Day 35: Lava Hot Springs,ID to Pocatello,ID

Miles on the road: 38
Wind: slight breeze. I don't really remember what direction. It felt good.
Temperature: 86 and mostly sunny.
Route: Hwy 30 West to old Hwy 191, to hwy 91, to 5th Ave/Hwy 30 West
# of girls that leaned out the window and screamed at me: 1
# of times I accidently spit on myself: 1
Today's thought on the bike: "Why did I leave the hot springs so soon. I wonder if I could raise money for Ethiopia next summer by sitting in hot mineral pools for long periods of time?"

HOW DID I FORGET TO MENTION..........
I'm not sure how I left this out of the blog because this was one of the coolest things that has happened on the trip. Earlier this week, when I was in Wamsutter,Wy, (a rugged, blue collar town made up of mostly trailer homes) a lady in town heard about the Hunger Ride. When I went over to visit her at her trailer, she gave me two twenty dollar bills. The significance here is that this lady owns little no stuff at all. That was very apparent as I observed the old, 70's model trailer home that she lives in. The trailer was run-down, and it looked like it needed some repairs. This woman was so excited about the Hunger Ride. She asked me about the ride, and we talked about the kids in Ethiopia for a few minutes. I literally walked away from this lady in tears, and I immediately thought about the widow in Mark 12:41-44. On any mission trip that I have ever been on, I have always gone out with the intent of blessing and ministering to other people. But the reality of every trip, even more so with this one, is that I'M THE ONE WHO IS BLESSED. "Why did that lady give so much when she has so little," I thought to myself.
The more I thought about it.... the more I realized how rich this lady is..... not because of what material possesions that she has, but because she probably has a deep understanding of how much she has been given....... a deep understanding of what God has done for her and blessed her with.....and her understanding of that truth runs very deep into the core of who she is.

WALKING ACROSS AMERICA.....
I met Adam and Chris (see pic above) today while on the road. They are from Clearwater Beach,Fl and they are walking from Washington to Florida.

THE HUNGER RIDE WELCOMES......
Dan Justis, from Denver,Co. Dan is a member of my sister and bro-in-laws house church in Denver. He will be riding with me from Pocatello to Boise. After six days of riding solo, Tommyboy is absolutely ecstatic to have some company.

SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK.......
Sunday: Pocatello to Arco
Monday: Arco to Fairfield
Tuesday: Fairfield to Mountain Home
Wednesday: Mountain Home to Boise
Thursday: Boise to Ontario,OR

SHOUT OUTS.....
-Chris at the Arctic Circle for the delicious chicken sandwich
-Ramada Inn of Pocatello
-James at Fizoli's for dinner tonight

Day 34: Montpelier,ID to Lava Hot Springs,ID

Miles on the road: 52
Weather: 80's and mostly sunny
Wind: moderate headwind
Route: Hwy 30 West
Song stuck in my head: "Life's a dance" -John Michael Montgomery
# of flat tires today: 1
Total flat tires for the trip: 4 (three on my rear wheel, one on my B.O.B. trailer)
# of motels with vacancies in Lava Hot Springs: 0
# of times I accidently spit on myself today: 2

Quote of the Day: "We don't have a room for you to stay in tonight, but you can take this thermarest and sleep
down in the basement where we do the laundry. The room is a little bit funky, but it's a lot better than what it used to be. I used to live down there."
( from George, the manager/owner of the Lava Spring Inn and Suites. The motel was built in 1901 and was used during WWI as a recovery center for Veterans as it has six hot mineral pools on the property.)

THERE WAS NO ROOM AT THE INN SO.........
Tommy had to stay in the basement of the Lava Hot Springs Inn. Well, almost. Thanks to clutch move by Bill and Jeremiah (the nightcrew at the Inn) late last night, I was able to avoid sleeping in the dungeon. In riding across the country, a roof in nice, a bed is even better. I was especially grateful to have both this night. Bill (bearded man in pic above) made me what quite possibly was the best tasting taco that I've ever had in my entire life. Undoubtedly, the best that I've had at 10:30 pm.
I can't say enough about George and the crew the Lava Hot Springs Inn and Suites. Quality people.

