Across America by Bicycle: Alice and Bobbi's Summer on Wheels

2. Over the Western Mountains: Idaho and Western Montana

2 Over the Western Mountains Idaho and Western Montana 50 Idaho and Montana Record heat, rushing rivers, forest wilderness, serious mountains, more heat, killer hills, wildfires: Mother Nature handed all this to us in Idaho and Montana. But striking scenery, new ways to enjoy life, and sociable people were also plentiful. On we rolled, eager for more outdoor entertainment. Day 8 Monday, July 7 Chief Tim Park to Pink House Campground (near Orofino) 57 miles In the valley at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers sit the twin cities of Clarkston, Washington, and Lewiston, Idaho. Named for their visitors from 200 years earlier, the twin cities were still welcoming adventure types. Clarkston advertises itself as an outdoor playground and the entrance to Hells Canyon. Lewiston, across the river, was our immediate destination because the temperature was already beginning to soar as we dropped into the valley, and we wanted to waste no time finding a new tire. We wished we could have explored the Hells Canyon area, but that would have to wait. A bike shop and an air-conditioned breakfast place were higher priorities. Our maps promised three bike shops in Lewiston, so as we crossed into Idaho we began looking. Let someone else change my tire, I thought, while we enjoy breakfast in a cool diner. The first bike shop we targeted was closed on Mondays. The second shop, which apparently specialized in off-road cycling, did not have a tire in a size even close to what I needed. When the twenty-something mechanic asked us where we were riding, and we responded with our usual answer, “Oregon to Maine,” he smirked and with a patronizing air said, “Oh, well, we’ll see.” Idaho and Montana 51 Alice glowered at him. I just said, “Yup, we’ll see,” cheerily as we headed to the door. Neither of us was so cocky as to give him a piece of our mind on the spot because we knew we had a long way to go, but we certainly had more confidence in ourselves than he did. Outside, we agreed that we almost wished he had stocked the tire I needed so I could have refused to buy it from him. Actually, Alice and I differed somewhat in our confidence levels— or maybe it was just our expressions of confidence. Though of course I knew that anything could happen, I was always sure of my cycling ability—and hers—and was sure that our travel experience and other life skills would enable us to handle challenges that would come our way. She—whether because of superstition or her religious upbringing—was never willing to say with certainty that we would finish this adventure. Instead, she always said she was planning to make it to Bar Harbor, and then would quote her late mother, who always had reminded her to say, “Lord willing . . .” The truth is that neither of us would have undertaken this trek if we didn’t believe that we could do it—barring some sort of freak event. The last of the three shops listed on our map was Follett’s Mountain Sports, and it had good bike repair facilities as well as friendly and encouraging mechanics. Follett’s carried the exact heavy-duty touring tires that Alice used, so I bought one and arranged to have it put on my back wheel. The air-conditioned diner we had fantasized about materialized just a short walk away, so we mingled with the Monday morning business crowd. Back at the bike shop an hour later, we thanked the mechanic and wheeled our machines out the door and into the heat. With 120 pounds of pressure in each of our four tires as we left town, we began to enjoy some mighty smooth pedaling. Thermometers in the shade in Lewiston registered 107 degrees, just as they had in Roosevelt, Washington, but at least our tires rolled well on the hot pavement. 52 Idaho and Montana The employees at Follett’s advised us to take U.S. 12 and avoid the longer route that our maps recommended, which had a long climb to Winchester State Park. When we told them that our maps warned us away from U.S. 12, they said that the maps were wrong, that going east was not a problem. The bike shop guys were correct. Traffic...