i-duh-ho

nothing makes me feel like a small child quite like riding my bike does. this is how we do it on ride idaho.

new meadows to white bird
-100+ degree weather
-rafted the salmon river
-rode 50 some-odd miles
-hung out in a bar on a sunday
-got asked if i was old enough to be there

white bird to cottonwood
-rode 40 miles
-10 of them were climbing
-fell asleep in a monastery during the nun's tour
-saw dog bark park
..seriously, this town is something from "true stories"

cottonwood to elk city
-rode 77 miles
-stopped along the way for a dip in the river
-then for a gigantic ice cream cone
-tried to teach two drunk guys to play go fish...fail

elk city to grangeville
-rode 81 miles
-climbed a killer grade in sweltering heat
-got ice cream in a parlor where i found a cute redhead
-played on the sweet slip 'n slide in the park

grangeville to winchester
-rode 51 miles to the best hick town ever
-in the gas station found photo albums labeled "hunting" and "fishing" featuring the locals
-even has a giant rifle hanging from the power line in the middle of town
-learned some sweet middle eastern rhythms in a drum circle
-went to bed with the most beautiful sunset of the trip

winchester to genesee
-woke up to a blood-red sunrise
-62 miles with a 10 mile grateful climb

genesee to moscow
-felt something touching my toe as i was putting my gear away...i turned around only to find a mouse under the tent
-22 short, easy miles into moscow
-LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG drive from moscow to boise then to north salt lake.

and suddenly my vacation ended.  what a tragedy.
peace+love

remember that one time we rode 65 miles everyday for a week to train for ride idaho...?

...oh wait, that never actually happened.

but, if i am ever wealthy, i will have a cabin in priest lake, idaho.

RIDE IDAHO

day 0--got carsick and barfed at the gas station in cascade, idaho...a few miles later, the car broke down. lucky for us, PAM! drove by and drove us the rest of the way to hayden, idaho.

day 1--a painful, but stunning, 67 miles to priest lake. got to camp and asked my dad why we couldn't have just gone on a cruise for our family vacation...then went for a refreshing swim in the most beautiful lake i've ever seen. think alaska without the cold.

day 2--a less painful, just as beautiful 56 miles to sandpoint. met our camp neighbors for the next week, john and kip. they loved us. then went for a refreshing swim in the lake.

day 3--a very painful, scenic 76 mile ride to troy, montana...started a mud fight with trevie in the frigid cold river and watched the one-armed man play a mean guitar.

(parent kid teams aka pretty much the only people under 50 on the trip--mom+trevor, trevie+mom, kelli+kerri+dad)

day 4--80 miles to thompson falls, montana. saw mennonites on bicycles on the way and almost died in the rain. but there was a river there too with a rope swing. and the best food on the whole trip aka banana cupcake for dessert.

day 5--fat camp. 65 miles and two summits. the second one was 2.8 miles of 8-11% grade. that

basically means it was really steep. the whole time i just kept telling myself, "i'm burning fat, i'm burning fat, gotta keep going". got to kellog in the rain. woke up in the middle of the night with

water levels rising around us in our tent. (so much for sleeping in that day). got up at 6 to dry all our stuff at the hotel and sleep in the lobby.

(after dominating fat camp hill)

day 6--a flat, relaxing 46 mile recovery to my future hometown (if things don't work out in the pacific northwest), harrison, idaho. swam in the lake (shocker) and finally got my mint chocolate chip ice cream (and a phone number) from a very cute red headed boy working at the creamery. in case you didn't know, that night was also the peak of the perseids meteor shower, so we laid out on the dock and watched mother nature's show.

day 7--56 mile finish to hayden. head winds kept me from moving basically at all downhill. but we all made it alive and ready to sleep. lucky for us our self-proclaimed aunt amy and her husband mike offered us a ride in their rv. which meant lots of sleep on the 8 hour drive to boise.

deb...the only person to finally get my dad to get up and dance...oh how embarrassing.

