Yesterday I passed into Mountain time zone and then today I passed back into Pacific time zone. Apparently when I crossed the Salmon River I was now back in the Pacific zone. How do travelers keep track of which time zone they are in? Today was a long ride but it was necessary to set me up for rides in the couple of days. There was a climb at the beginning but not as steep or long as others that I have encountered. Then it was mostly downhill to White Bird. The best thing about today was the clouds. It was cloudy for most of the day and that made 98 degrees seem cool.
White Bird is the jumping off point for the next 3 days of riding so it was important to make it this far. In town the options for accommodations were not great. I first went to a motel and the lady would only accept cash and told me to go to the next door saloon to get cash, however I went one building further to the general store. There the lady operating the store said that I should stay in Veteran’s Park which was across the street, which I did. I was the only one camping there but meet two other cyclist from the San Fran area going my route to Virginia. I unknowingly passed them in the town of Rollins ID 30 miles back. They started a week before me. It seems like the people that I am catching up to on the route are going at a much slower pace than me. Which is okay.
Okay, so here the really weird things about White Bird, ID. Veterans Park is commonly used for cyclists and bikers to camp overnight. They provide a porta john type of facility, free WiFi because cell service is terrible, and the people two doors down have a shower to use for those camping in the park. Great hospitality. Another weird thing is that White Bird is right next to the Salmon River. On one side it is mountain time and the other is pacific time. As I was sitting and writing messages if I held my phone on me left side it was in mountain time. If I moved the phone to my right side it was now pacific time. It was so weird to see the time change repeatedly. The final weird thing is that it rained at night. Not a lot but enough to get the tent fly damp.
Today stats: total mileage 89 miles; average speed 13.3 mph; max speed 33.8 mph; total feet climbed 2385 and total descent 3592 feet.