Famous Potatoes...

Fun fact: Although Idaho is known for it's famous potatoes, Maine, a state one-third of Idaho's size, produces more.

Now down to business.  Last time ya'll were updated we were in Casper resting up. What a rest day that turned out to be.... we walked ALL over town running errands, but it was a nice change up from pedaling. We rode from Casper to Hiland, Wyoming, population 10. Hiland is home of "The Bright Spot", a bar/restaraunt/gas station/store/motel, the only building in town, it is also the owner's home. We arrived there after pedaling three hours through the rain in 50-something weather....brrrrrr. We went inside to get coffee to warm up and ended up having dinner as well. During dinner, the owner's son, a gangly 15 year old, was betting a drunken truck driver $100 on arm wrestling. Lucky us, we got a free show with dinner. Since the kid was betting his mom's money she lowered the wager to $50. He won, she should have left it a $100. After dinner and a show and some lively conversation from the drunks in the bar we asked where we could camp. The owner told us, "anywhere you guys want to put a tent down!" We curled up in the tent and got warm then fell asleep. We awoke to a chilly morning and for compensation for the free camping, we bought breakfast from "The Bright Spot", which included the best bacon I've ever had....and I'm not generally a big bacon fan..... With a good hearty breakfast we rode smoothly into Riverton to visit an aunt I haven't seen in 15 years, Aunt Carol, and I met Uncle Charlie for the first time. They were awesome hosts, we were welcomed with cold beer and showers, and we had walleye they caught for dinner. YUM. We stayed in their RV trailer which was luxery in comparison to the tent. After some mapping help from them we were on the way the next morning planning a fifty mile ride to Crowheart. We got to Crowheart early and continued on our way to Dubois. That was some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever encountered! It was everything you think of when you think of the West all rolled into one! Amazing!
     After Dubois we had Togwatee pass, 9600 or so ft ahead of us. It was another beautiful day on the bike, and they had just redone the road so the slope up was so gradual it was hard to believe we climbed so much. We took a quick lunch break at the top and admired the first of many views of the Tetons. We began to descend and ran into traffic....and construction. There was a pilot line to get down the mountain, in line we were informed that we would not be allowed to ride down, but instead would have to ride down in the pilot car. We loaded the bike into the back and hopped in the cab with a very cheery man from Dubois. Once we began going through the mayhem I understood why. There was blasting going on, GIANT dump trucks everywhere, and apparently a consistent momma grizzly visitor. It was like being in another world. We got dropped off at the bottom, right next to a ranger station, and agian, we arrived early. We decdied to just coast the extra twenty miles into Grand Teton National Park.
     After paying an outrageous entrance fee, we went to find camping, to find that it was all full. We laid the bike down and sat on the ground to try and figure out a nearby camping area. I found one, I called a ranger and asked if there was water at that campground and she did not know, all she knew was that it was about twenty miles up a dirt road, the opposite direction than we would be heading. So we sat around and tryed to figure something else out. A ranger in a car passed us sitting on the side of the road about five times and never stopped. We finally gave up and called my parents in hopes they could use their super internet to find another option. Turns out my dad must have been in a great mood, because instead of simply assisting us in our search for a campground, he booked a cabin. After a roundabout the park we arrived. Tired and still steaming about the lack of help from the park service I was very  happy to get into bed and go to sleep.
     While in Teton Park we went for a hike around Jenny Lake and saw some waterfalls, and a momma moose and her baby along the way. The hike was a nice a break from the all the tourists in giant vehicles that were too lazy to get out and hike into the beauty.  Most people were just pulling over every five feet and taking pictures, I'm very releived we made it through the park in one peice. We had enough of the craziness, never go to a big park on a saturday, and high tailed it out of there and down to Jackson. We arrived in Jackson and tried to squeeze between the heinous traffic and parked cars, we gave up quickly. We locked our bike to the closest thing we could find and set off to Hannah's place of business. (Hannah is good friend of mine from NAU, a native to Jackson.) We walked by it right as she was leaving work, perfect timing! We went to Snake River Brewery and enjoyed a beer and some tasties before heading to my mom's cousin's house for the night. Chris, my mom's cousin, was singing at a wedding so we didn't meet her til the next morning. We met Chris as we came down the stairs from waking up, a strange way to meet someone for the first time, but fun nonetheless. We had breakfast and then went for a hike with her. The hike was beautiful, it was on the pass and up to a glacial lake. Wildflowers were everywhere! We had a picnic lunch of sandwiches that we picked up in Jackson, Chris' treat. mmm.
