Morning started at the reservoir, and though we've packed way less stuff this trip it still takes a long time to get started in the morning. I swear the sun rises quicker here. First thing on the agenda was a thousand foot climb on pavement out of the river valley, just to wet our whistles.
The guy at the Featherville Cafe who gave us this rerouted told us that we would be traveling through high desert and there was nothing he could do about it. WOW he was right.
He also said there would be water the whole way, and with the exception of some cow creeks he was wrong about that.
Travis really wanted to stay on the off-road route, which would bypass the only town we would pass that day. There had been zero shade. I was almost out of water. I decided we needed to ride on the highway for a bit to make it to Fairfield.
Omg what would we have done if the Fairfield Country Store had been closed for the 4th. There was clean water, the most grizzled cowboy old timers I've ever seen, and food!
Bike tour lunch is hilarious. Travis bought three rounds of snacks, which included hot funyons, gatoraid, potato salad, breakfast burrito, V8, coffee, beer, and more potato salad. You gotta go with what you're craving.
Eventually we had to leave the shade and the AC to make our final travels for the day. We were trying to make it to Hailey, the only town nearby. But this route put us through a treeless valley and then up through a canyon! Idaho has no chill!
Somehow we traveled for five more hours, not a cloud in the sky. A cool thing that my body is doing these days is breaking out in heat/sun rash on the tops of my thighs. I even bought longer shorts for this trip so my thighs would have some relief, but the rash comes out even when they're covered. Today we went though so much unfiltered sun that the rash moved to the backs of my calves. The sun was so painful. It didn't stop.
Then somehow we crested the hills, and waaaay down below we could see a grove of trees, which was Hailey. And it was all downhill from there.
