Uphill with a headwind

August 25th/09 - Terreton, Idaho
Mileage: 131.69 kms
Total mileage: 1069 kms
Ride time: 6:42 hrs

Met Martin again this morning at the store in Leadore. More enjoyable conversation. We showed Martin our route on a United States map and Martin gave us a United States map so we could show other people our route.

We started out into a headwind and the climb began. Nothing to extreme, but the wind made it difficult. The country became dryer and less inhabited. We cycled 30 km to the summit of Gilmore Pass (7,186 ft) and then the decent began. For the most part downhill all the way to Mud Lake, however the wind didn't abate. The only town we went through, Lone Pine, consisted of a restaurant/bar, and that was 60 km from Leadore. Although there was nothing for inhabitants in this area there were lots and lots of cattle.

Mud Lake is desert country. One of the residents told us that on average they only get about 9 inches of precipitation a year. Every crop everywhere here is irrigated, if not it won't survive. Massive network of canals and equally massive assortment of irrigation equipment. The crops, mostly grain, alfalfa and potatoes were beautiful. No camping in the area. We were directed to stay down the road 2 miles in Terreton Fair Grounds. We had a good nights sleep after a hard day. Deby was a trooper. (He's only saying that because he wasn't close enough to hear all the muttering etc coming out of my mouth because I hate wind...to walk in, canoe in, drive in and mostly to cycle in!! Between the fidgeting because of an aching rear and neck and the mutterings because of the wind I'm sure people that passed me thought I was on a ride to raise funds to cure Terrets (not sure if that's spelled correctly, but you know what I mean) syndrome!!).