The road out of Rexburg is flat. Farmland turns to dry sage and back again on the way west as we hear popping noises from a couple shooting ranges on either side of the road.
While stopped for a break a cyclist pedaled by. From a distance he looks like a local road cyclist, but once he gets closer it turns out he’s a bike-packer – on a trip with lightweight luggage. We wave and expect to chat about where he’s coming from and headed towards, but he simply waves and keeps on cycling away from us. Strange – touring cyclists normally stop to chat.
Another few miles lands us at the town of Terreton – the only resupply point for the day. Google said there weren’t any restaurants in town but there’s a clearly marked grill. We approach the building and a man comes out and informs us that it’s no longer a grill – he now lives there. Gas station food it is – at least the gas station in town has a deli in it.
While eating lunch a cyclist shows up, then another! Turns out there’s a self-supported cross country bike race going on now – “Bike nonstop US”. The riders are about a week in and expect it to take a month total. We chatted with one of the cyclists for a few minutes and headed our separate ways.
Back on the road and we turned onto highway 28. While the road in the morning was relatively flat, there still were occasional rolling hills. But not here. Twenty-two miles of perfectly straight road lay ahead, arcing slightly upwards towards the mountains. At first the sight of such a straight road was entertaining, but between a headwind and the slight elevation gain riding became a chore. The day was hot and the only trees in sight were on the mountains lining either side of the valley. We finally stumbled upon a road sign large enough to cast some shade and rested amongst the gravel, grass, and shards of broken glass.
More straight roads and hot sun and we arrived at the Birch Creek Campground. We were expecting to make it past this point but with the heat and the monotony of the road we call it a night here and set up camp.
Notes from Donald: “Today was kind of boring. It was hot and flat and straight. But we found a nice campsite next to the creek.”
Today’s mileage: 67 miles
Total: 1638 miles
Holy cow Galen, you’ve already made so much progress! Love the small details you include in posts, they’re very evocative. Keep it up!
Galen! What do you normally eat if its gas station food? I’m so curious! Also, when is the cut off date for your cycling trip?
Loved reading your posts!
Amy
Good to hear from you, Jared!
Amy – “gas station food” is indeed ambiguous. On this day I had a proper made-to-order sandwich (like subway) and Donald had a wrap. But other times it’s whatever fried food is sitting under a heat lamp or potato chips and candy.