June 24
Sunday June 24th Ontario, OR to Boise, ID 62.88 miles 2,000 feet of climb.
Really needed this
day! Easy ride, good roads and
COOL. Up and out of room by 6 AM and
went to breakfast next to the motel. On
the road by 6:30 and right away we crossed the Snake River and crossed the
Idaho State line. Yippee! One state down. Traveled mainly country roads in farm country. Saw lots of onion fields and the first corn
too. It was five feet high in
places. Other crops were red beets and
wheat that was beginning to turn gold.
We were in a wide valley. It is
dry here and irrigation systems are running full speed. Sure would have liked to get in that water
spray yesterday when it was 94 degrees.
When we got close to Boise, beginning in
Middleton, there were hundreds of bicycles coming on tops of vans. It was the starting location for a big bike race, the HP Women’s
Challenge. This is a 13 stage race that
ended today. A few of us who were
rolling into Boise at noon ended up on the race route and we all felt a little
out of place riding through the finish line.
Cameras all over, loud speakers telling about who was in the lead and
people lining the streets waiting for
the racers to come in. They were about
an hour behind us.
We cycled through downtown Boise and our
hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott as near the river and Boise State University
stadium. Many of us were in early, by
noon, and the rooms weren’t ready yet.
Mausia, Gunnel, Florence and I decided to go next door to Perkins for
some lunch. Good thing we weren’t in a hurry,
the service was mighty slow. Lunch took
two hours! That was OK, because our
rooms still weren’t ready until nearly 4 PM.
Lots of cyclists were cooling off in the pool in their bike shorts while
they waited for the rooms.
We had our Route Rap
at 5 PM today. Since we have a rest day tomorrow, we got the map and cue sheet
for Tuesday already. This way we didn’t
have to be bothered with any group meeting on our day off.
We said goodbye to a
few who were leaving the tour at this point. I’m sure going to miss our
roommate Lee. She has been fun to get
to know and ride with. Deb and Peg too
were leaving. They all had work
commitments and limited time off so they could only do these first 8 days. Nancy, Peg Deb, and I walked to the
riverfront. This is a huge weekend
festival that Boise has each year. A
bazillion people were in the park along the river. Wall to wall people coming down for the food, to the live music
concert and conclusion of the Riverfest with spectacular fireworks at 10
PM. I’m told this is the nations 6th
most expensive fireworks production.
Music is coordinated with all the fireworks that are set off. We stopped at the Table Rock Brewery and the
gals who were leaving said their goodbyes to the other cyclists who were
gathered there on the outdoor patio.
Oh boy! I stayed up past 10 PM. But tomorrow we rest!