July 9, 2003 Tonight we are in Lewiston, ID after having ridden from Lowell. It was a great day and ride, and we had a ball. We finished strong, and are both tired, but not trashed. Our ride today took us to the end of the Lachsa River Canyon - what a joy to ride that area. Shortly after our start in Lowell, we reached the confluence of the Lachsa and the Selway Rivers. They flow together to form the Clearwater River - another of the rivers that Lewis and Clark used extensively. After the confluence, we followed the Clearwater Canyon all the way to Lewiston. The canyon was very similar to yesterday's but wider, not as deep and it was drier. The dryness added a dimension to the scenery, and made it a bit more interesting. The Clearwater River is wider and deeper than the Lacksa, but still has a lot of rapids. It is just wild enough to be really interesting and beautiful. The Clearwater was on our right all day, and some of the time was a meer 20 feet away! We were, again, going mostly downhill for the day. However, we had a bit of a head wind and some rollers, so we were not able to keep as high an average speed. Last night, we had a discussion with another group of cyclists that were staying at the same motel. They asked us if we had read the disclaimers about riding Highway 12 to Lewiston. We said that we had, and that we had decided to ride it anyway. They had made the decision to go the alternative route which involved a significant climb, a trip inland and movement into higher temperatures. American Adventure Cycling was adamant about discouraging cyclist from riding Highway 12, saying that it was unsafe given the traffic, lack of shoulder and narrowness. We took the route, and would like to disagree with them to the extent that if you are a competent and confident cyclist, there is no reason to take the alternative route. From Khamia to Orofino, the shoulder is a little dicey, but the traffic is so light that it doesn't matter. After Orofino, the shoulder is perfectly acceptable, and there is a great bike path into Lewiston that eliminates the necessity of traveling Highway 12 in the urban area. If you are traveling with a family or inexperienced cyclists, it probably makes sense to use the alternate. If you have confidence in yourself, you should take Highway 12, so that you don't miss some of the most beautiful scenery in the USA, and stay cooler. Besides, the Highway 12 route is what Meriwether did! The weather today was absolutely great. It started cool, as usual, and warmed quickly. Until about noon, it was perfect from a temperature point of view. It then got a little warm, but the river and wind tempered that to the point that Ron gives the day a 9 on a 10 point scale. The bike was fine today. We had to stop and change a tire, but that was our oversight, not an on-road mechanical. We were about 10 miles into the ride when we started to hear this noise. Lavalle had been having a problem with one of her pedals, so we thought it was that. We did the diagnostics, and found out it was somehting else. Ron then thought that it was his cycle computer pickup - but, no, not that. We then thought the noise was coming from the back wheel, so we spun it, and sure enough the tire was rubbing. It looked like the wheel was out of true, so Ron worked on that, but the noise was still there. While checking and rechecking, LaValle noticed that the tire was bulging. Sure enough, that was the problem. The tire had 650 miles on it, so we hadn't checked it thoroughly. It had worn through the tread, and was ready to blow at its first opportunity. Fortunately, we caught it in time. Otherwise, the bike is doing great. Ron meant to mention last night that when we ran into the motorcycling family you will see in LaValle's pictures, we had a funny thing happen. The family is from New York State, and are traveling to Vegas for a Harley Dealership Meeting (Yes, they are dealers, and are riding some really cool bikes.), and then returning home via the southern route. They have been in a lot of the same places we have. One of their sons ask me how far we had ridden, and when I told him, his mouth dropped open, and he told his dad, "They have gone farther that we have!" That was cool! Tomorrow we are out of Idaho and into Washington, another new state. Idaho is a beautiful state, and we are sorry to leave - except it means we are closer to our goal! Ron Note from LaValle... Just outside of Orofino I stopped to ask at a Guide Shop if there were any services between Orofino and Lewiston. Two gentlemen sitting in the shade next to the Guide Shop were gracious enough to tell me that the guides hadn't gotten there and in addition to that there weren't any services! We already had extra water with us so we stopped at a road side rest area just outside of Lenore. Lenore is a town with no services and a one lane wooden planked bridge over the Clearwater River. We met a couple who had ridden their motorcycle from Ohio and were heading for Oregon and Washington so that they could add those two states to their "life list". Shortly after that we ended up waiting in the "Road Work" line with them. The benefit of those waits is that other traffic ends up waiting behind you later and there were wonderful periods of no traffic going our way. We're staying at the Holiday Inn Express and it sits on a hill that has been recently developed. Adjoining it are Home Depot, Safeway, the Red Lobster and the Country Buffet. It is far enough removed from them and has been positioned with a great view of the valley and river. It is a newer facility and has DSL in most rooms, a real plus for me when working on this website.