Day 23---Small town 4th of July, Mountain Home to Fairfield Idaho

57 miles, 6:08, 3500+ climbing, average speed, 9.3 mph.

I left the hotel this morning around 5:45, and immediately started up the first of many climbs, this one the longest at 2000+ feet.  Surprisingly, it was almost cool out, around 75 degrees, but as I started climbing I heated up quickly, and then, much to my dismay, the road rolled three or four times across the volcanic plane before actually beginning the sustained climb.  The road veered to the northwest, directly into a 15-20 mph headwind, and the climbing was slow and tedious, through the same, fractured volcanic landscape that I've cycled since just outside of Redding, almost 700 miles ago. Up and up I went, finally gaining the summit, only to roll up down several hundred feet over the next ten miles or so.  The sun was starting to heat things up, and I was dreading the last, steep, 600 foot climb.

I watered up at the Little Camas Inn around 10, which was an hour before opening, but I had spoken with the owner the day before and she said to just use the outside spigot when I got there.  She arrived to open up for the day just as I was leaving, and I could tell she thought that cycling in these parts was not something she'd be interested in doing herself!

The final climb was hot and steep, but thankfully the sun was partly obscured by high clouds.  It was also a pleasure to see the first granite of my trip, some of which looked climbable!  After so many days of volcanic rock, it was nice to see some good old granite!

 

 

 

 

 

The last climb

 

 

The first granite seen in hundreds of miles.

 

The descent into Hill City was enjoyable, but hot, and I had a good tailwind to push me the last ten miles in Fairfield.

I had originally planned to stay at the motel here, but when perusing warmshowers.org while I was in Boise, I found a couple in Fairfield, Randy and Laura Shroyer, who regularly put up cross country cyclists (US 20 through Idaho is a very popular cycling route).  I called Randy yesterday and he was very gracious and said that I should stay with them.  They manage a friend's empty house here in town, and they use it to put cyclists, so it's a bit of a cyclist guest house.  Just this year they've hosted quite a few cyclists and it was fun to read their comments.  Some of them had even passed each other in Nebraska!

When I pulled into town, there was a small sign in one of the intersections on Main St. about the Chamber of Commerce 4th of July picnic in the park, to begin at 3, so I put that on my agenda for today.  After I went to the house, and stretched (and fell asleep trying to relax my right hamstring), showered and got rehydrated, I headed over to the park.

What's that?

Small town 4th!

Being the obvious stranger in a small town (400 in town, 1000 in the whole of Camas County) had both its advantages and disadvantages, and I experienced both.  Some folks were very interested in hearing about my trip, and experiences, and eager to share the details of life here in a small town.  And others were a bit insular, and not interested in talking at all.  It soon became clear that a small group of folks, centered around the owner of the local store, were the ones who really kept public life alive and well here in Fairfield.  They have good size events here almost every other week all summer long (a kids fest, fun run, rodeo, county fair, 4th of July picnic and fireworks, street fair, etc) all organized in a community about the population of two or three blocks of the Elmwood.

A fun hat brought home from Baja

The people here are a mixture of old Idaho families, a few retirees (from California of course), and people who ended up here from love, family connections, or economic opportunity.  A number of people commute over to the Sun Valley area, which is the big economic driver in this part of Idaho (Blaine County, home of Sun Valley, has more people now than the surrounding three counties, and tilts the area democratic).  Sun Valley/Ketchum is about 50 miles away, and Hailey, which is the largest town, is about 40 miles away.

Camas County itself is about half the population of the 1920s, like so many rural counties in America, and doesn't seem to have benefited as much as communities closer to Sun Valley.  However, there has been significant growth in the past 40 years, with the population growing 40%.

 

There are 30 kids at the high school

Downtown Fairfield

After spending a couple of hours at the picnic, I walked around town, found some internet access, and had dinner.  I went back to the picnic briefly to partake of some delicious home made baked goods (part of the fund raising for the fireworks), and came back to the house to write and get ready for bed.

I then received a visit from the local newspaper owner/reporter who had been told I was in town, and we had a nice chat for a few minutes.  He promised to send me the article he's going to write about the Shroyers and the cyclists they've been hosting.
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