Day 11: Worley to Wallace, Idaho. 62 miles. 6 hrs.
After eating the entire buffet at the casino I had to recover, so I climbed back into bed. Stupid idea, I didn’t want to get out. I finally left the casino at 11am with the sunshine out and proud! I quickly rode into Worley and then it was 6 miles to Heyburn State park. The 6 miles consisted of huge rollers, my chain dropped twice making me walk but it was nice anyways. Seeing the mountains in the distance getting closer was mesmerizing. Once into the park the sight of the river was without a doubt magical. I flew down to get next to it and connected onto the trail of the Couer d’Alene. This rail trail was by far the most well maintained and smooth ride I’ve ever ridden on. The paved trail was such a nice treat, plus a low grade! Yippee, I was in heaven. The best day of the tour thus far! The scenes of rock formations, lakes, farms, prairies, pine trees, oh man I was bewildered by the beauty. Lots of cyclist out for a daily ride too, 80% of them were woman which was awesome to see. “You go girl!” I said a lot. I stopped and had an avocado and crackers for lunch and quickly got on my way after I started to get attacked by flies and three different kinds of bees! I kept moving at a solid 13mph. The wind was unusually out of the north east, of course the direction I was going. But it never bothered me. I was simply the happiest girl on the trail. You really appreciate flat pavements after the gravel I’ve ridden on! But I’m certain there will be more gravel to come. I stopped for over ten minutes awestruck watching a beautiful horse eating from the lake and a deer behind it, then this other beautiful horse, a unicorn I swear came from the tree line. Many couples stopped to see what I was so intensely staring at and moved on. That sort of sight isn’t anything I’ve seen before. But I had to keep going, it was 5pm and I had 15 more miles to get to my destination, Kellogg. So I charged on as the temperatures dropped. I had to stop and put my sweater on and extra socks. After crossing a small road my gears began to act up, dropping from high to low and back again. In seconds my chain breaks. I was once again bewildered. Today being the best ride I’ve had in a while and my chain breaks. I pulled out my tool box couldn’t find my quick chain link and problem solved. I was just 7 miles from Kellogg if a rig it up, I could make it I thought! So I did just that. Except it broke again! A man that passed me going the opposite way an hour ago cycled on up asking if I needed help. I was already set on walking. Jeff, got out his quick chain link and we went to work. Over thirty minutes pass of us hacking away, we finally fixed it. But it still kept jumping. Something’s up with the derailleur I guess. So at this point it was down in the 40s and getting dark. Jeff called me crazy and said that I was coming home with him for the night and will go to the bike shop tomorrow. After a bath in his downtown Wallace apartment, I am feeling rather blessed and so thankful. Who knows, I’d probably still be out there walking.