When you live in an area for enough time, you learn the lay of the land, so to speak. You pick up simple things like, oh it rained a lot recently, the river will be high. Or it snowed a lot last night, my street won’t be plowed. For the past few weeks I’ve been living in forest fire country, and for the life of me I can’t figure out the difference between a low risk day and a high risk day. Where’s the pattern?
The ride encompassed what would prove to be 80 uneventful miles. That’s not a bad thing; I was able to make it to Cambridge. There was some more subtle climbing, but nothing serious.
I forgot to mention yesterday, I did a larger climb outside of Grangeville that lead me down 8 miles of mountainside. There were three separate emergency truck runoffs, the most I’ve seen on a single stretch.
When I cruise down slopes like that, I can’t help but feel like I’m on a motorcycle. It’s exhilarating to say the least.
I’ve made the observation that Idaho has a weed problem (invasive plants, not Meigs County Gold). When I was in Montana I saw a lot of government employees spraying herbicides along the roadways, and signs warning about tracking in weeds. I didn’t know why until now. These little rascals take over. They’re as much of an eyesore out here in the wild as in your neighbor’s front yard. I’m assuming the problem is beyond repair out here; they’re in too deep. It would explain why Montana is taking such precautionary measures. It’s nothing too serious; don’t go telling your friends Idaho is about to be consumed by an unstoppable force. It’s just an observation.
This has been just a quick update to keep everybody posted. I’m bumming off the gas station’s wifi until I head over to the city park to sleep under the pavilion. I tried to go earlier but there was some kind of cookout going on.
