Day 72: New Meadows, ID to Cambridge, ID

Monday, July 30, 2012,  52 miles - Total so far: 2178 miles*
    * Miles ridden on the TransAm route
    Odometer miles - Today - 56.6 Total to date - 2265.8 miles  
 
Another low mileage day - a welcome relief.

(More catching up from Baker City.)

The ride this day continued on U.S. 95 from New Meadows, ID to Cambridge, ID.  In the 7-mile section to Tamarack we were passed by several large logging trucks loaded with newly cut trees.  They were all headed to a large lumbering facility at Tamarack.  This is clearly lumber country with mostly forested land all along the rivers.

Just outside of camp, on the way to New Meadows, we crossed the 45th Parallel - and stopped for photos.

U.S. 95 winding through the forests to Tamarack

Beyond Tamarack we wound along the Weiser River Valley to Council where we stopped for second breakfast.  It was another hot day with temperatures nearing 90 by afternoon.  It was nice to have a lower mileage day.

View of the Weiser River Valley

An old tractor on display in a city park in the middle of Council, ID

Another tractor at the same park in Council

Interesting tiger statue for sale at a 2nd hand store in Council

The Mundo RV park, our Cambridge destination, was a couple of miles outside of town.  When we got to the turn I continued a bit more than a mile into Cambridge.  A couple of days before in Syringa I had left my contact lens cleaning solution in the restroom.  I tried every store we passed since then to find a replacement.  Apparently hard contacts aren't that common anymore.  I couldn't find what I needed in any of the small towns in this section of Idaho.

The ride into Cambridge did prove interesting, however.  First, I came to a store with an interesting assortment of anti-Obama posters and a two-headed sheep with Barack and Michelle Obama faces.  Clearly there is some real right-wing conservative (wacko) sentiment in this part of the country.

I stopped at a cafe in town for a slice of cherry pie a la mode which made a nice afternoon snack.  Then on the way out of town I passed the Washington County Fairgrounds where some competitions were going on.  It was clearly a small-town fair - not much of a crowd and no admission fee being charged on this Monday afternoon.  It was interesting to watch the horse riding competition.

A wide flat meadow with mountains in the distance near Cambridge, ID.

Interesting(?) anti-Obama display and posters in front of a business in downtown Cambridge - scary!

A logging truck rolls through the center of Cambridge.

Riding competition contestants wait their turn at the Washington County Fair in Cambridge.

The rider must get the horse to do a 360 degree turn inside the ~10 ft. square.

There was a kitchen at this campground, so Monica and Simon were able to cook up a great dinner and a specially decorated dessert prepared by Simon.  After dinner the TransAm Olympics continued with more trivia questions and a bocce' ball competition.

Simon's dessert creation (or "pudding" as he would call it).