The infamous Day 8

Yesterday was day 8 of riding. By that point I should have either pushed past the exhaustion block, or given up on the trip. It is supposed to be the hardest day of the trip.... I did over 90 miles. Day 8, how's it feel?

Anyways, I am super excited that on day 8 I felt really good. That night's sleep was crazy. My lean-to that I made with my rainfly in the canyonvalley ended up blowing off in the middle of the night, so it is a REALLY good thing that it didn't end up raining. The moon looked like a giant block of swiss cheese. The weather when I woke up was gorgeous. Probably 50 degrees or so.

The bike ride out of the valley was uneventful. It was super flat and really fast riding. On the only climb out of the canyon, a red truck passed by yelling at me like crazy. It was pretty funny. When I got out of the valley, I only had 12 miles to go until Vale. I know in yesterday's post I said I wouldn't bash headwinds ever again because of what they did for me. But I hate them again. I really do. I averaged 6 mph into that dang wind. It was pretty frustrating. Little tractors kept passing me. I really do hate headwinds with my whole heart again.

Got to Vale, and decided to grab lunch at the local diner/cafe. It was packed so I deemed that a really good sign. It was. I got the special, then spent another 3 dollars on fresh strawberry pie. Best strawberry pie I've ever had. It was a quarter of the pie, and almost 4 inches tall. I still don't believe that. I thought I was going to throw up. In the best possible way, I am sure it would taste mighty fine the second time around. Hahaha. As I was leaving, those guys that honked at me from the red truck came up to me. They were these to grumpy old geezers. We talked for about half an hour. They were hysterical. When they drove past me the first time, they couldn't decided if they wanted to see if I wanted to grab on for the ride up the hill (which I would have appreciated, but thankfully declined). As they were arguing amongst themselves, they didn't come to a conclusion until they were passing me, at which point they just ended up yelling at me out of their windows. This whole time they were talking to me, they were bickering back and forth like crazy. Tom and Franky. Awesome dudes. I want to be crotchety like them when I am older. I can't wait

Decided I would crank out the last 46 miles to Caldwell, ID. These miles went super fast. I crossed over the Snake River into Idaho about 14 miles outside of Vale. That was a huge mile-mark for me. I was pretty pumped. One state out of the way. A few left to go.

The miles were uneventful. They were flat and boring and in the farmland. I got to Caldwell pretty quickly. My only stop after Vale was at a pawn shop advertising "glass bottle sodie pop". I talked to the lady, and upon her recommendation got the Rock and Rye. It is a red cream soda, which is quite incredible really. I feel like I keep rambling about food and the like, but it is awesome trying the local stuff.

Once in Caldwell, I unpleasantly discovered that my dad gave me the wrong directions to the Nelson's house, so that was interesting trying to find a house in a town of 48,000 people. Figured it out though with the help of Mrs. Nelson.

The Nelson's are great people too. They are friends with my Grandparents (the Mayhill's). I think that I am going to adopt them as my tertiary set of grandparents, of the Idahoan descent (even though they are from California, doesn't matter.) They made me dinner, I got a shower, finally did laundry, and had a warm bed to sleep in. Unfortunately for Charnise, Sav, and Nathalie, the shorts that I was wearing at the Childe's house did NOT end up getting washed. CHAR, I REPEAT, I HAVE NOT WASHED THOSE SHORTS YET.. I just want' to make that clear to y'all. Sorry....not.

It has been super fun getting to know them. They are really funny to talk to, and have two crazy dogs. They took me out to a local breakfast place this morning which tops any country fried steak I have had in the South. It was pretty dang good. (once again, more about food, sorry, I am done.)

I getting ready to leave in the next hour or so, I just want to knock out an easy 50-60 miles today to allow for a little recovery time. Can't wait to sleep outside again, nice.

I found out I am still technically in the high desert..... crap that is depressing.