We quickly returned to town, chris had to get to work.  Before she left though she cooked us a fine meal of grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and an interesting almost asian flavored coleslaw.  She then left off to sing at the stage coach.  We waited a little while and had our friend Hanah pick us up and haul us over to "the coach".  At the stage coach we listened to some fun good old fashioned coutry music.  Chris palyed the bass and sang beautifully.  We were in the back listing, watching the dancing, and enjoying the beer, popcorn, and fries.  After listening for about an hour and a half we moved on to downtown jackson.  Here we got some frozen yogurt that was delicious.  Next we got some candy (I know sugar overload).  After that we explored jackson's city parks.  And man do they have some parks.  We played on a couple of playgrounds and went to their bouldering wall.  A city with its own bouldering wall with actual routes on it.  What a place.  They also had a memorial to those lost to the mountains.  This city has some mountaineering heritage.  The next morning we went out to breakfast with Chris at Norah's.  Hana had said this was the place to go if you have a hang over.  Well we weren't hung over but a big breakfast before Teton pass was in order.  It was Chris's treat because she wanted to "play parent" agian.  After breakfast we got a few supplies around town with Chris and said bye to Hanah. 
Now it was time for Teton pass.  Teton pass is a 10% grade road leading out of jackson into Idaho over an 8000 foot break in the Tetons. We headed out under clowdy skies hoping to aviod rain.  No such luck about half way up the pass it began to dump and thunder.  Well i'm not one to complain about a forced break from a killer hill.  So we hid out in a canyon and waited for the storm to pass.  It didn't take long until the sky's were blue again and we were able to slog over the last bit of the pass.  From here it is a ripping decent into Idaho.  10% up means 10% down and with a rig weighing in at over 400 pounds with us on it we gained speed fast.  Luckily enough we have a drag brake and were able to avoid break neck speeds through the mountains.  We popped out of the tetons into a beautiful valley in Idaho.  This little valley in the rockys still has views and access to the tetons but a LOT LESS people.  How awesome is that.  If i was going to move to the area it would definely be on the Idaho side. 
We found a camp spot in the town of Tetonia for olnly 10 bucks.  Sweet!  The next day we started across Idaho.  We got our typical start at about 10 am.  This was a bad call.  We road for 2 hours and then the winds began.  Idaho has to be the windiest place i've ever been.  It was a 20 mph head wind and it did not let up.  We went on and got to a place with a charming name of mud lake.  We beded down determined to get out earlier to beat the wind.  That didn't work as planned. We got across Idaho national labratory aka atomic city just in time for the winds to begin.  If your not familiar with INL it was the first place to produce nuclear power in the world it is also closely gaurded and has loads of radioactive waste that are aparently spilling into the ground water.  Mmmmm...  Anywho we trudged through the wind only making about 35 miles in 7 hours of riding.  We finally made it to our camp spot, craters of the moon national monument, and made dinner in the best camp spot int the house.  Site number 13 in tucked in to an alcove in the lava rocks.  It is walled all the way around by at least 4 foot high rocks except for a small opening to get in.  We again went to bed early determined to get up before the wind. 
This time we got up at 530 am.  We made it out by 830.  This gave us the start we needed.  We made it 50 miles by lunch and 75 to our destination at 3 with a long lunch break at a little dinner.  Now we are in Gooding, ID in the local library surounded by children.  From here we are moving on through Idaho and we hope to be in Bend, OR in less than a week!  Bend has become our new destination (plans change).