Our shelter, glowing in the early-morning sunlight at Downata Hot Springs
Day 2 – Tuesday, June 15th
Downata Hot Springs, Idaho to Blackfoot, Idaho
The night was surprisingly cold for how mild it was in the early evening, and we relied on our learned experiences sealing the cold air out of the opening of the sleeping bag, and on covering our heads to stay warm.
In the morning, though, the sun came up early (with no high mountains to the east), and I discovered another advantage to Malcolm's preference for a translucent plastic for the shelter: the sun shone through it onto us, warming us up quickly.
[Malcolm – Using thick plastic sheeting (used at construction sites) has advantages over a tent. If you attach the corners with a 'double sheet-bend knot' it can last all season, in the strongest winds. The air can also flow through, leaving you warmer and drier than when your perspiration is trapped in an enclosed tent. You can also set it up in the rain, first making an instant dry space to then keep your other things dry. I also feel safer, as when I am lying on the ground, I can see any movement against the sky, while I am in the dark, on the ground. It is also easily replaced in any lumber yard or hardware store, for about $7.]
Our
shelter, glowing in the early-morning sunlight at Downata Hot Springs
In
the shelter, coat still on against the early morning cold
[Malcolm – This picture shows another advantage, where the bicycles themselves can also be the tent poles, and the bicycles are in with you kept dry and no theft, with your stuff easily reachable.]
We soon packed up the shelter, and headed out, only snacking since Downey was only 3 miles away, and we preferred a restaurant/convenience-store breakfast to chunky soup. Before leaving, we took a picture of Downata Hot Springs.
The
“Downata Hot Springs” sign, at the east side of the campground
Again, we had pleasant cycling conditions, with a tail-wind.
We soon made it to Downey, where we found two convenience-stores. We ate at the first one (I guess we were hungry), Valley Oil Fuel Stop. After eating, we arranged to use their air compressor, since the hand pump I had used to inflate my tires after fixing the flat is not up to the task of properly inflating high pressure tires. A few quick bursts of air was all it took, and we were on our way, with all tires fully inflated.
We followed highway 91 north to where it joined I-15, but stayed on the old highway 91, going through Arimo. There were few places to get out of the sun for a rest stop, but we found one in the form of the north side of the Performing Arts building of Marsh Valley High School.
Shade
is where you find it
Rest stop over, we were again underway, and the miles ticked by.
We
made it to McCammon
Before continuing on, we had a rest stop at a convenience-store in McCammon, enjoying a cool drink, and talking to some local people about our trip.
This is the town where highway 30 makes its way east to Lava Hot Springs (not on our route). However, we did want to stay on the old highway 91 rather than cycling on I-15, and thanks to information from the store owner in the small town of Swan Lake, we had to go east on highway 30, over the river and the railroad overpass. There (per his excellent information) we found the old highway 91, heading north.
After heading north awhile, I began to question the wisdom of this plan, as a significant hill ahead came into view. I decided that if topping that hill revealed another similar hill, we would retrace our route, and cycle I-15 (in Idaho, it is legal to bicycle the interstate, not depending on the lack of alternative roads).
Fortunately, although there were occasional hills, they weren't nearly a high as that first one, so we continued on old highway 91.
This turned out to be an excellent choice, as I had always wondered where the highway went before the Interstate was there, and it was also a surprisingly beautiful section of the trip, as we traveled along the Portneuf river.
Traveling
the old highway 91, along the Portneuf River, east of the lava flow
Before we knew it (a tail-wind still at our backs), we were at Inkom.
Entering
Inkom, on old highway 91
Here we purchased food at a convenience-store, and took it to a nearby park to eat. Some storms were threatening, so we ate under a roof. It didn't rain, but an annoyance was a street sweeper machine that went over and over again on the park's parking lot (which had a lot of caked-on dirt), making big clouds of dust.
Soon we were underway again, traveling old highway 91 westward toward Pocatello. We did get some sprinkles of rain – some intense enough to look for a place to shelter from it, but we never actually had to stop because the rain decreased.
At a geology roadside exhibit, we learned that the east-west-running valley between Inkom and Pocatello was carved by the ancient Bear River, before it found its present route to the Great Salt Lake, much farther to the south. Now only the Portneuf River follows that course to the Snake River.
Several miles to the west, we crossed under (over?) I-15, to follow a frontage road, which entered Pocatello from the east, on 5th Avenue.
Before the trip, Malcolm had seen some handlebar grips that offered a wider surface area for our hands. We both tried them on short trips, and to both of us, they seemed better than what we had. Unfortunately, we found that on long trips (going day after day, all day long) the lack of padding actually made them much worse than what we had before, as our hands had to handle the constant vibration and shock. It was bad enough that Malcolm would not be able to continue the trip if he couldn't find better hand grips to replace the expensive ones.
Bad Handlebar Grips - What you need to know.
We figured that Pocatello would have bicycle shops, and Malcolm stopped in a Kinko's store near Idaho State University to inquire about bike shops. While he was inside (and I was watching the bicycles), I snapped a picture of part of the campus.
The
southwest corner of the Idaho State University Campus
With information on bicycle-shops in-hand, we continued along 5th Avenue, which eventually turned northward to become Yellowstone Avenue/Street, which eventually became old highway 91, our old friend.
After turning north, we found one of the bicycle shops, and we were in luck, since they had a set of the cheaper, foam handlebar grips which are better for long trips. Unfortunately, they only had one set, so I continued to get by on the bad ones. Though it was uncomfortable for me, and an annoyance, it wasn't going to cause me to abort the trip, so it was better to change them on Malcolm's bicycle, since it would have ended the trip for him.
We ate at a Subway Sandwich shop as a thunderstorm went by. The weather was definitely taking a turn for the worse.
After eating, the storm had cleared up (for the time being), and we continued north on highway 91, entering the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. From time to time, we got drizzles of rain. We were traveling fast, thinking we might stay ahead of it. But the rain came down harder, and we sheltered under the veranda of an abandoned cafè or store.
Eventually the storm abated, and we continued toward Blackfoot, still with occasional drizzles of rain. Just before getting to Blackfoot the rain got hard again, and we sheltered under the eaves of a casino. The rain lasted a long time, and I was making the case to Malcolm for cycling in the rain, just so we could cover (before dark) the last few miles to Blackfoot, where we could get a motel.
As it turned out, the rain abated, and we cycled the last few miles to Blackfoot with only an occasional, slight drizzle.
Cycling
into Blackfoot – something decades ago I would have regarded as
impossible – note threatening storm-clouds
We got a room at the Y-Motel, just inside Blackfoot, and slept soundly, since we were exhausted from our long day. This was the longest-mileage day of the trip, with a distance of 67.6 miles at an average speed of 9.5 miles per hour.