am at the junction of 20 and 75 about 26 miles east of Fairfield. I have been riding on a sections of the Oregon trail for about a week. I am on the Goodale’s Cutoff now. Here is some history about the route.

The Oregon Trail
In 1843 wagons first rolled past Fort Hall, ID and faced the harshness and desolation of the Snake River Plain. Dust, sagebrush, lava rock, mosquitoes, a burning sun, cold nights, rattle snakes and a concerened Native American population made the journey an arduous one. The journey across the ‘Great American Desert’ took five months,averaging 12 miles a day. After decade of heavy use by emigrants of the Oregon Trail and over utilization of resources created a need for new roads. Several alternate routes were created. Timothy Goodale, a former fur trapper, agreed to guide a large wagon train on an old Indian path discovered in 1820. Many were attempting to reach the newly discovered Salmon River gold mines along the new route.

Goodale’s cutoff as it was called became a regular Hudson’s Bay Company supply route between Fort Boise and Fort Hall. The road was rough and hard to navigate.

“The road winds around the foot of the mountain. Today’s drive was over the worst roads I ever saw, heard of or read of; they were so rocky. Some places the road is next to impassable. Actually, one of our wagons got wedged in between some large rocks or stones.”
-Eakin Family
July 20, 1866

“Started this morning, traveled through rocks from one to five feet high and had to make our road through the best we could. Some of the boys found in the rocks a trunk which was lost or hid in 1853. It was full of clothes, dishes and other small articles.”
-Nellie Slater
July 29, 1862

It has been interesting following the route of the Oregon Trail so far. I think that I might stick with it a little longer. Looks like it goes all the way to Independence, Missouri. I also enjoyed reading the quotes from people making the journey. Apparently there is a book of letters and journals of people who made the trip called ‘Letters and journals from the western trail 1840-1890′. It might have been interesting to have along the way.

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Wow! After the sun went behind the cloud it was a good day of riding. I crossed the mountain, the wind changed and it sprinkled to cool me off. I made it to my goal for the day.

I also passed 3 other cross country riders. They all started in Virginia. Nice people. The first guy I passed was on his 55th day of riding. He also was a communication major who took the ride to think.

The other two were kind of riding together. They were averaging 80 miles a day!!! And had only been riding for like 44 days. They were younger, just out of college.

I am up in the mountains again. It is much cooler and the valleys are lush. I found this great old country church just outside of Fairfield.

Tomorrow, I will be heading into Craters of the Moon National Monument. I am on St Rt 20 following the Goodale’s cutoff of the Oregon Trail. I should break 6000 Ft easy.

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