…we drove out ahead along the route, so that we could say that Merrianne touched Idaho. We passed Letty, who was struggling up a hill. A few minutes later, we came upon Peter, then Diane, ahead of him about a quarter mile. Then, up ahead in the distance, two riders — a man and a woman. Debbie and Brian had united again! Merrianne was so happy to see them riding together.

At Cambridge, Idaho, everyone stopped. Then we heard the story of what happened. Debbie had rented the same car that we had, drove ahead to catch Brian, then admitted to him that she didn’t want to ride alone.

The museum in Cambridge was exceptional. Louise Preston, our octogenarian guide, was in reality, a part of the exhibit. She told us stories of the things she used when she was a girl, and stories that her grandmother told her about the Indians.

i wish i had taken a picture of louise and the museum.

That night we had a big barbecue under the water tower. Nine cyclists camped there (well, technically, seven, since Merrianne and I had driven). In addition to Debbie and Brian, Peter and Diane, and Merrianne and myself, there was Norman and Linda Devereux, married two weeks that day. Their honeymoon was to bike to Bampf.

We also finally met Alan Levinson there, and saw why Stephanie had issued such a vehement ‘No!’ the other day. Alan was an ex- Wall Street accountant. He once had a successful practice, then decided to cash it in and travel the world, writing a book. He looked about forty years old, like a Hippie left over from the sixties. The man was deceptively strong. I drafted him once for two hours at 22 miles per hour. And it was NOT downhill. Oh yes, and he smoked.

Instead of driving back, we pitched our tent right alongside the rest of our friends.