Harpster to Riggins, ID 65 miles

Last night I woke up to something... I thought it was something growling, so of course I said "hello" really loudly to scare it off. This morning Bill said he got out of his tent because he thought there was someone messing with us by standing right next to his tent saying "hello" and Janelle was woken up by it as well. Bill had already been awake and never heard a growl. I guess I should have kept my mouth shut. I was just trying to keep that bear out of our campsite.
Lots o thunder an lightning last night, but little rain.
This is a picture of the food I have on a typical morning in my bags:



2 bananas, nectarine, dried humid, bag o baby carrots, 1/2c min. Rice, 1c couscous, 2 Cliff bars, cut fruit, Naked juice, cashews, dried apricots, wheat thin crackers and a cheese stick.
It looked so easy on the map. Yes, a climb, but whatever. So it was up 3,000 feet over 11 miles. But, criminies. Breakfast included an enormous omlette with actual chopped fresh veggies and real mushrooms (not canned) at Hilltop Restaurant in Grangeville. And did I mention real cheddar cheese?
The first section of roadway up to the pass where they diverted us from 95 was strenuous, but beautiful. It reminded me of some of the national forest roads I've been on.
We met Dave and Sylvia from Connecticutt on Old Highway 95. They said they couldn't believe they were seeing two cyclists so near to heaven when they thought they were lost. This section had a lot of sand on it, but taken slowly, was quite pleasant.



The road may have had the steepest change in elevation, mitigated by extensive switchbacks. My max speed was about 25. Had we shifted onto Interstate 95, I could probably have reached 50. So, the choice was dangerous and fast or dangerous and slow. The valley was incredibly deep and long.
We caught up with Ted and Janelle, but they had been unable to find the roads to keep off the interstate and had to experience a road with high speed and narrow shoulders.
We followed the Salmon River the rest of the way to Riggins. The odd thing about it is that, though we were traveling upstream, we appeared to be headed downhill. The river edge never seemed to get higher and the pedalling was moderately easy. When we stopped for a break, there appeared to be no tailwind. It was an interesting illusion.




My rear tire developed a bulge and on closer inspection I noticed it was about to have a blowout. The tread was torn up in two different places, including the site of a boot repair I did at home. These tires had less than 500 miles on them when I started and I have been doing periodic spot checks on their condition. I can only guess that the damage may have been caused by running over two cattle guards. I swapped the tire out for my folding spare.



In Riggins, we located the RV park, but the owner wanted $15 per tent and $3 more for a shower. When I asked of we could just camp on an RV pad for the $20 RV price, he started becoming beligerant, telling me how much it cost to maintain the grass. I started to tell him it cost more for RV hookups and was going to move on to the cost of road maintenance, but he told me to get a hotel. At that point I would have paid $120 for a hotel room rather than give him a penny. I went to find a hotel room, while Janelle and Ted decided to stay.


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