Day 16 & 17

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Day 16:

Early start from Boise saw us pick up the Trans America Trail (TAT) which we were now following as the BDR headed for Nevada & we wanted to get to Utah to re-connect with the Utah version there. We had all bought mesh pants from Fly in Boise the day before to help cope with the heat, however this wasn't the best day to test them as we had a very cool ride for the 1st couple of hours, in the shade alongside a very scenic river. Our destination today was Featherville where we stayed 2 years ago meeting Robbie the gunslinger in the local saloon.This time the only accommodation in Featherville was full so we had booked at Paradise Lodge just 8kms further on.

After good riding on the TAT we arrived in Featherville around 11.30am 3 or 4 hours too early for a good days ride. The TAT is, for navigational reasons quite hard to estimate distances on, hence our early arrival. Signs on the Saloon & restaurant are interesting.We had lunch in the only restaurant where the owner recognised us from 2 years ago. We ordered or regular! Last time we were here the TAT had a "go round" as a local bridge had been washed out. Two years later the situation remained the same so tomorrow we were going have to do some black top.

Out of Featherville we rode around 15kms to Pine without spotting the lodge we had booked. We allowed our feminine side to come to the fore & asked a local for directions. His directions send us back toward Featherville to a side street just after a bridge. After more vague directions & aimless loops we found the lodge up a side road another 2kms further on with no signage to indicate from the main road it was hereabouts. Checking in we admired the lodge which was old & log style with a huge natural hot spring pool. The reception were received from the 1960s replica hippies who had recently taken the place over was very friendly however everything else won our award for the lowest rating digs of our trip. No food, no wifi (even tho' their office had a connection) but worse were the bedrooms. They were small but acceptable except the ambient temperature was north of 35 degrees C with no means of cooling them down - the exception being Keith & my bedroom which we lucked as it had a portable AC of sorts. (Bryan & Ian's room was still 30 degrees plus when they went to bed.)

For dinner we returned to Featherville & then back to the lodge for a soak in the hot spring (to warm up for the bedroom) The tariff included a continental breakfast in the morning which had a shortage of anything you might want to eat or drink.

170kms today.

Day 17:

Onto the sealed bypass to avoid the bridge washout we did around 80kms on seal to reach Fairfield where we gassed up, had coffee & followed a route we had plotted to re-join the Tat on the Eastern side of the washout. Excellent gravel roads hooked us back onto the TAT which started climbing to reach our highest elevation thus far 2660m at a lookout which was up a gnarly gravel track. Into Sun Valley/Ketchum for lunch. This is a ski resort with some great looking long steep runs between trees.A nice ski resort town with lots of lodges & accommodation.

Out of town we were back on the TAT climbing to yet another record elevation of just under 2700m. At this point we were travelling across a high country scrubby wasteland which probably ran 1 beast per 1000 acres! However on both sides we were surrounded bu towering rocky buttes & huge scree slopes interspersed with pine trees.

Descending the other side on a track marked as not suitable for passenger vehicles ,we were weaving between washouts & deep ruts for most of the descent. Into the town of Arco (population 1200) which is supposedly the first town in the world to be lit by nuclear energy & is our day's destination. Should be interesting after dark as apparantely most people here glow in the dark

300kms today.

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