Day 67 Wednesday July 27, 2005, 87 miles (140 km) – Total so far: 3,985 miles (6,413 km)
87.2 Miles and 8:08 pedal time
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I got up around 8 am. Shawn had cowboy camped last night on the picnic table. I quickly packed up my gear and head over to the breakfast place. I had a horrible headwind riding down the street. While I ate my breakfast 2 young boys bombarded a police officer with annoying questions about being a police officer. It went on for quite a while then the officer firmly said ‘Ok I’m not answering anymore of your questions.’
After breakfast I stopped at the library. Some fat lady was slobbering all over the only computer that had a USB drive. I didn’t even want to touch that computer. So I figured I’ll just update from the next town down the trail.
I jumped on my bike and started riding around 9:30ish. I had to climb 2000 feet today and then it was downhill for the rest of the day. Shawn and I were going to camp in a town called Council. He was on the road way before me.
The wind died down a little bit but I still began the day with a slight headwind. I listened to the Chemical Brothers all morning and cranked out a lot of mileage fairly fast considering I was riding uphill.
When I got to New Meadows I headed for the library. They had really nice computers and a high speed connection. The librarian gave me the usual spiel about no chat rooms and pornography. I pulled out my USB disk and she freaked out. She said I wasn’t allowed to use any disks because she is terrified of computer viruses. I explained to her that I just need to open a few word documents so I can email my family and tell them I’m still alive because I have been traveling for months and haven’t been in contact with anyone. She didn’t care and wasn’t letting me plug my disk in. Ugh I felt like I was teenager, being told I couldn’t do something with no logic or reason behind it.
I left the library really mad. I went to the grocery store to get something to eat. I ate a quick sandwich and rode out of new meadow fairly fast. It was another 24 miles to Council. On the way I thought I got lost but I was still on route.
When I rolled into council there was a lot of construction going on. They were putting a new sewer system in the downtown and all the roads were ripped up and all the stores were closed. I found the RV park, it was a real disaster and they wanted $20 to camp. I couldn’t find Shawn.
It was still fairly early so I decided to ride another 24 miles to the next town, Cambridge. On the way to Cambridge I kept seeing grasshoppers all over the side of the road. A few of them jumped onto me and then quickly jumped off. They were white and a few times I kept seeing them jump but never saw where they landed. I’m likely to believe that they might be jumping back into outer space.
I found the park where I could camp for free. It was a lot nicer then that place in council where they wanted 20 bucks. The nice man that lives next to the park said I could sit on his porch and write my journal.
I went into town and got something to eat and got caught up on my phone calls. I never saw Shawn today. Today was the first day I exceeded my daily goal. While I ate diner I was looking at my maps and I think my ridiculous goal for tomorrow is to make it to baker city and that’s 114 miles. I could have ridden 114 miles today if I didn’t waste so much time in true Mike Riscica fashion.
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Click Here to Visit Previous Page: Day 66: Grangeville ID to Riggins ID
Click Here to Visit The Next Page: Day 68: Cambridge ID to Baker City OR