Day 56, Sunday, June 15
I was awake in my tent at 5:03 AM when I got a text.
So we got up, and for the first time we were on the road at sunrise.
I had felt rather gloomy the night before. I was beat down by the sun and the wind and the remoteness of the day's ride. But in the cool of the morning, after a good night's sleep, I felt fine. John seemed to feel good too, and he was looking forward to Twin Falls, our destination for the day.
As we rode through Heyburn we passed a Walmart. The Walls are not my favorite people, but I needed things and their prices are much better than convenience stores. After that we stopped at McDonald's, for the third time on the trip despite swearing it off the first time.
We rode about 12 miles on county roads, then got back onto a frontage road paralleling I-84. There was no wind and it was still cool so we made good time. We stopped at a convenience store in Hazelton after 25 miles or so for another snack.
At 36 miles we crossed the Snake River on the Hansen Bridge, 350 feet above the Snake River.
I talked briefly with a couple in a camper van about their build. They found it amusing that Lynn
and I built one, yet here I was on my bike. They gave me some water, which I was never going to turn down in the heat of the day.
Ten miles later we were on the outskirts of Twin Falls. Our route took us on some roads where we should have been able to get to the Canyon Rim Trail west of Shoshone Falls. Unfortunately, the rich homeowners have blocked that road within a gated community. We backtracked east and took the road that does down into the Snake River Canyon just below the falls, which is currently
flowing at about 10 times the normal volume.
From there we could get to the Canyon Rim Trail, but it is not on the rim. Not at all. We had to climb out of the canyon on a very steep trail, up to 17% gradient. John tweaked his knee a bit. Hopefully it will not give him to much trouble going forward.
Once we were out of the canyon the trail lived up to its name, running close enough to the rim at times to make a cyclist a little nervous. Soon we came upon the highlight of the trail for some people, the site of Evel Kineval's failed "jump" over the Snake River Canyon.
We had lunch at IHOP, which John loves for some reason, then headed to our Warm Showers host for the night, Kathy Peterson. Kathy is veteran that served over 20 years. She is retired now but stays active with veterans organizations. She is also a wood carver and teaches classes in her shop.
When we rode into her driveway she showed us around. She has an outdoor shower set up for visitors. I asked if she did that just for her Warm Showers guests, but it was actually for BASE jumpers.
Twin Falls is a bit of a mecca for BASE jumpers because the Perrine Bridge is possibly the only structure in the country where jumping is allowed without a permit. Kathy, known in the BASE jumping community as the River Angel, lets jumpers stay at her place, camping in the yard or sleeping in her large workshop. The workshop has a recliner, TV, fridge, and microwave: everything a dirtbag BASE jumper -- or bicycle tourist -- might need.
We set up in her workshop, then showered and relaxed for a bit. I particularly enjoyed watching some of The Godfather Part II.
For dinner we went to Applebee's, which Kathy seems to be partial to, along with another veteran, Craig. (If you are keeping score, that's McDonald's, IHOP, and Applebee's all in one day.) After that we went to the bridge to see if anybody was jumping.
In the heat of the day nobody jumps. The bridge is 486 feet above the river, and when they jump they have to hike up a steep path to get back to the canyon rim. But the sun was setting and the three jumpers that had been millng about the visitors' center prepared to jump. They walked out the bridge, and first one, then the other two simultaneously, climbed into the rail, stood up, and jumped.
The jumps were past or bedtime, so we went back to Kathy's house, said our goodnights and goodbyes, and hit the sack.
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