AAN Day 13 - Burley to Pocatello, ID

Daily Statistics: Mileage: 86.6 miles Average Speed: 18.0 mph
Vertical: 2443 feet Depart: 7:02 AM Arrive: 12:19 PM
Calories: 6559

Today was SWEE-E-E-E-T! We left at about 46 degrees, it was still under 70 on arrival in Pocatello, the roads were great, not much climbing, and we had a nice little tailwind. I just rolled along smoothly. We left Burley and were soon back out in agriculture country. At about 12 miles, we turned on a road Mike described as the loneliest road in America. The picture below shows why it could qualify. We had absolutely zero traffic, except for our own vans for 20 miles. It is government land, with nothing really there.

As I was going down Baseline Road by myself, I heard a couple of riders coming along chatting merrily. It was Margot and Kay, two of a group of excellent female riders on the trip. They quickly passed by, but I met them at Register Rock, where they had stopped to use the facility and check out the rock. They are pictured with the rock behind the fence. It is where folks passing by on the Oregon Trail would put there name to register they were there. I saw a number of them from the 1860s, although they are not holding up too well. This was about 45 miles into the ride.
I then proceeded on my own to the second SAG in American Falls. The SAG was set up in a nice little park, and had a nice marker to commemorate the Oregon Trail. We have been on the trail for much of the route since we started.

I should report that I was finally able to find the very small shard embedded in my front tire that was causing me problems yesterday. The work Jim had done on my derailleur alignment also paid off, and I had none of the gear searching problems that have plagued me for several days. In addition, I replaced a water bottle holder which had broken and was rattling yesterday. All in all, things were in great shape for the ride.
I thought I would feature Tom Zack, who I have ridden a fair amount with over the last several days, and have mentioned in this log. He is a retired 60 year old from Fort Worth, Texas, and is very personable. He has a ton of facts about everyone. He was also on my losing team in the scavenger hunt held yesterday.
Tomorrow should also not be too taxing, before we head into a couple of our toughest days climbing the Tetons into Jackson, Wyoming.