Leaving Crouch about 7:30 AM

Crouch, ID was the surprise town on this ride though the Idaho mountains. I ended up staying there only because The Garden Valley Motel has no vacancies, but I'm very glad I did. I stayed an extra night becuse I needed the rest and because traffic on ID 55 would e less dangerous on a Sunday morning. Again I'm very glad I did. That is a great little town!

The Wander Inn motel and cabins where I stayed is run by a woman who also runs the local bookstore and is produce manager at the grocery store during the week. I really enjoyed getting to know her and doing business at all three of these establishments. There is no wifi at the Wander Inn, but WildBill's coffee shop has good wifi, excellent food,a wide variety of coffee stuff, excellent gellato, and a great atmosphere. I ate two breakfast's and one lunch there and was also there several times a day just to use wifi. The grocery store is amazing. It has lots of stuff -- fresh veggies, fruits, a good selection of beer, a deli, etc. It also is in a historic building with wood floors ;-}. Unfortunately they are planning to build a new one with three times the floor space and lots of contemporary yuppie stuff.

Building a 14,000 square foot yuppie grocery store in a little town? Well it seems that Crouch actually serves a pobulation of over 20000 folks and does a big tourist business, winter - snowmobile and cross country skiing - and summer - camping, hunting, fishing, and kayaking, It looks small , feels good, and has good services. I really enjoyed staying there.

On Banks-Lowman heading for 55

I left early today, after a good breakfast at the WidlBill's, heading for Horseshoe Bend which is only 25 miles away. My friend Dwight is picking me up there and taking me, on a heavily traffic road over a 2000 foot high ridge to his home in Meridian.

Not far from Crouch, I met a family - mom, dad, and two teenage girls - of tourists from Oregon who are riding, from their home in Northern Oregon, to Sun Valley via Stanley. I told them about the big climb to Banner summit ;-}. They seemed well prepared for it.

ID 55

The Payette river which I have been following since Banner Summit

The river a little farther south

Horseshoe Bend

From Meridian, I'm heading west to Vale, Oregon.