Photographic Essay of the First Ten Days

Below are a few photographs from my first 10 days of riding.


Morning of Day 2, along the Lochsa Gorge -- Third flat tire. (Up to this point all of my flats had been self-inflicted: 1) cheap tire liner slowly sliced through my tube, 2) tore open a tube with clumsy use of tire lever, and 3) wiggled the valve stem around so much while pumping it up, that I tore a hole at its base.) I had no more spares on this, my third flat, so I patched a punctured tube.


Afternoon of Day 3, near Lolo, MT -- Josh met me 30mi outside of Missoula. I was happy to have a riding companion.


Noon on Day 4, near Hamilton, MT -- I hit the wall, didn't want to eat any of the processed food I had. I bought a bag of carrots and snacked on these for a few miles.


Early Morning of Day 5, near Sula, MT -- I woke up to a river at the foot of my tent. Moved it up hill a ways and went back to sleep. About 2hrs later, I heard a, "Hello?" outside. I hollered back, scrambled to get on some warmer clothes (you can see I forgot to put on my shoes, and it was pretty cold!) and stepped outside to greet a German tourist and his wife, worried about my welfare in a flooded campsite. I told him I was fine. I splashed across the little puddle and asked him to take my picture. They seemed to think I was a little crazy.


Noon on Day 6, Salmon, ID -- This is what grocery shopping looks like. These stops usually include whittling away the unnecessary packaging from a new set of granola bars and crackers, peeling off stickers from fruits and rinsing them off, refilling water bottles, readjusting everything to balance the weight, plugging my cell-phone into a socket and making a few calls, and tossing the previous night's trash.


Evening of Day 6, near Ellis, ID -- Great meal: beans, rice, sour cream, salsa, tortillas. I counted up over 2000Cal.


Morning of Day 7, near Ellis, ID -- Inspecting tire for things that shouldn't be there.


Afternoon of Day 7, Fulton Ranch SW of Borah Peak -- I knocked on Marge Fulton's door to ask for water. Got a friendly welcome.


Evening of Day 7 -- I camped on this night at a busy campground near Mackay Reservoir. At first I was really annoyed with all the screaming and laughing by the 'neighborhood' kids. I just wanted some peace. Soon, however, they came over and shyly asked if I'd set my tent up all by myself. They went up on a hill overlooking my site and watched me cook my dinner. I overheard them saying things like, "...real cowboy" to eachother. Later they showed me some flowers they'd found that "change colors" when you put them in water. I gave them one of my cooking pots and told them to get some lake water so we could do an experiment. I told them I'd take their picture if one of them would take a picture of me.

Morning of Day 8, Mackay Reservoir -- Laundry Day. My socks made a very potent sock stock. (I also tried to save money by doing my laundry in the bathtub while I studied abroad in Oxford, England. I think I saved a dollar doing that.)

Evening of Day 8, in the Lava Beds of ID -- The first picture is the somewhat disconcerting view I took in at 5pm, just east of Butte City, ID. I had 60mi to go to reach the next town. Flat nothingness in between. On my map it was marked as some sort of nuclear laboratory, with a town called Atomic City, and several sites miles and miles from anything marked as "Radioactive Waste Management Complexes". In parentheses all over this area was printed, "Restricted Access". About 30mi later the sun was getting low, and I was beginning to look for a place to hide my tent. Then I saw the silhouette of a touring cyclist coming from the other direction. Strange coincidence in the middle of nowhere. Conor Cash was his name. He gave me some advice about a good place to hide my campsite. I gave him some of my water.

Afternoon of Day 9, near Inkom, ID on I-15 -- An unfortunate but necessary 20mi stretch of interstate highway.

Evening of Day 9, Gilbert Farm near Virginia, ID -- I knocked on the door of this farm sometime after 5pm. I'd been rained on for about half an hour and was ready to pitch my tent. Ervin Gilbert showed me down to his barn where he said I could at least dry off. I met his son down there, Kent Gilbert, who's in the picture. Ervin came down to the barn and talked with me for about an hour while I dried off. Kent sat on his ATV and just watched me like I was some curiosity. Every time I looked his way, he'd look down at the ground and then at his dad. Ervin told me after a little while that I could pitch my tent in his yard. Later that night, as I was cooking my dinner, Kent came out to chit chat. He's the only Gilbert boy that didn't go to college. He's got a bum knee and has to hold on to things or sit down to support himself. But he still works all day long on the farm. I asked him if he hunts. He doesn't. He likes animals too much. He told me about how he used to milk his dad's cows when he was in high school. He described them like a bunch of old friends. He'd named several of them. One always came in first, led all the rest in twice a day to get milked. He liked her a lot. As I was going to bed, Kent told me he hoped his cats wouldn't bother me. I said I didn't mind cats, how many did he have? He said, "Ahh...twenty, twenty-five head. I've named about half of them." I saw a few of them later that night, one with an infected eye, another with a sad limp. Next morning I had to use the bathroom. I timidly knocked on the door, and Mrs. Gilbert let me in. They were getting ready to go to the tabernacle for Sunday worship. That's the second picture: me in their bathroom.

Noon on Day 10, Preston, ID -- I sliced my tire and had a blow-out near the border of ID and UT. As I was trying to fix my tire in the Talbot's garage, Mrs. Talbot came out with a heaping plate of hot food. It was a slippery slope. I called Dusty for a ride in to Logan about 10min later.