The ice hockey rink was comfortable.
Aaron suggested I grab a cup of coffee from the local market in Victor, which opens at 7am, so I had a few minutes to kill after packing camp by 6:30.
I wasn't the only one waiting outside; I was joined by about 5 people ready to get in. However, the odd thing was that all of them did their normal grocery shopping. I was the only one perusing the bakery section and filling up a cup of coffee.
Early starters I guess.
While sipping coffee inside, a very cold rain started pouring outside. Already expecting bad weather, I planned to backtrack a little bit and hightail it to Idaho Falls. But I didn't expect the rain so early. I loitered in the market for an hour and the rain didn't let up, so I moved on.
Finally clearing up, just another mountain road.
After a miserable hour, I escaped the bad weather and cruised on. There was a particularly nasty climb just after getting out of the mountains.
While slowly making my way up the hill, I saw a large group of people get in a caravan of vehicles on the other side of the street and drive away. The vans were emblazoned with "Miami University."
Wow, they're a long way from home.
Well, an hour later I'm sitting at a rest stop along the Snake River and the caravan pulls up. Everyone exits the vans and heads towards the facilities.
All of them have pick-axes attached to their hips. I asked one guy about the group: he said they're working on their undergrad geology thesis at Miami University - in Ohio. That makes more sense.
He even said that they noticed me climbing the hill, with comments along the lines of looks like that guy is having no fun.
I replied with, it is what it is, hills are a part of riding. We talked a bit about the bicycle ride before they were ushered back into the vans.
They continued to stop on the side of the road and pass me later on, multiple times, all day.
I saw my namesake sign in the farm country!
With a solid tailwind and only a few wrong turns, I arrived at Sheila and Rusty's house in Idaho Falls. We met through Dave (the guy I started riding with) and they generously offered to put me up for a few days.
I am so relieved, especially because there is a huge rain storm rolling into the area.
Sheila & Rusty are avid travelers and have hosted tons of guests from a variety of countries. I cannot wait to hear their stories.
Joe