Day 12 (6/13): Powell, ID; 100 miles

Team Photos

Sweep or be swept. Jay and I decided to answer the honorable call of keeping the team safe today. After some delicious breakfast of fruity pebbles and half a bagel at 6 am we were on the road for our second near-century. Man 100 miles is a long way at the back of the pack. Jay and I passed the time talking economics and politics…a real high level convo on the bike…as well as discussing which Planeteers and Power Rangers were the most powerful (Fire and the Green Ranger, obviously).

Riding with Small and Tanabe all day we were treated to more incredible scenery (upstate Idaho is actually quite beautiful. My favorite scenes were the tributary creeks feeding into the Clearwater river. We kept the mood light on the long ride with some silly visits to the crew stops and Jay showing off some of his “talents” on the bike. Midway through the ride we pass through the rockin town of Lowell Idaho, which sadly must have just lost Old Brotha Joe or something pushing the population back to a solid 23. Lunch was on the road around mile 70 with the usual fare. Finally we pull into the Locsha Lodges…not even sure if there is in fact a “downtown” Powell…but these lodges are pretty sweet.

We pack in cozy with 2 men per bed…and most of the team relaxes and grabs some snacks from the convenience store while waiting to use the 1 shower. I get cleaned up and spend a whole dollar to leave a message (!) from the payphone because in some crazy scheme to not lose money the cell phone companies didn’t build out their networks in upstate Idaho.

At around 6ish we pack into the main lodge (which has apparently been around run by the same family for 75 years…bigtime hunting, fishing, cross-country skiing area). They serve us up some hearty meals…I had the roast beef plate, amazing…and again we gorge ourselves till our stomachs hurt.

After dinner came the best part of the stop in Powell: sitting round a bonfire with the bros. Fahrley masterfully constructed a raging blaze as a few guys threw some chew or lit up cigars. John, a regular at Lochsa, came down to hang with us for a little bit and share his bizarre and usually tactless humor. After a few hours of conversation centered mainly on living the fraternity life we retired to the cabins for some much needed sleep….psyched for 5:30 wakeup tomorrow!