Day 10 : July 18, 2011

Pollock, ID to White Bird, ID

37 Miles

*

Truly the only thing to tell about this day happened all in White Bird.
So,
I will show a couple pictures of the area I was passing through,
then,
go into story of the experience in White Bird.
*

 When entering Idaho, time turns to Mountain Time.
But, switches when crossing the Salmon River.
Then, changes back to Mountain Time when you hit Montana.

The water was way more beautiful than what the pictures show.

*
Temperatures were reaching into the 100's and we were craving ice cream.
We figured we would take a nice
break in White Bird to make lunch and get some ice cream
before making a large climb out of Hell's Canyon.
There was a large
descent down into the town.
and the last thing we wanted to do was create another climb right before the 'big one'.
There was a cafe/gift shop on top of the hill that Greg spotted.
We figured that little ride was doable.
After parking bikes and taking off gear, we walked in to find out
they were all out of ice cream
or even anything to make
such a
delicious cold treat.
The lady running the place said the general store in town carries
ice cream
and
all other snacks.
We decided the trip down would be worth it
and we would make it an extended break.
The store was closed.
Everything was closed.
Except, the bar next door.
Silver Dollar.
Greg went next door to see if the general store would open in the afternoon.
Closed on Mondays.
We sat in an alley way to make lunch and shade ourselves from the sun.
We decided we would go
to the Silver Dollar to have a cold beer
because the price couldn't be beat.
$1.25.
Not only was the beer cheap...
the locals swarmed the place like a disrupted bee hive.
As the word got out as to what we were doing, majority rule was to
wait to climb White Bird Hill until the morning
because the temperature will continue to climb into the 110 plus
and the rattlesnakes will come out onto the road.
Shortly after sitting down at the bar -
we were befriended by one local in particular.
David.
An older man, claimed the age of 55, but wore the skin of an 80 year old.
It was brought to our attention that he
had began his day of rum and coke
e.a.r.l.y.
He told Greg to follow him over to the juke box
because he had $8.00 to be
used for music.
I sat on my stool.
Quite some time later, Greg comes up beside me
and says David wants me to choose the
last 8 songs.
Greg and David found a spot to sit near the juke box while I made my selection.
I joined them after making some key choices
such as
Tom Petty
Johnny Cash
The Who
ACDC
Jonny Lang
Beach Boys
A Steely Dan
...
We managed to sit there for the next 4 hours,
listening to this man and his stories.
We would put our two cents in here and there, but it typically resulted in
him over speaking or him having a hard time understanding.
Our head nods, smiles, laughs, and facial expressions were
more productive.
And through out the time sitting there, we were offered multiple times
to use David's house for showers, food, and a place to sleep.
We were very appreciative.
But, hesitant.
The last of our chosen songs played
and once again
David offered his home.
We decided
why not.
He gave us a little tour of what he called his bachelor pad.
Gave us directions on how to do laundry and make coffee
then handed us his key
and said he will be at his girlfriends.
Lock the house if we leave.
Our jaws dropped when he left
and we couldn't help but laugh.
We were not sure how to take all that had just happened in the last 5 hours.
Through out the rest of the night, we had a few visits from neighbors
who took a seat on the couch and struck up some conversations.
His daughter.
And another, land lord lady, who wanted to get after David
for letting people camp in the front yard and that it cost
$5.00 in the designated areas
....but
she didn't understand that we were staying in the home
and was fine with it after we explained.
Later we sat out on the porch where we
spoke with a local who
had a past as a baseball star.
After that incident,
we decided
to take all our gear over to the park across the street
and set up a tent.
We fell asleep to the chatter from the bar
and shaking our heads at everything that occurred
that afternoon and evening.
*
We greatly appreciated the generosity of this man,
but wondered if he would remember
the following day.