Written by Dave

Day 13 – June 10 – 62 Miles, 4,183 feet climbing (Oxbow to Council)

Everyone had a good sleep in the lovely Oxbow campground. The camp was full of long travel trailers and big trucks, most appeared to be there for the fishing but some nice folks from Seattle befriended us in the tent area. And to be fair, the big rig folks were very quiet overnight. We didn’t technically lose an hour until 5 miles up the road but everyone set their watches to Idaho time in the morning and there was that slightly nagging feeling that we were behind all day. That will happen 3 times on this trip as we ride east across the time zones. 

The first 16 miles we rode along the Snake River and two of its reservoirs, the Oxbow and Brownlee Reservoirs. We had the pleasure of climbing up to Oxbow and Brownlee dams, plus a couple more steep pitches. All four of these climbs barely registered on the profile today, because of the big climb up Brownlee Summit.  At the bottom of Brownlee Dam we crossed into Idaho for good. I snapped a photo but it was a remarkably bad photo.

At the end of the 16 miles we stopped at the Gateway Store. The stop was appreciated by all as it gave us a chance to rest before the 7 mile climb to Brownlee Summit. The climb was not too bad as even with the time change, we started climbing before 10:30 and it wasn’t too hot. Riding the 17 bonus miles yesterday afternoon to Oxbow was a good call.

We all rode our own paces up the climb and re-grouped at the top. We are riding more and more the same pace now with Chris bringing up the rear but honestly, we barely had time to cool off at the top before he arrived. From the top it was 16 miles to lunch in Cambridge. We rode the PC train down a long canyon. That is Pete and Curtis train, the rest of us were more than happy to sit on while they alternated blasting down the hill.

In Cambridge we found an absolute gem of a restaurant called Oh Honey. The crusty, but funny, owner of the Gateway shop further down the road told us that there was nothing good in Cambridge. We suspect that he was trying to sell us more at his shop. At Oh Honey we found delicious sandwiches, fabulous fountain drinks and proper cortados (with some guidance). Local knowledge sometimes only works if there is no hidden agenda.

Temperatures were up after lunch but the last 22 miles to Council went pretty quickly. We rode as a posse until we reach the last finishing climbs, at which point everyone rode their own pace. We are now on Highway 95, the major north-south in Idaho. The traffic was a lot heavier than we’ve gotten used to but it seemed like all the trucks gave us plenty of room. The shoulder was good until about 4 miles from Council when we crossed a county line. We’ll see how tomorrow works out as we’ll spend most of the day on 95.

We are staying at the Council RV and Cyclist park. It’s mostly filled with permanent campers and the tent area doubles as the dog walking area but they have nice showers and laundry. The time change had us feeling behind schedule but we still managed to walk to Dad’s Cafe and sneak in just before happy hour ended. The burgers and beers were tasty and they had the rodeo channel on TV – you can’t beat that.

Tomorrow we are taking a break from oatmeal and hitting one of several local greasy spoons from brekkie. There is one called “Sour Dough Blueberry Pancakes”. Nancy is putting in a vote that we stop there.