The road between Montpelier and Kammerer becomes gradually dryer and more like sagebrush grassland, ie, desert. There are stretches of 50 and 60 miles with no services at all, only the occasional ranch cluster, often set back a mile or more from the road.
I happened upon the pictured motorhome and though it appropriate, so much help having been offered to me, to see of there was anything I could do. Turned out there was--his I-phone had no coverage in the area but my Tracfone did. He made a couple of calls on my phone. Not sure it really advanced his cause very much, but he seemed to appreciate it. It was his father's motorhome and he discovered that the tire situation was pretty bleak, with belting (the cloth under the rubber) showing as in the case of my bike's rear tire pre-W. Yellowstone. He decided it was safe to nurse the rig slowly back the 14 miles to the only gas station (truck stop) on the segment.
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I felt a bit as if I had walked into an episode of King of the Hill when I went into the local convenience store in Montpelier for my morning coffee. This breakfast club was a bit intimidating, but my funny clothes and the helmet (plus a friendly smile) broke the ice quickly enough. Two or three of these guys really interviewed me about bicycle touring, asking a lot of sensible basic questions. The fellow with the crutch on the right had been terrorized last year by a cow who apparently had had enough. Chased him up onto a roof, apparently. It was all told in a jocular manner, of course, but sounded like it was a pretty serious matter for him. As he said, " now way she could have had enough calves to pay for the medical bills." As to her current whereabouts, he figures she's "down to MacDonald's." This all happened around 6:30 am on my way to Kammerer, WY: a great way to start the day.
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I wanted to stay at the KOA campground in Montpelier so I could catch up with laundry, the blog, email, etc. KOA's are very expensive but very high quality, though with a touch of Disney World that I could live without. Getting here involved a 50 mile and a 60 mile day through varied mountain and high desert terrain in Idaho and Wyoming and back into Idaho. Last night it started to rain and I quickl set up my tent at a river access point on the Salt River. So cozy listening to the rain inside the tent, which keeps me pretty dry, considering its age. I caught up with my sleep, napping from 3 to 5:30 in the afternoon and then sleeping from 8:30 to 4:30. My cold is just about gone now, happy to say. It was cool and gray in the am until I got over the first pass of the day (Salt River Pass) which had an unbelievably long and exciting descent. I was a little bummed to discover that the last 6 miles to the KOA included a very demanding three mile climb up an un-named pass the top of which was marked as Geneva Summit.
I've been dealing with a slow leak in my front tire over the last couple of days. I chatted with the pictured fellow, Bert, as he was doing his morning run in the little village of Grover, WY. As he ran he offered to help me with the tire problem and we proceeded together (I wasn't riding much faster than his running speed) to his house nearby. His (skinny) tubes did not fit, but I patched my tube and he had a great pump. He needed to get to work (he's a glazier) but he made time to help me out, which I greatly appreciated.
I noticed as the day proceeded that I still have a slow leak, so after I'm done with laundry and blogging I'll have another stab at fixing it. I wish I had a spare good tube. Thought I did, but it turned out to have a Schrader valve which is too big to fit through the valve hole in the wheel.
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