A seemingly normal day on the road through Idaho turned into another Illini 4000 day for the history books with the activities we got up to along the way. Ren was looking forward to seeing the sites of Idaho National Laboratories, the team was ready for another donated meal for dinner at the restaurant attached to our campground, and other surprises would make for a special day. The ride itself was over 90 miles, so it was no slouch of an effort, but favorable winds meant we had one of our highest average moving speeds of the Summer. Parker also got up on stage in the evening and put on a performance for the ages!
Ride Overview
Mileage: 92.0 miles
Elevation: +1,171 ft. / -770 ft.
Points of Interest:
Tales of the Trail
This morning, instead of oatmeal as usual, or bagels during the camping days, we had pancakes, eggs, and bacon! How, you might ask? Since we were in a school and the kitchen we had access to was fully equipped, Cole decided the night before that he was going to surprise the team and cook in the morning. Ren was the only one else who was in on the plan having gone to Walmart last night with him and the reactions were priceless. Nishk helped with the cooking as he usually would, being the breakfast chore, and Vedang who also does was amazed when he came to the kitchen to the sounds and smells of true cooking. The rest of the team came in so surprised and happy and were also laughing about how Maaike was concerned that Cole’s things were not packed yet (she’s always on time). Everyone worked together for the cleanup after fueling themselves and we made it to the morning circle almost on time still.
We talked at morning circle how today would be another camping day, but that we would have dinner and showers which were luxurious compared to where we were before (even though those were actually very nice campgrounds too haha!). Then, it was time for another activity from Cole: the Illini 4000 spelling bee with cycling terminology. We lined up and did our best. After four rounds, it was ultimately Maaike and Aadit who were co-champions of the inaugural event. After all of this, it was finally time to choose groups for the day and hit the road.
The name of the game today on the bikes was tailwinds. We were trying to get in as many miles as we could before the wind was predicted to change directions, and, as always, the temperature got hot. This meant that rest stop number one was nothing more than just a refill of the bottles, put on a little sunscreen, and keep on rolling. There was no real “rest” to the rest stop this time. That was okay though because the riding itself was in some ways restful. Cars were few and far between and the pedaling was not too difficult because of the winds. We were able to keep rolling at a decent clip without putting in much more power than if we were casually cruising on a flat road. Just before the second rest stop, where we actually did take a little bit more time, although not much still, the first group riding found some hay bales that were just the perfect picture opportunity for a group of people traveling across the country.
The roads were so empty today that the van was one of the only vehicles out there. After some honking and Ehsan figuring out what in the world we were doing on our bikes by occupying both lanes, we were able to get him to pull over the van and take a couple of classic photographs that are usually seen on the Western highways.
Don’t worry, we didn’t make him too mad. Ehsan was having a great time driving the van today!
Along the road next came Idaho National Laboratories! Ren was so excited to see the entrance and buildings here because they do a lot of research in nuclear energy and right now are working on micro-reactors. Ren is a Nuclear Engineering major, so it is only fitting that she would know more about this spot than anyone else. Hopefully there’s a show-and-tell in class after the Summer so she can say she visited.
The winds hadn’t yet shifted, so we were doing very well on time despite it being an over 90-mile riding day. The temperature, on the other hand, was rising. Our last two rest stops were just by the side of the road which can make it tough to cool down and actually feel like you gained energy after you stopped. For this reason, the van crew and the group of Ren, Cole, Nishk, Ved, and Aadit decided to pull off at a place called “Desert Stop.” It really was the only source of food and snacks for miles and we found their slushies and burgers very appetizing after many hot hours of riding our bikes. The final miles of the day felt long, but Arco came soon enough and we had super nice, grassy campsites at the Mountainview RV Park to set up our tents on.
Casey, an Illinois alum who now owns and cooks at the restaurant, welcomed us to the park and had dinner options ready to go. Some of us had pulled port, some pizzas, and other chicken and fries. Everything tasted so good after our day and even better because it was coming from someone supporting us. Troy and Ross, the owner and manager of the RV park also came by to give us coins for the showers and make sure everything was going well on our journey. We got to add our names and legacy to the restaurant ceiling by making an “I4K” out of $2 bills and the evening was going so well. There was one sprinkler incident that caught us off guard and a few of our tents got splashed, but we were able to figure out how to shut them off (not really sure how they turned on in the first place). Hopefully this isn’t a harbinger of events to come because there is a chance of thunderstorms tonight, but very low and we haven’t had any rainy camping so far this trip.
Finally, to end off the night, Parker talked with one of the live music performers and managed to convince him to sing and have Parker join in on Numb by Linkin Park! All of the team came over and Parker really had a whole audience of us and others enjoying their evenings to hear him sing. That’s another story to be added to the archives.
