July 17 - Day 22 - Idaho

Lima to Red Rock RV Park, Henry’s Lake, Idaho, miles - 76.3 miles, Avg speed - 9.2 mph

This morning was the morning we said goodbye to the support crew and Jiggleless. We can’t thank them enough, although they will be helping us continue to keep this blog on schedule. Congratulation Jiggleless on cycling the great state on Montana! The two remaining players departed after another humungous breakfast at Jan’s café, always a good start to the day!

Yesterday, during our rest day, a ton of other Great Divide bike riders showed up at the motel, the first seen since the salsa couple in Butte. Going across the Northern Tier, we always gave nicknames to other riders we met, so we decide to continue this tradition. Going north to south like us are a husband and wife team, whom we have nicknamed “When Harry met Sally” and a couple of ladies who somehow look clean and as if they have just come out of the beauty parlor. They are now the “Beauty Queens”. There is also a couple plus godson heading South to North. There is quite a line, therefore to get into Jan’s at 7am, never mind the line for the bathroom afterwards!

When Harry met Sally leave first, having only had a take out coffee at Jan’s so they could get a good headstart, then us, leaving the Beauty Queens making the final checks to their hair and lipstick.

Riding round a bend, we encounter a rather sorry cow, who has got stuck in the mud and cannot get out. Numbstuff did well to spot a black cow in black mud as you can see from the photo! He flagged down 2 ranchers and they promised to tell the cow’s owner.

Next on the road, we had our very first bear encounter! Dirtbaby finally gets to use her bearspray!

Despite seeing plenty of horses in Montana, we have yet to see anyone riding one. Then, much to our delight, as we came round the corner, we saw an entire team of cowboys, cowgirls and cowkids and herding dogs rounding up a huge herd of cattle. We stopped and watched for a while, completely entranced by the interaction between cowboy, horse and cow.

After this, we hit Lima reservoir and the terrain changed dramatically from an arid landscape to more marsh-like wetlands with bluegrass colors and different flowers such as a thistle.

We then catch up with When Harry met Sally, pass them when they are taking lunch then they pass us on our lunch break. Finally, we overtake them while Sally seems to be doing something odd with her sock (sorry, no photos!). We get to the suggested campsite around 3.30pm but this seems to early as this will only leave more mosquito munch time, so, as the terrain seems to be fairly flat we decide to push on another 20 miles as we see a RV park on the map (RV park = hot showers!) This extra 20 miles takes in the momentous occasion of leaving Montana and entering Idaho at Red Rock Pass, the 6th crossing of the Continental Divide crossing.

We arrive at Red Rock RV park on Henry’s Lake at 6.11pm – what a great RV park – grassy tent site, ice cream, Gatorade, HOT showers, ice-cold water, laundry AND internet access. Boy, was that extra 20 miles worth it! We are both covered in red dust and it is wonderful to be able to wash it all off. We have to strip off all our clothes to be able to use the laundry just before it closes. By now, we have lost all sense of self consciousness and decency so we do apologize to all the other campers in Red Rock RV park!

Dinner is a lovely jet boiled cooked Mountain House dehydrated dinner, which, has to be said is far superior to the dinner we had last night at Calf-A in Dell, Montana! And so to bed….