June 9th & 10th - Grangeville to Lowell to Powell, ID

We were without internet for 2 days, so could not post the blog.

Here's what I posted on Facebook about June 9th - Grangeville to Lowell:

"Rainy start today...used all our rain gear...but a beautiful ending in Lowell, ID.  We spotted a yard full of "Maters" from the Cars movies."  We stayed at and ate at Ryan's Wilderness Inn - nothing to write home about.  It started to rain as we went to dinner.

Luckily Michael came up with the brilliant idea of typing out the blog as an email draft.  Here's his post from June 10th - Lowell to Powell:

Today started out cold, rainy, and with low clouds.  The riding conditions were pretty much miserable for the first 3 hours.  By that time we were all soaked with sweat from riding with rain gear.

But we were lucky enough to ride along the beautiful Lochsa River virtually the whole day.  We enjoyed watching the rafters and kayakers who were making the most of the numerous class 4 and 5 rapids on the river.  My favorite kayaker was a person who appeared to stick the nose of his kayak straight into the river like a totem pole.  How he was kayaking perfectly normally seconds later is beyond me.

This was supposed to be a hideous traffic day as we were appropriately warned by the Adventure Cycling Association and by numerous locals.  However, our reality was much different.  I would guess that fewer than five 18-wheelers passed us all day.  I suspect we benefitted from a weekend with rain on Friday night and Saturday morning.  Whatever the reason, we were grateful for very little traffic that was always polite.

Today's ride was around 65 miles.  We started after 8:30 am and arrived at Lochsa Lodge shortly before 5 pm.  Once again the afternoon rain held off until minutes after we arrived.

Little wildlife was seen today.  A few hummingbirds were at the feeders while we ate breakfast, and I saw several tanagers (based on Denise's knowledge of birds).

Denise did another fabulous job SAG-ing today.  We especially appreciate her being with us during the wet weather and as the miles wore on during a very long and wet day.  Denise's sister, Trina, joined us this afternoon and helped scout out good places to rest.  We are looking forward to dinner at Trina's house on Sunday night.

We are all very happy to have arrived safely and to be out of the rain.  Life is great, although I must admit that the wet ride today wasn't quite as enjoyable as the drier rides.