Friday, June 15, 2007

Day 11 (6/12): Kamiah, ID; 75 miles

Team Photos
Rough day on the bike. Wakin up at 5:00 am after hittin the bars just shouldn’t be allowed. Morning highlight was breakfast burritos cooked up by Todd’s awesome girlfriend, Amanda, who has been like a team mom through Washington state…hold on to that one Todd.

We shoved off and almost immediately hit crappy road conditions – a busy highway with the shoulder taken up by a rumble strip had some of our guys buggin out when semi’s passed by. I grazed a rock in the road that graciously flattened my front tire, and after two tubes I was back on the road rollin with the sweeps (I just can’t get ONE flat at a time, I guess). Snyder and I kept the mood light with some shenanigans (“What are those cyclists DOING?”) but the road conditions just kept getting worse with an awful awful shoulder. On the bright side we were cruising along the Clearwater river, surrounded by beautiful mountain scenes. A long 75 miles later we were finally pullin into Kamiah, a tiny town (1300 people) which sits on Nez Perce reservation lands.

The ride felt long but was actually quick…we were in by 12 noon to get ready for lunch and a friendship visit. Yay for the coldest showers EVER…ya kinda had to get wet…soap up…then rinse off all while giggling like a little girl to keep warm. It was a good team bonding experience.

Lunch was a delicious pot luck with folks from another chapter of Opportunities Unlimited. We enjoyed the sunshine out at the town’s little park, and I hung out mostly with Jimmy, who loved to play piano and was saving up for a Harley Davidson…rock on brotha.

After lunch pretty much the whole team took a much needed nap…I roused around 5 o’clock, fiddled with all my stuff, and before long it was just about time for dinner. Mary Caldwell and her crew here at the Wa-A’Yas Community Center cooked up an amazing meal: Indian Tacos, which is a deep-fried piece of flatbread topped with chili, sour cream, cheese, salsa…the works. She and her sister then gave us a cool history of the Nez Perce tribe: their lands, their traditions, how they are getting along today…a little spooky when she was talking about how the spirits of some of the tribesman still roam the lands to this day.

It’s about 8:30ish now and some of the guys are heading around town for something to do but it sounds like most stuff is closed, and the local casino is just slots and bingo so most are coming back. I think I’m going to take it easy and kick it with some of the fellas here before calling it a night.

1 comment:

amanda said...

LOL... Team "mom"!? What is thaaaat? Give me team mascot...team girlfriend...team cheer leader, team cook even, not team "mom". hahaha
Thanks for the kind words friend. It was awesome to see you guys again and hang out like we've known each other for much longer than a week :)
We're gunna rock it like its 1999 in DC!