So we are in Idaho for the second time this summer, and staying in a cute little town called Wallace. It was about a 62 mile ride today from Superior, MT and it was not an easy one. The day started out great with the Methodist church providing us with an awesome breakfast at the Superior Fairgrounds. They made us all the pancakes, eggs, and sausage we could eat. It was all delicious and just what we needed to start off our long, windy, uphill ride. We also happened to be in the right place at the right time, and there was a rodeo starting at 8am (right when we were scheduled to leave). About 10 of us stayed to watch a few events before heading towards Idaho.
It was really cool to watch the cowboys and cowgirls compete in four different events. The first was a women's barrel racing event where there are three barrels and the ladies one at a time race around the barrels in a predetermined course trying to manuever their horses the best and get the fastest time. The women also competed in a roping event where they had to lasso the head of a calf while on their horses. It was pretty sweet to watch the girls, they were pretty tough chicks.The guys' events were a roping in which they had to rope the head of a calf, and then jump off their horses, throw the calf to the ground, and then hog tie its legs with the fastest time declared as the winner. They also had a team steer roping contest where a team of two (coed event) ropes a steer by one getting the head and the other getting the legs. It was pretty crazy. They only get one chance to do it otherwise they get no time for the run. There are also penalties that can be assessed if they only rope one foot instead of two, etc. It was pretty cool to watch, but I also felt a little bad for the steers and calfs they were roping. It didn't seem like it hurt them too badly, but there were times it seemd a little cruel, and was hard to watch. I was glad we stayed though, and would definitely go to another rodeo. I really liked the barrel racing and I think it would be pretty cool to see bull riding, which they did not have to everyone's disappointment.
The ride today involved a lot of headwinds, which slowed us down quite a bit at times, and two fairly long climbs that came along with two awesome decents. The second climb was nearly 2,000 feet long and brought us into Idaho (deja vu seeing the Idaho sign again) and the Pacific 
time zone (crazy!). The last four miles into the town of Wallace were awesome. There is a great bike path that parallels highway 90 we were on for the majority of the day, and it was nice to be on such a smoothly paved path away from traffic. Supposedly the bike path continues for quite a while, and we are under the impression we will be able to ride it for a good 20 or 30 miles tomorrow. Tomorrow we are heading to Coeur d'Alene, ID ~ 50 or 60 miles, and then Spokane, WA where we will be having a build day.
I don't know how it's going to feel seeing the Washington state sign, and knowing it is going to be the last state we cross riding our bikes. It will probably be really exciting knowing we have made it this far, but also a little bit of a downer knowing our journey is almost over.
We also recieved at a couple mail drops ago the grant applications from Habitat for Humanity chapters in Nebraska, Iowa, and Washington requesting money from us. Last Wednesday we sat down as a group to review the applications (Chad put together a great presentation for us summarizing all the details of the three organizations and their applications) and we will be deciding which ones to fund, and how much to give them. We have about $10,000 that we can disperse however we feel fit. The rest of the money we raised (we are thinking it will be about $60,000) will be going to the Providence Habitat to fund an entire house to be build in 2009. It's so awesome to see the impact we are making in the affordable housing crisis, and even though it isn't much, it is at least something. After the trip is over I am hoping to stay fairly active with a local Habitat chapter, and of course keep on riding my bike.
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