Cycle Across America
RA
Day 66 of 738 August 2010

Day 66: Long Haul Truckers

Day 66: Long Haul Truckers
View route map — see where this day sits on the trail
Route overview

73 days, one line across the country

67 riding days · 6 rest days · 4,227 miles · Yorktown, Virginia → the Oregon coast

Start — Yorktown (Atlantic start), VADay 1 — Chickahominy Riverfront Park, VADay 2 — Ashland, VADay 3 — Ashland, VADay 4 — Mineral, VADay 5 — Charlottesville, VADay 6 — Afton, VADay 7 — Lexington, VADay 8 — Lexington, VA — rest dayDay 9 — Daleville, VADay 10 — Radford, VADay 11 — Rural Retreat, VADay 12 — Damascus, VADay 13 — Rosedale, VADay 14 — Breaks Interstate Park, VADay 15 — Hindman, KYDay 16 — Hindman, KY — rest dayDay 17 — Booneville, KYDay 18 — Berea, KYDay 19 — Bardstown area, KYDay 20 — Hodgenville, KYDay 21 — Rough River Dam State Park, KYDay 22 — Sebree, KYDay 23 — Cave-In-Rock, ILDay 24 — Eddyville, KYDay 25 — Carbondale, ILDay 26 — Carbondale, IL — rest dayDay 27 — Chester, ILDay 28 — Pilot Knob, MODay 29 — Eminence, MODay 30 — Houston, MODay 31 — Fair Grove, MODay 32 — Golden City, MODay 33 — Chanute, KSDay 34 — Eureka, KSDay 35 — Newton, KSDay 36 — Larned, KSDay 37 — Ness City, KSDay 38 — Scott City, KSDay 39 — Sheridan Lake, CODay 40 — Haswell, CODay 41 — Pueblo, CODay 42 — Pueblo, CO — rest dayDay 43 — Cañon City, CODay 44 — Fairplay, CODay 45 — Silverthorne, CODay 46 — Hot Sulphur Springs, CODay 47 — Walden, CODay 48 — Saratoga, WYDay 49 — Rawlins, WYDay 50 — Jeffrey City, WYDay 51 — Lander, WYDay 52 — Lander, WY — rest dayDay 53 — Dubois, WYDay 54 — Colter Bay, Grand Teton NP, WYDay 55 — Grant Village, Yellowstone NP, WYDay 56 — West Yellowstone, MTDay 57 — Ennis, MTDay 58 — Twin Bridges, MTDay 59 — Jackson, MTDay 60 — Darby, MTDay 61 — Missoula, MTDay 62 — Missoula, MT — rest dayDay 63 — Powell, IDDay 64 — Kooskia, IDDay 65 — Riggins, IDDay 66 — Cambridge, ID (you are here)Day 67 — Richland, ORDay 68 — Baker City, ORDay 69 — Mount Vernon, ORDay 70 — Mitchell, ORDay 71 — Redmond, ORDay 72 — Eugene, ORDay 73 — Florence (Pacific Ocean), ORYachats, ORLincoln City, ORPortland, OR

Every dot is a real day on the trail, placed from the towns named in that day's post — click one to jump straight to it. Hollow-ringed dots are rest days along the way. The lighter branch up the coast is the post-ride detour to Portland. A few days without a clearly named stop are interpolated between the nearest confirmed ones. The highlighted dot is where you are right now.

OriginalStorytelling

83.78 miles (Total: 3695.3) Avg Speed: 11.7mph Max Speed: 34mph

Me and Siemen had split a large chocolate milk last night half of which was still remaining. I consider taking a few chugs before breakfast but thought better of it. Leaving town the road split, I decided to stick with the ACA maps even though it seemed they came out at the same place. Again it was a mistake taking me up and over unnecessary hills. The route often diverts to roads with less traffic wherever possible but I don’t mind a road with traffic if the shoulder is nice and wide.

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Me and Terry road together most of the morning, until reaching the town of New Meadows where we took a rest from the sun and bought iced fruit smoothies. Terry warned me not to drink it too fast already suffering from a brain freeze but I ignored and downed the whole thing. Seconds later I have my head in my hands as the screaming cold penetrates through my skull. Mistake. Wim turned up just after looking tired, we were all feeling sluggish today and the initial plan of reaching Cambridge seemed a tall order. Jessica on the other hand was feeling great and looked on at us bemused, she insisted on reaching Cambridge today.

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Another climb and another descent later we were approaching Council. I had developed some serious saddle sores today and combated them with some baby powder, but it wasn’t doing its usual trick so Terry offered me some rash ointment that he swears by. It may be effective, however mixed with baby powder it forms a sticky paste that left me tearing skin out every time I moved, complete agony. I cut a pretty sorry figure sitting at a gas station in Council, the others seemed ok to push on and Jessica who had left earlier was probably already in Cambridge. A change of shorts later and I felt ok to go for another 25 miles.

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Wim soaks his hat to combat the heat.

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Do we have another 25 miles in us?

As soon as we set off a large black cloud formed and we could see lightening touching down in the distance. Siemen got a flat tyre so we pulled over to fix it. The break enabled the clouds up ahead to move east out of our path and we pressed on. The sunset behind the storm created a dark glow behind town which seemed as though it were on fire. I went straight for a motel room which I split with Wim as I needed a proper shower tonight whilst Terry and Siemen went to camp. Once cleansed I watched TV for about 5 seconds before falling asleep.

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Storm brewing.

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Storm and a sunset.

1 comment from 2010

Amy8 Aug 2010

The storm/sunset pics are some of my favourite yet, also love the 45th parallel x

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