7 days of 448 miles of cycling+camping in the rain+eating whatever they feed you+doing your duty in port-a-potties+some of the most beautiful terrain in the united states+awesome people=i'd do it again in a heartbeat.

peace+love

to the dogs, or whoever

i first heard the beautiful sounds of this beautiful boy in the summer of 2008. i was attending the beloved twilight concert series (for free!) to hear andrew bird. the first act was was a big name from a small town with a dimpled face and curly hair. i couldn't keep my eyes off of him. and when he started to play, my ears were just as enamored. i danced to "katheleen" with my best friend. and i fell in love to "the temptation of adam". truly, i couldn't keep from smiling.

and now i'm about to become your favorite person. Josh Ritter is back with "So runs the world away". his lyrics are clever. his voice is clear. he has stage presence to make you beg for more. and his band can play. plus he always dresses classy. for the first time in my life, i am in love with an idaho boy. and if you don't believe me, npr (another love) is streaming the album here until it is released (may 4th!). that way, you can listen to it and decide for yourself if you love him even half as much as i do aka enough to buy it.

if you ever have the opportunity to see him play, it is one you'd be sorry to miss.


peace+love

a mysterious man left us at the reservation

on friday, march 7th at 5:30 p.m. sarah and i began the would-be 3 1/2 hour drive from north salt lake to rexburg, id to visit our desperado sister, katie...i had mapquested her address and we took off on our adventure thinking we knew where we were going...we came to pocatello and stayed on the freeway...i had a feeling we were going the wrong way, but i just kept up the conversation with sarah thinking i had followed mapquest correctly so i wouldn't worry too much about it...i finally told sarah i thought we were going the wrong way and she said she felt like that too...i said "well if we get to twin falls we'll know for sure we've gone the wrong way"...we got to twin falls at about 8:30 p.m. and stopped at a gas station...while sarah went to the bathroom i asked the cashier where rexburg was from here...she pulled out a map - the other side of southern idaho...the cashier asked where we were coming from and i timidly replied "salt lake"...everyone around started laughing and sarah came out of the bathroom screaming at me (light-heartedly) that we were so off track and it would take us forever and i was supposed to be the navigator and now w--(you get the point)...there was a man in long black trench coat waiting in line to make a purchase who said he was going to be driving right through rexburg if we wanted to follow him...we accepted his offer, bought some jr. mints and charleston chews and headed on our way...we talked and came up with the analogy that we get distracted from focusing on progression sometimes and end up down the wrong path, but the man was Jesus who leads us in the right direction again...we laughed, listened to music, and called katie to tell her it might be about 3 more hours..she didn't actually believe us at first, but when we didn't show up 30 minutes later she called back and said "you guys really drove to twin falls, didn't you?"...(desperado hearts at new rexburg temple)

we followed the man and he got off at some obscure exit on a reservation...the man pulled over and came to our window and said gas is sometimes cheaper on the rez and if we wanted to keep going we could find rexburg from here...he told us the directions then said, "but if you want to keep following me i'm heading right through there"...so we went to the gas station and decided we needed to get something solid seeing as neither of us had eaten assuming we'd be eating dinner with katie at 8:30...we went to the bathroom, bought some almonds and water...sarah walked out of the gas station first and said, "he left us, the man is gone..." i didn't believe her, but sure enough, our car was the only one in the parking lot...sarah started freaking out, so i calmed her down and said we'll be fine, i'm sure we can get us there from here...we got in the car and sarah said "so much for our jesus analogy"...then we decided to be optimistic about the situation and continue the analogy...we get distracted and loose focus of progression, Christ gets us on the right path again, but he can't carry us the whole way...we have to work and ultimately find the way for ourselves...(at big judd's after skiing with jaci mabey and chris checketts) we got to katie's around 11:30 and raided her apartment singing and playing my ukulele and had a blast as the desperado sisters reunited for a weekend...on sunday we got back to north salt lake in a mere 3 hours and 20 minutes!
peace+love