Northwest, Rockies, & Badlands: Short trip to Burley, ID. With headwinds...

A short ride was planned for today. Just 37 miles between Twin Falls and Burley, Idaho. Tour operators put in two optional side trips to visit Shoshone Falls and Twin Falls about 3 and 5 miles from today's start. This would involve about a two mile descent for Shoshone Falls and somewhat more for Twin Falls. My legs feeling somewhat beat up after yesterday's segment overrode my head's decision to do both detours. We compromised on doing halfway down to Shoshone Falls. Still, a healthy climb and good view.

The balance of the ride after the falls hugged the interstate on frontage roads. The buzz of the interstate was a bit annoying, but there were stretches where we veered away from it and the only sounds were the whirr of our tires on the chip-seal pavement and the omnipresent hiss-chit, hiss-chit, hiss-chit of sprinklers irrigating massive fields of corn, sugar beets, wheat, and potatoes. Irrigation here is what makes farming possible. Without it, there would be only dry scrub everywhere.

Because it was such a short day, the staff gave us a scavenger hunt challenge. My team - the "Across the Yellow Liners", found about half the items. Not that we were looking all that hard I guess. We also arrived at the hotel ahead of the luggage and before our rooms were ready. We cooled our jets at a fair Mexican restaurant a few doors down and after the burritos, enchiladas, and tacos returned to find our rooms ready and luggage in the lobby. I made a mad dash for the laundry room and found the third washer and dryer available. I sit here writing this, showered, laundry folded and just need to clean bike which is next. It's 3:30 PM. 80 plus miles in store for tomorrow. Glad to have some rest time. Can't believe it's July 1st already.