SHOUT OUTS......
-George at the Lava Hot Springs Inn. Generosity at it's finest. George went out of his way to put me up, and also cooked me a mean pancake breakfast.
-Dennis at Johnny's restaurant for dinner
-Jolynn in Beaverton,Or for the verses....which came at a good time as I was fixing a flat

Day 34:Kemmerer,Wy to Montpelier,Id

Miles on mi bicicleta: 76
Route: Hwy 30 West
Wind: Tail and crosswind
Terrain: flat, then hilly the last 25 miles
Temperature: high 70's.....low 80's.....it was in the 50's when I hit the road early this morning.
Song stuck in my head: "Learning to live again" -Garth Brooks

THE DIFFERENCE.......
between yesterday and today is this........yesterday I completed a tough 29 mile stretch of riding in just over 3 hours. Today, I had 26 miles in the books before 90 minutes had gone by. I tell you what.....so much of touring is the direction and speed of the wind. And then of course the terrain that you're riding on. It's GREAT to be in Idaho. This state is gorgeous, at least the first 25 miles that I've ridden so far. It's green, the mountains are beautiful, and I've even been parallel to a few rivers already.

MY RECENT PURCHASE......
So I will say that doing this Hunger Ride has given me a lot of time to think. And often times I have found myself dreaming of being a homeowner.....having my own place to come back too......with a fireplace.......maybe a bearskin rug......a lawn to mow......having a riding lawnmover.....or maybe I'd just push......
WEll, I've decided to pony up, throw down some cash, and buy. I mean, I just said to myself, "Tommy, you aren't going to hit many pitches that you don't swing at." And I don't think that I'm going out on a limb here when I say that I think I knocked it out of the park with this one. I figured it'd be best if my first house was more of an investment/development move anyways. While I realize the place looks a little rough on the outside, (see pic) the inside is in stellar condition. Trust me.

MANY OF YOU KNOW.......
how the chaplain of PDS (the school I work at) Chris Hill, is without a doubt larger than life in the city of Memphis. The guy is BIG TIME. But did you know that he's known as the "Big Hill" (see pic) out here in Idaho? Man, how does this guy do it? Crazy thing is that I'm not even sure the guy has even been out here before?

SHOUT OUTS.......
-Best Western of Montpelier for not one, but two beds. They must have been reading the blog and noticed how much weight that I've gained on this trip.
-Paul White for his consistent and steady 24-hour laptop repair help and availability
-Harrison family for the songs and encouraging messages. Nice Job, fellas!!!!!!!
-Dad & Mom for getting the hook-ups in these small towns
-I've read LOTS of great captions already and it's only Thursday.
-Carla in Denver for the song

Day 33:Wamsutter,Wy to Kemmerer,Wy

Miles on the road: 84
Wind: stiff headwind….14 or 15 mph
Temperature: 84
Terrain: Hilly
Songs stuck in my head: “Longfellow Serenade” –Neil Diamond “Love song for a savior” –Jars of Clay
Word that describes today: punishing
Accommdations: Fairview Inn
If I was in Memphis today: I think I would be out at the Renshaw’s pool.
Scary Moment of the day: Going thru the tunnel. (see picture) I was on the interstate, the speed limit was 75, the road got narrow, I had no shoulder, and I also had no one to hold me. Everything was fine except for the last thing.

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN…….
that today was going to be a rough one when I looked at the forecast on weather.com last night. In particular, the wind direction and speed. Yikes. I’m glad this one is in the books because there was a few times today when I wondered if I was going forward or backward. I guess that I went forward more than backward because I made it to Kemmerer. It took me 5 hours to do the last 48 miles….yeah, it was that bad. It took all I had to hold 10 mph.

