First leg of this mini road trip. It was all I-84 heading east until I got to Idaho. My last trip through Idaho, I spotted a gas station called Stinkers that has a skunk mascot, and I wondered if it was like a Buc-ees and had stickers of its mascot. I didn’t stop then, but this time I did. They had t-shirts, mugs, etc, but no stickers.
When I got back in the car, I plugged in this evening’s hotel, and it showed 2-1/4 hours still. That didn’t seem right, but I noticed I still had “Avoid Highways” on. Ahh, took that off and it said 1-1/4 hours. But the shorter route took me through Boise. I got nothing but time, so I put “Avoid Highways” back on. It was a nice zig-zaggy route through farm fields and small towns.
I have dragged along my new bike so as to check out any cycling stuff in Cottonwood. So on arrival at the hotel, I figured I’d take a small ride to shake off sitting in the car for 8 hours. I needed to mail a postcard to my neighbor with the second line of our third collaborative effort in limerick writing. It is only a little over 2 miles away, perfect. When I checked in, the weather looked fine, but when I went back out to ride, there were ugly thunderstorm clouds overhead nearby.
They looked as close as the numerous ones I dodged on my back road route. I decided to ride anyway. Less than a half mile in, the wind picked up and random drops were hitting me. I continued. On the way there those winds were in my face, so I figured at least they would push me home, and that is what they did. The sprinkling did change in intensity to real rain until I was back in the hotel room. Pheeew.