2015-07-22 Day 24, Idaho Wonders, Lowell to White Bird, ID

For the second day in a row, Idaho has provided some amazing scenery for our ride. We climbed high on a plateau that was covered with dry land wheat farms. The wheat was golden ripe and ready for harvest. Last summer, we hoped to catch the wheat fields in western Kansas but were too late. This made up for it today.

Then we had a "will never forget it" descent down the old route of White Bird Hill. Calling it a hill just doesn't do it justice. It was a mountain side and the switch back "S" curve was invented just for this drop.....2000 plus feet of drop over 10 miles with an incredible number of 180 degree switch back turns. The entire way is treeless which provided unobstructed views of the cliffs next to the road and the sweeping valley below. Unbelievable! I knew this drop was significant from traveling it a time or two back in the 1960(s) with my family by car. Repeating this drop on a bike was unparalleled.

Tonight we are camping at the very bottom of that hill- right on the Salmon River at a campground that is hosting a motorcycle group. Unfortunately, for the 3rd night in a row, we have no internet. I hope to get this posted tomorrow with pics from the past 3 days.

We had an interesting conversation with a 70 year old rancher wearing his side arm and ammunition at the laundry mat today. He gave us a monologue while we washed our clothes in Kooksia. He covered the gambit of topics including the (mis)management of wolves, the terrorist threats, the presidential race, and government conspiracies. Normally, we enjoy meeting people but we could not wait to get out of there.