DO I REALLY SMELL THAT BAD?...........
So the owner of the Fairview Inn, RJ, (see picture above) invited me over Wed. night to hear more about the Hunger Ride. So, around 9:00pm I head over to chat with him. I should note that recently my hands have been very sore at the end of my rides. I've had some pretty rough shoulders to ride on at times, and I think that maybe the vibration of the road up into the handlebars has something to do with my sore hands despite my premium gloves and tape that's on the handlebars. So, before my visit to see RJ, I load up on the generic brand of "Ben Gay" that I had just recently purchased. Bad move. Within five minutes of hanging out with RJ, he gives me the boot out because he can't take the smell. Gosh, it's just so hard to find friends around here.

JC PENNEY and HOW COOL I AM………
Did you know that JCPenney was founded in Kemmerer,Wy? Well, I didn't either. Unfortunately, I was unable to take a tour of the museum here in Kemmerer last night. This is a very special moment for me because my mom actually worked for JC for almost 20 years at one of the main distribution centers outside of Milwaukee when I was growing up. All my life I’ve had people ask me about my killer threads. And I tell you what.....I just tell em’ about Mom’s 15% employee discount card, and then I walk away. I love to see their faces……disbelief, jealousy, I can see them thinking to themselves, "How did he draw the card? He's so lucky." Yep, all my life I've had to deal with it, everybody is so jealous of me. And you know what, what else can I say? I’m cool. I’m just flat out too cool.

SHOUT OUTS…….
-AAA for leaving half of “Jesse’s Girl” on my voicemail (I’m kind of still debating whether or not that was worthy of a “shout out”)
-RJ at the Fairview Inn

Day 32: Wamsutter,Wy to Rock Springs,Wy

Miles on the road:74
Temperature: High of 81, low of 48. I'm likin' that 48 a lot!
Route: I-80 West
Wind: crosswind....10-12 mph
Terrain: long, gradual hills. Lots of downhill today!
# of groundhogs I saw: 1,619
Songs stuck in my head: "Midnight Blue" -Lou Gramm "Fade Away" -Bodines
Today I thought about: The boys at PDS back in Memphis!
A cross-country touring "DON'T": Make sure you never have your odometer set on the "trip" section where you can look down and see how many miles you have covered. I always have mine set on the "max speed" section. That way, I'm not always trying to see how far I've gone. It allows you to just ride and not be constantly checking/being consumed with how far you've traveled. Now every couple hours or so I will push the "mode" button and check my distance covered. But you can't have it set there.
Random Quote of the Day: "My third wife who weighs 100 pounds did the John Meir trail once."
(from a guy that I was talking to at a rest stop)

INTERSTATE RIDIN'.........
I spent all of today on Interstate 80 West. Tomorrow, I'll travel appr. 40 miles and my time on I-80 will be complete as I head to Kemmerer, Wy. Then, it's onto Potatoland! Like I said yesterday, interstate riding is not all that bad because you have a gigantic shoulder. Yes, vehicles do travel extrememly fast with a speed limit of 75 mph. However, I've been on "federal highways" where the speed limit is 70- mph and you don't have half the shoulder that you do on an interstate. With all that said, I will be glad to be off I-80 as the noise and sheer volume of traffic takes away from the touring experience. More importantly, it scares my groudhog friends who live close to the road shoulder.

TODAY'S LIFE LESSON.......
Tonight, for the first time on this trip, I actually looked at a U.S. road map to see the "big picture" of the HUNGER RIDE. Oddly enough, my two thoughts literally went something like this. #1 "Man, I have a such a long way to go to get to Seaside,Oregon" ..........followed by thought #2 "Whoa, I've come so far.....I've like ridden my bike all this way"
It reminded of the lesson of life change/personal growth..........it involves small steps......in the same direction......for a long time......with your eyes focused on the prize. (see Hebrews 12:1,2)

TODAY I WAS BLESSED BECAUSE OF THESE PEOPLE.......
-The owner of the Quality Inn of Rock Springs for the bed with the funky colored bedspread, the mini-coffee pot that I won't use, and the the first floor room that's close to the main office where the complimentary breakfast will be served. Looks like we'll be having waffles tomorrow. SCORE!
-Tom at the Golden Corral for dinner
-Hunter in Memphis for a little "Wyoming Wind" on my voicemail
-Paul in Memphis for some Matt Foley, and as always your hilarious "beard quotes"
-AAA in Denver for some more SNL

