Day 19 - Snowbell

Today is a rest day so don't expect too much. Firstly an apology; the Battle
of Bosworth Field was ofcourse in 1485 not 1483 as previously stated,
Richard 3rd took the throne in 1483. I'm suprised some of my history pedants
didn't catch me out on this. That's enough of the Wars of the Roses and
Shakespeare's interpretations of English Tudor History.

Last night I went to the FrostyGator as recommended by the hotel desk. Here
I ordered some hot wings. The smell hit me once the plate was on front of
me. By the third wing I was crying, sweating and suffering hot flushes. Now
I'm normally quite good with hot food, I'll take on a vindaloo and douse my
sushi with wasabi but this was next level. My condition was so bad even the
bar staff were amused by me. I pushed forward complimented by two glasses of
icy water. I took the smallest bite off the 6th and final wing just as sign
that I would not be defeated. I didn't fully recover for a couple of hours
afterwards.

Before heading back to my hotel I had a quick game of pool and challenged
someone on the table. The super random coincidence - the guy I had
challenged (I think his name was Ramone, not sure how you spell it) worked
at the atomic museum (ERB 1) I had cycled passed earlier!! It turns out it
was opening day, typical! But I got him to give me the 10 minute overview
and told him they needed to change the sign. I almost won the game of pool
and then scratched on the black - outch!

I haven't got up to too much today. My plan was to watch the Champions
League Final and watch Barca out magic Man U (I think it was like 30
attempts to 4 in the end) and then visit the bike shop. Shout out to my boss
who predicted the score exactly, surely some good odds on that. I couldn't
believe when I checked the bike shop website; they shut at 3pm on Saturdays.
What kind of bike shop shuts at 3pm on a Saturday? Really? They must lose
loads of business.

I went for a bit of a wander and took some photos of the Idaho Falls. The
waterfalls are maybe 2 to 3 metres high and stretch for about a 1/4 mile
through the centre of the city. The rate of water flow was phenominal and
there were many families and tourists admiring. If you fell in I didn't rate
your chances. I don't think my photo here quite does it justice. I stopped
at applebees to finally get my hands on a steak and an oreo milkshake.

I'm now trying to plan my next few days, but some bad news: yellowstone is
going to receive 6 to 10 inches of snow tonight, that's nearly a foot!!!
Aggghhh! I'm waiting to watch the weather shortly. The pass into West
Yellowstone is over 7,000ft and is bound to be effected. My alternative plan
is now to take a pass over through the Tetons slightly south. The critical
difference here is that the pass through the Tetons is an official highway
which they have to keep clear, on the other hand park roads with close much
more easily. I'm probably going to crawl up 40 miles to Swan Valley which is
at a low altitude, wait for the snow to fall and be cleared and then go for
my crossing the Rockies. This route will involve climbing Teton Pass at
8,400ft. I almost wrote that this is the highest I have ever cycled but I'd
be lying. A few years back I mountain biked with Mike Marshall off the Pic
du Midi starting at 3,100 metres.

Btw I've started to playing measurement ping pong which means quoting as
distances, heights and widths in as many different imperial and metric
measurements as possible. I say this whilst sipping a few gills of coke...
:)

Oh and I've finally attached Idaho bell - I hope it meets expectations.
There also seems to be an isue with blogger in that it doesn't always
display the list of previous posts. I'm still trying to figure out and solve
the problem.