203 Kamiah and the clearwater river

Tuesday 23rd July 2013 Miles Today  73 total  14,627

Today we woke and it was hot, hot hot.  We were on our usual 11am start, by the time we had tried to publish the blog, which didn't work, so it was back to "Ye faithful hamburger joint" for their WI-fi and we finally managed to get it done.  Outside again, the heat was amazing, so we jumped on the bike and headed out of the car park, only to hear a clunking noise from the bike.  We don't know what it was but Ray tinkered for a while, we both cooked, and it resolved itself, but before we got back on the bike, we ran to the hand car wash and got them to hose us down, (We could see them looking at each other and saying loco, they accepted our request).  Soaking, we set off again.  This is not boding well for Death Valley and Arizona, we are not in the hottest places yet.  We again have been told that they are having unusually high temperatures, we clocked up over 100 degrees, not good for us pale Brits.

The Clearwater river was looking very tempting

We passed through some beautiful scenery on our route, and followed this very inviting river all the way, made even more inviting when we saw people swimming and paddling in it.  At our petrol stop, Ray went to the toilet and completely soaked his T shirt again, (whoops, sorry with water) to get him through the next stint.  We probably only did just over 70 miles today, when we arrived in Kamiah a really old world town.  We had a look around and were only missing a few cowboys.  It felt right to stop and take in the atmosphere.

We booked into a motel, called The Clearwater Motel and then took off for a spot in the river, where we abandoned Wallace and threw ourselves, fully clothed into it. The water was nearly as warm as a bath, but brilliant.

Dipping your toe in the water is a bit different with trainers on.

Just messing about in the river

The view was idyllic.

Dripping wet, we set off for town. It was odd having the hot blast on our bare arms and the rest of us was cool.

We had a lovely time splashing about, and then decided to head back to town for some food.  We were nearly dry by the time we found a little place, unfortunately we could only get a beer, no food, but we soon became involved with a couple of the locals.  One in particular, was a guy called Leon, who was as redneck as they come.  This man drives a truck, has a dune buggy, at some stage rode Harleys in anger, and apparently has a collection of guns in his home, along with two American pit-bull dogs, that are just "the cutest, sweetest dawgs".  He was bitching about them dawg gon hillbillies who live in the hills and the only good thing going for them was the Moonshine.  He wanted us to try some, as in his words, "It goes down smooth, but after three of them you are blind and your legs don't work".  This was Idaho, North Idaho at it's most entertaining.  Apparently, something called applejack has the same effect.  Luckily for us, they were all out of both, and dinner called.  Fabulous, no wonder The Simpsons are so popular, they really have their characters down to a tee., their writers must have met these people.

How long before we get these in the UK ???

This, believe it or not is the animal food section of the supermarket.