TAT 2018 Post 07 07/04/18

Day 4 of 9 completed. This actually turned out to be the easiest day so far; 141 miles in ~7 hours.

We pulled out of the Boise Hotel at 7:30 am but being a holiday, traffic was very lite. We had to ride about 10-15 miles back north to hook back up with the TAT but it was on paved road so made good progress. In fact, the TAT continued on Hwy 21 for about 35 miles until we arrived at Idaho City. It was cold though and we were all dressed in our heavy riding gear; 47 degrees.

At Idaho City we stopped to do gear checks and decided that a group of 7 riders is just too hard to manage in traffic and even bike to bike communication in the forest/mountains is difficult. As a result, three of us broke off and headed out (Mike, Jeff and Jason) while the remaining four followed about 30 minutes later (Steve, Terry, Woodrow, Matty). We did this same thing on previous legs and found that since we are on the same trail and eventually cross paths plus end up at the same spot, it’s a much more enjoyable ride for everyone.

Not a lot to report since this was pretty easy riding except for lots of gravel roads. The terrain is totally different from the previous two days. Not much forest. No mountains but lots of open rolling hills. We made excellent time and went through several small towns that ensured we had fuel the whole way.

Days events:

The group of three were riding on a stretch of pavement and I hear Jeff shout “Jason, you just ran over a snake”. Sure enough, Jason was messing with his GPS and looked up just as he rolled over a 5 ft snake; not sure what kind. By the time I passed, it was not happy but continued to slither across the rest of the road.

I’m number 3 in trail on a gravel road with lots of deep gravel piles so I’m taking it pretty easy when I hear something like a Buzz saw coming up behind me fast. A young guy on a motocross dirt bike passed me like I was standing still, back end slewing back and forth with gravel flying out behind. I alerted the two riders ahead of me when I heard another buzz saw coming up again. This time it was a small 8-10-year-old kid on a bike barely up to my knees screaming down the road, also skidding at every corner. Finally, another motocross bike passed with an adult right behind the kid on the mini-bike. Just as fast as the first two but he did wave as he passed. They turned off the gravel road a short distance after passing us and headed up a steep single track over one of the rolling hills. That kid was riding like a pro so I’m sure he thought we were a bunch of wimps with the way we were riding.

Both groups arrived at the motel in Ontario, OR within 20 minutes of each other. We couldn’t believe we had plenty of free time to clean and maintain the bikes after the three previous long days.

Not a lot of pictures today.

Tomorrow is a 172-mile day across some pretty open terrain in eastern Oregon and we will spend the night at a small-town named John Day. Hard to believe we are finally in the last state of our TAT adventure from coast to coast through 13 states.

South Carolina

Georgia

Tennessee

Alabama

Mississippi

Arkansas

Oklahoma

Kansas

New Mexico

Colorado

Utah

Idaho

Oregon

Ride Safe!