Head for the Hills

We started out this morning in Pocatello with the Bannock Mountain Range to the south of us, and headed north and east towards Idaho Falls. Every time we headed east, we approached a mountain range: first the Portneuf Range and by the end of the day the Caribou Range. We kept heading for the hills.

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At one point, we even brushed the foothills and had a few rollers to contend with.

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By the end of the day, our RV campsite nestled right into the foothills.

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This was all precursor to tomorrow’s ride when we plan to head out of Idaho and into the Jackson Hole area of Wyoming.

Today being our last full day in Idaho, I realized I hadn’t seen a single potato plant. Little wonder — potatoes have just been planted, so most potato fields no doubt look like this.

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Though Idaho may be famous for its potatoes, it left its impression on me as a dairy farming state, as the farms I commented on a couple days ago continued to dominate the landscape I rode through.

Trains were also evident throughout Idaho, especially in Pocatello last night (train whistles woke us several times) and on the way up toward Idaho Falls this morning.

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And railroads have clearly been important to Idaho for some time. I saw several boxcars today repurposed as storage sheds, including these two.

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Which brings us to today’s barn. Barns are more plentiful in eastern Idaho than the rest of the state, so I finally had a few choices. Here’s the winner.

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The technical stuff:

89.4 miles

1,316 feet of climbing

Average speed 16.4 miles per hour

Weather: Thin high clouds in the morning and overcast with thundershowers in the afternoon, a couple of which we had to wait out just before we finished the day. Temperatures in mid-50s at the beginning, warming to mid-70s then cooling under influence of thundershowers. Winds light in the morning and early afternoon and tail winds in the late afternoon.

You can see the entire route to date here.