“The Vegas of Idaho” – Day 9

Date: Saturday 14th August 

Route: Gateway Motel, Idaho – Riggins, Idaho

Distance: 96 miles

Total climb: 4671ft

Net climb: -488ft

Having turned down the option to watch a VHS copy of Tom Cruise’s magnum opus “Cocktail” the night before (which came free with the room) we had both managed to get a pretty good night’s sleep in our “cosy” motel room.  It is safe to say though that the humble beginnings of our day gave no forewarning of how the day would pan out. 

We popped across to the shop/restaurant for what turned out to be a really good breakfast and some pointers as to how our route would be for the next couple of days.  We also stocked up on drinks and snacks for what we knew would be a long climb out of Hell’s Canyon.  Long and hot as it turned out.  Although we were on the road for 8:30 it was already seriously hot as we began to climb out of the canyon.  By the time we had reached the top, sweat was pouring from our foreheads.  Dispiritingly we had only travelled 8 miles in our first hour of cycling; but we were out of Hell’s Canyon.

Our labours were rewarded with a long downhill stretch into Cambridge.  Lacking the dreaming spires of its more high profile namesake, Cambridge, Idaho is blessed with a diner with far better fare than the average college meal.  As ever, I ate about twice as much as Fred, but we both felt much better (and cooler) after the break.  We paused again for a drink a few miles later in Council, before heading on for the 15 mile climb up to New Meadows.  That small, logging town had become my target for the day as the maps showed that from then on in the route was downhill.  New Meadows itself was unremarkable as a town, we ate in the gas station (Americanisms are noticeably creeping into our speech) and bought some more supplies.  We did however run into a fellow cyclist who was exceedingly keen to expound the virtues of the hot springs resorts of Idaho.  It was unclear whether he had some form of investment at stake in the hot springs industry, but he certainly was a fan.  We had a schedule to stick to though and so sadly we had to pass by a number of these geological marvels on route to our final destination – Riggins.

We had a long fight into the wind as we left New Meadows, but we were more than compensated for that by a downhill of about 25 miles during which we barely had to pedal.  Running along the side of the Salmon River our only concerns were dodging any rattle snakes that may have slid out onto the road and hoping that there would be a motel room available for us to stay in.

We dived into the first motel in town, which fortunately had a room.  After a quick shower and change we then passed up the recommendations of our host regarding food and headed to the Summerville Restaurant and Bar for dinner.  We had made it just in time for dinner and were informed by our waitress that the bar would be open until two and that Riggins is considered by some to be the Vegas of Idaho.  We thought that it would be rude not to pop next door for a quiet drink. 

At this stage we had completed 9 days of cycling and as the barmaid asked us if we fancied a third bottle of Budweiser the inescapable conclusion was that the following day would be perfect for a rest day.  Once that executive decision had been taken we decided that it was time to bring the party to Riggins.  I managed to secure multiple plays of Journey’s classic “Don’t Stop Believing” on the jukebox; we got chatting to a number of the locals and tourists who were thronging the bar; the barmaid began to give us free drinks and, towards the end of the night, we met a group of girls who were white water rafting the following day and had some space in their raft.  This seemed like the perfect way to spend a rest day (exertion; a distinct chance of injury and allowing no time to get any of our organisational tasks done) and so we accepted the offer.

The rest of the evening was spent in a whirl of explaining exactly why we were in the process of cycling across the US, leaving the bar and collecting stuff from our motel room (swimming trunks and sleeping bags) and heading to the girls’ rafting base camp on a beach a few miles downriver from the town.  Having been so worried about finding a room in town, it was rather amusing that we ended the night sleeping on a beach, at the bottom of a canyon looking up at the most incredible night’s sky that I have seen in years.  The most surprising things come about when you rely on serendipity to do its work.  We were a far cry from our Hell’s Canyon motel.

Some other notable points:

– Fred’s altercation with a man driving one of the largest SUV’s we’ve ever seen; without any provocation the guy practically crashed his car into Fred’sbike. Classic small man’s syndrome.

– A message on the hand drier in the Council public toilets “Press this button for a message from our President”.

JBS