Day 50 : Hot Springs and Coppenhagen Pies

We awaken to the soothing powers of the Bonneville hot springs. Nick rises early to photographically archive the springs and study GRE vocabulary (sometimes he can be so masochistic), while Luke and I find a good 3 hours of soaking and talking philosophy with our newly befriended Michael from Boise. Nick cooks a delicious meal of oatmeal which was quickly devoured and greatly appreciated as the only true addition of sustenance to our hot spring stimulant buffet: Copenhagen snuff, Yerba Mate, Coffee, and Bugler Rollies. After breakfast we sluggishly gear up and head out, Luke unknowingly leaves his camera behind, and consequentially we are down to only Nick’s photographic ability, which is well seasoned but with limited mobility, seeing that he shoots a large Cannon Powershot.

(above: summer's possessions strewn about)

(below: Sam shields the sun in morning bath preparation)

Beginning the day positioned some 4,300 vertical feet above the level sea; we descend a few hundred feet over the next 8 miles and come to a restaurant. There, Luke and I order the fish and chips while Nick orders the old standby, hamburger and Idahoan fresh-cut freedom fries. The beer-battered fried cod was delicious, however unfortunate for us, they were running low and we were only rationed 2.5 small pieces. The waitress apologized and lowered the priced fetched. We spent a good 7 television shows (3.5 hours) eating, digesting, finding new reading material at the bathroom- book exchange, and drawing the amorous attention of several employees and customers, including a beautiful Maldovian waitress named Maria.

(below: Luke scribbling before lunch)

Departing from lunch at 5:00 P.M. , we continue descending through some majestic mountains toward our final destination of Crouch Idaho. Upon arrival in Crouch we spot a weekend bar-b-que at the Dirty Shame Saloon. It is there where today’s second disappointing culinary truth is revealed: no BBQ chicken left. We, however, find much solace in the BBQ beef and hamburgers, and then I proceed to order a piece of Blueberry pie; the slice was huge, a full quarter of the pan. After sampling my dessert, Luke quickly orders himself a quarter pie. The bartender ends up gifting us the remaining half of blueberry pie and doesn’t charge us for the previous half. We move our full bellies across the road to a ostensibly abandoned Sunday school building and our bodies slip snuggly into our sleeping bags. ZZZZZZZ……

(below: the machines resting 15 miles from Crouch
with the Idahoan terrain in the background)

(below: beautiful Payette river)


(below: Luke and Sam wait all so patiently for the BBQ on the newly built outdoor bar at the Dirty Shame Saloon)

morale.
headwind counteracting the downslope with blueberry pie and Jameson panacea: pretty good
miles: 44