Day 31: Craig,Co to Wamsutter,Wy

Miles covered: 106
Wind: 10-12 mph headwind/crosswind (for 90 miles) Tailwind/crosswind for the last 13
# of gas stations in 105 miles of riding: 2 (both in the same town of Baggs,Wy......a Sinclair and a Connoco)
# of firework stands: 1
# of dead deer and antelope carcuses: seriously like well over 200. I stopped counting at 75 within the first 20 miles
Word that describes where I rode today: desolate

TOM'S TAKE......
It wasn't pretty, but I made it. Today was one of those days where I was extremely grateful my bike did not breakdown because I would have been walkin' for a long, long time. The first 90 miles I climbed appr. 1,000 feet to the Continental Divide. I've actually passed the Divide several times now. I did the last 13 miles in about 45 minutes as it was all downhill into Wamsutter. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

TRADING WITH GRANDMA AT THE FIREWORKS STAND.......
With 13 miles to ride until I hit Wamsutter, I stopped at this firework stand at the 789/I-80 junction to see if they had any bottled water for sale. They said "No." What was weird to me is that these people actually seemed proud that they didn't sell any water. At least their tone implied this in my opinion. As Ferris Bueller would say....a little "snooty." And I must say that the fact they did not sell water to me was very odd considering 1) their fireworks stand is in the middle of freaking nowhere.....and 2) the stand is basically in what the locals described to me as the "high desert." Yeah, so I'm probably not the only thirsty one out there. So why they would not sell something cool to drink was puzzling. Anyways, as I'm about to get on my bike (mentally preparing myself to properly ration the last 11.5 oz of water that I had for the last 13 mile of riding) the daughter of the big boss lady (Grandma) comes out to tell me that she would run over to her trailer and sell me a 16 oz bottled water for $2.
"Wow," I thought to myself, "now there's a steal." But in my cynical thoughts I was actually very grateful just to have water. They didn't have to do that. And I tell you what, Grandma probably could have made $5 bucks off of me for that bottle had she tried.

RIDING ON I-80 IN WYOMING.......
My last 13 miles of the day had me riding on Interstate 80. Believe it or not, riding on the Interstate is actually pretty safe in my humble opinion. While it is illegal in most states, it is legal in Wyoming. And that's a good thing because there's not many roads in this state. In riding on the interstate, you have to get over the noise of semi's, the speed of the traffic, as well as a higher volume of traffic. But the upside is that I've pretty much got an entire lane to myself. The shoulder is huge. I did have three semi's honk their horns at me within the first 30 seconds on getting on I-80. I'm sure that they were rejoicing with me that I had finally made it on to I-80, and that I no longer had the wind in my face. Or maybe they thought the song that was stuck in my head yesterday was really awesome. Probably the latter.

HANGING OUT IN WAMSUTTER.......
Unfortunately, the picture of the family that I stayed with did not turn out. Wamsutter is a town of about 700 people, and there are mostly trailer homes in the town. While it is very much a blue collar town, and has the appearance of being a rough, the people that I met were amazing. Some of the nicest people that I've met thusfar. We had a chicken dinner at up at the church. Incidently, the only church in Wamsutter. And I stayed with Ema and Vern, who have been in Wamsutter for over 50 years.

SUPER TUESDAY CONTEST FOR THE WEEK OF 6/27-7/3

LAST WEEK'S SUPER TUESDAY CONTEST WINNERS.........
We have our first ever tie in the SUPER TUESDAY CONTEST for the 2006 HUNGER RIDE.
This past week witnessed a decline in entries, but by no means a decline in quality of the entries. The Hunger Ride gives three cheers for Lauren Sheehan of Memphis and June Marie of North Carolina for their superb efforts in motivating me up and over the Rockies. Lauren's "gansta' talk" was definitely much different from June Marie's voicemail as she sang various verses in Psalm 121 and Psalm 126. Equally motivating, I've decided that both ladies will share the podium and are this week's SUPER TUESDAY winners. WELL DONE!

