To borrow from a little known book, ‘It was the best of times it was the worst of times’.
We had just stayed a night on the South side of Boise at a hotel just off the airport. Our original plan was to go via Rt 30 to Twin Falls, staying the night in Miracle Hot Springs and then continuing on to Twin Falls the next day.
Dad thought that Shoshone Falls had enough to see that we instead should go directly to Twin Falls and take a day’s break from travel. He thought that if we stuck to RT 84, we’d travel quicker which has seemed to be the norm. While this indeed was the case, I would strongly encourage bikers to take the RT 30 route to Twin Falls. The main reason was that for quite a stretch, RT 84 had rumble strips running perpendicular to the shoulder and covering the entire shoulder. This means that we had to ride in the right lane of traffic. Most vehicles seemed to understand and were accommodating but there were the minority of drivers that showed their displeasure and ignorance. Luckily this ended and we sped on to Twin Falls.
When we arrived at the Twin Falls exit, we took RT 93 into town. Twin Falls is a city that has grown quickly in the past few years. Upon arriving in town, there were no shoulders at all on the main arteries. They’ve added lanes for traffic and then there’s the curb. Not a fun experience.
Later we found bike lanes in town but even many of those were very rough and probably fit for mountain bikes. Crossing streets also was interesting as the street you’re crossing has tire ruts so you have to slow as you travel up and down through the tracks.
However, that was the worst of it and it was fully overshadowed by the best.
Among the best that we can attest to are sites, food and people.
Shoshone Falls is beautiful. It is a only a few miles from the center of town and there is a bike lane heading out to it. The road to the falls drops quickly and for awhile, and I remember thinking that we’ll be hours climbing out of it. However, after spending maybe an hour there, we headed back to town and it only took about 30 minutes to climb back up / out.
There are lots of food choice in town. The normal chain restaurants you’d expect appear here, in case you are a person that lacks imagination. However, there are also numerous local or geo-local chains. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant and loved it.
Finally, I am a member of Warmshowers social networking site for hosting bike touring. Having gotten involved with it by my son, my wife and I have hosted a number of tourists. When touring, the biker contacts a host and sees if they can accommodate them for a night. If so, the biker usually gets a chance to use a shower and a place to stay.
Knowing we were heading to Twin Falls, I contacted a host there and asked if my father and I could stay with her. She told us we could but that she had to be in Boise for something important but gave us directions, etc. On the way down, we had pulled off the highway to get lunch in the Jack-in-the-box. Upon finishing lunch, a person came over to the table and introduced herself as Kathy, our Warmshowers host. It turns out that Kathy is new to Warmshowers but has been hosting base jumpers for awhile now.
She actually has bunks set up in a building out back and has separate bathroom and shower facilities for use. She gave us further instructions and then she left and we continued down to her house. Kathy’s set up was excellent and you can see she has a real servant’s heart. After spending the next day seeing the falls and running around Twin Falls, Kathy returned and spent some time with us and let us do our laundry. The next morning we got up early and tried to leave quietly but Kathy had already gotten up and was waiting for us. She offered to take us to breakfast but with the ride we had before us we chose not to. Then as we headed out, she jumped on her …… and escorted us out showing us the best roads to skip the traffic and making sure we were safely on our way.
She monicker is River Angel but I think she’s a Warmshowers angel as well.
