Day 10: Garden Valley - Cascades

The alarm goes off at 7:30am. and it is sunny outside. We have breakfast in the nearby restaurant we avoided last night. Half an order of biscuits and gravy and a Spanish omelette (+ coffee and OJ's) cost $13.65.

After riding 47.2km in 3:15 we are in Smith's Ferry. We have ridden uphill for 30km. We had breaks every two or three miles. It is partly cloudy but nice. It is also fun to watch the canoers and drafters struggling in the North Fork of Payette River.

At 5pm. we are in Cascade (elev. 4765'), looking for info how to continue to Council or Cambridge. It seems that going over the mountain range in Boise National Forest is not a good idea; the forest road is supposed to be unpaved and steep, the short climb starting just in few miles from town. The alternative is to go around the mountains and the Cascade Lake, which would be too long a ride for tonight. We decide to stay in town at Bear's Knight Inn for $55. We do laundry, have dinner at The Whistle Stop Pizza and Bakery (a burger and a BLT), call a liquor store for local wine and then head back to the motel to watch Olympics. A strong thunderstorm hits the area, and we are quite happy we did not continue riding.

Today we rode 76.2km in 4:55.

Day 11: Cascades - Council

This is our bad bad bad weather day. The alarm goes off at twenty to seven. The sun is not up yet but we are.

It starts raining soon after we hit the road. After riding about 25.5km (in 1:45) we are in Donnelly and have tea and latte in The Pughandle, a trendy coffee house one seldom finds in these small towns. We enjoy the drinks and the dry space for quite a while. The rain outside still looks miserable. Finally we continue. We enter the town of McCall (elev. 5020') at 1pm.

A driver stops by and offers us accommodation for the night. We kindly refuse and thank him; we have many more miles to strive today. He tells about the strong Finnish heritage in McCall area; we have already noticed a Finn cemetery and Elo road. We go on looking for The Pub (Restaurant and Microbrewery) for lunch. The place has recently changed ownership so they don't brew their own beer yet, but serve some interesting local microbrews on tap. We have Suzy Q Salad and a Garden burger. The odometer displays 45.4km and 3:02 hours.
Tomi changes dry clothes on, but the rain grows stronger when we hit the road again at 2:30pm. We have downhill all the way to Meadows and New Meadows. "You must be out of your minds!" shouts the guy at the gas station in New Meadows when we pull over. Curiously, the same idea passes my mind, but only momentarily. We visit restrooms, but choose to have coffee at a diner, that smells burnt smoky from years and years of cooked transfat. Coffee is bad, but warm and practically free.
We keep following the beautiful gorge of Weiser River, and exchange rain gear on and off as the strength of rain and the slope of the road vary. With only 10 kilometers to go to Council the piece in the Tomi's bike that attaches the back rack to the frame breaks. We are going downhill in considerable headwind, which probably places too much pressure on the tiny metal plate. We stabilize the load with the straps, and successfully roll down to Council (elev. 2940').

We get a room at Starlite Motel for $48. A number of soaked bikers enter soon after us and suddenly the place is full. We try our best in hanging wet gear and clothes around the room to dry. At 8:30pm. we are ready for dinner. It is Sunday night and options are few. And it is still raining.

We have a medium Green Vegan pizza (including the salad bar) in One Eyed Jack's Pizzeria. The pizza chef gives us a taster of their adorable pesto to go. Few days later we notice that we have lost the taster. We visit a couple of bars for dessert, Ace Saloon and another one, which is becoming pretty crowded this late, when all other places are closing.

Today we rode 105.8km in 6:50. The morning plan is to do laundry and fix the bike rack. Good night!

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