THIS WEEK'S CONTEST........
Who will come up with the funniest caption to the pics above?? That is this week's SUPER TUESDAY contest.
Most of you probably don't recognize me in these pictures, but IT REALLY IS ME. You may recall from a recent posting that I have in fact gained a little bit of weight during the Hunger Ride. Well, it's gotten a little bit out of control. Let's just say that Tommy couldn't lay off the beef sticks in Colorado and Wyoming, and I had to ditch the spandex because they just couldn't stretch that much anymore. And yes, I could use a beard trim as well. But you've gotta dig my sweet ride. I'm all about Hot Pink!

GIVE ME YOUR BEST CAPTION! You may post it as a "comment" on the blog for all to see, or you may send me an e-mail.
trand@pdsmemphis.org!

Best of luck to all!

I dare the following individuals to enter SUPER TUESDAY this week and submit a caption......Yes, you're being called out!
Lyle "Heavy D" DeVries of Denver,Co
CJ Behnke of Hortonville,Wi
Teresa Lindahl of Somerset,Wi
Brooke Faber of Memphis,Tn
William Parks of Memphis,Tn
Debbie Riddle of Chadds Ford,Pa

Day 30: Steamboat Springs,Co to Craig,Co

Miles on the road: 41
Temperature: low 80's
Wind: slight headwind
Route: Hwy 40
Terrain: gently rolling hills along the Yampa River (Yampa means "bear".....fortunately I didn't see any!)
Accommadations: Bear Valley Inn of Craig
Road Kill: I've seen several dead deer along the road in the past few days. Also, many birds too.

LIFE LESSONS ON THE BIKE........
Rain or shine, mountains or flats, it doesn't matter as much as this........the kind of attitude that you bring with you the moment you sit in the saddle every morning will usually determine the type of day that you have. Today was a short, easy day. Shortly after jumping on my bike I thought to myself, "Man, if I average over 16 mph I could arrive in Craig in less than 2.5 hours." I did not average 16 mph, and I did not arrive in Criag in less than 2.5 hours. But I do think that I chose a better route. About 45 minutes into the ride, I stopped to chat with some R.V.ers at a rest stop who had traveled to Colorado all the way from California. They didn't have a plan as to where they were going next, they were just going to wait and see what they saw along the way. They really seemed to appreciate the beauty of each place that they traveled too. Not long after this I stopeed to read and write at another rest stop for about an hour. I took the ride slow today. I tried to really enjoy each mile of the journey.
That's how I want to live my life. Not that I want to move at slow pace, or live without a plan or a goal, but I want to be ALL THERE in the moment, totally focused on where I am at.......NOT consumed with or racing to my next destination in life. When you go for a ride, isn't it more about who your with and what you do along the way than the actual place that your going? I can become consumed with destinations........graduating from college, moving into the perfect house, a new position at work, or changing jobs, or maybe graduating from 6th grade. I think we all have somethiing. But a destination doesn't change or make a person........it's what happens along the way.

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE.......
Monday: Craig,Co to Wamsutter,Wy (105 miles)
Tuesday: Wamsutter,Wy to Rock Springs (68 miles)
Wednesday: Rock Springs,Wy to Kemmerer,Wy (86 miles)
Thursday: Kemmerer,Wy to Montpelier,ID (76 miles)
Friday: Montpelier,ID to Soda Springs,ID (30 miles)
Saturday: Soda Springs,ID to Pocatello,ID ( 59 miles)

NEXT POSTING.......
Most likely will be Tuesday as tomorrow night I'll be staying in the home of Vern and Ema......a couple from Wamsutter.
So, you might want to either a) be prepared to read this blog tomorrow b) read this blog again right now so you don't have to read it tomomrrow

SHOUT OUTS.......
-Dave and Michelle at the Bear Valley Inn for a bed almost as comfortable as the one I sleep on at home
-"The Egg and I" restaurant in Steamboat Springs for breakfast this morning
-Dr. E and Mrs. E for their little diddy on my voicemail
-G-Money in Austin,Tx for being the man