Just before I started out from Heyburn, Idaho this morning on the way to Pocatello, I checked the weather radar, and then quickly looked at the sky. There were showers off to the southwest and they were heading in our direction.
I headed out, hoping we could outrun or avoid them. Soon there were showers in several directions around me, but I managed to thread the needle between them.
Eventually the sky cleared in most directions, and for several hours, I relaxed my weather eye and enjoyed the scenery.
This may look like the same area we were in two days ago. I assure you, we have covered a lot of ground since then. And though the pictures may look similar, one of the advantages of seeing the country at the speed of a bicycle is that differences in similar areas become apparent. The landforms today were less pronounced; the mountains in the background were less present; and the sagebrush was interspersed with more grass.
The area was also much more remote. For about ten miles, Toni in the van and I on my bicycle were the only people around. We could see a good two and a half miles either side of the road, so that was about 50 square miles without any human habitation. There weren’t even any cattle around.
Around mid-day, I threaded a needle of a different sort. Although bicycle riding is permitted on the interstate where necessary, I have tried to avoid it. There was one four-mile section of the route today on I-86 that I had not found a way around. But a three mile section of gravel road (plus a few more miles of pavement) looked like a way around the interstate, if it was rideable. When I reached the road, I decided it was worth a try. It worked, and I was rewarded with this stunning view of the countryside and skyscape.
I also found this nice juxtaposition between an old windmill on one side of the road and new windmills on the other.
Our luck threading the needle ran out in the afternoon. As I rode a gravel stretch on the frontage road along the freeway, one of the day’s storms caught up to us. Fortunately, Toni had been staying very close to me in the RV, and we were able to duck into a truck stop just as the wind started whipping around and the rain started to fall. We took full advantage of having our home away from home, and took a brief nap while we waited out the storm. Within 45 minutes we were on our way, and able to complete the last six miles of the day’s ride into the outskirts of Pocatello.
On the theory that half a barn is better than none, here is today’s barn. It was across the freeway so I couldn’t get a cleaner shot.
The technical stuff:
82.1 miles
2,427 feet of climbing
Average speed 14.5 miles per hour
Weather: Partly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms in the area throughout the day. Low 50s to start, high in mid-70s later, but cooler near the storm at the end. Winds were light and variable, except for a cross wind after the storm late in the day
You can see the entire route to date here.