The Big O

We woke up to a wet morning in Boise. That didn't bode well for our plans. So we took off to the Big City Coffee Boutique to discuss our options. The original plan involved dirt roads part of the way to Fairfield, and with the rain they would have been muddy. So we decided on riding to Mountain Home, which forced us onto I84 for 13 miles. It wasn't bad, and at one historic site/rest stop where the Oregon trail crossed, we met two army veterans raising money for Vietman War vets. One showed us his purple heart, and the wound on his neck that earned it for him. About a quarter inch from his jugular, and the same the other way from his spine.
The ride was 45 miles,we left Boise at 11:15 and arrived in Mountain Home at 4:30, sometimes in spitting rain. The exciting part was getting out of the city. There was a bumpy bike path, which feels like a U-Haul trailer bumping behind a Geo Metro. Then we get to the curb, no ramp, and on big O, It feels like the front end of a centipede that doesn't know what the back half wants to do. We try to communicate, but Laura can't see anything except the back of my seat. So it's up to me, but I can't decide if we can make the turn to the sidewalk or should stop. I waffle a bit, then pick stop. So I have to yell behind to stop, hoping she hears me and instantly takes her feet out, when I don't hear a click I think maybe we better go, and so on. We manage to stop, then walk down a narrow part because we can't start without weaving, and the street is full of cars. When we start again, not sure which lane to be in, the back half wants to know what to do, put her feet in, out, pedal, slow down, or push harder to get up the hill. Big O doesn't like to go slow, it wobbles, so the head needs to tell the tail what to do. We hit quite a few cracks and gaps, causing a reaction from the tail, but the head is too busy waffling to give any warning about jarring jolts. So we try to just stay out of traffic and weave in and out of the right lane or the sidewalk where it exists, and the tail really wants to know what to do. The tail is not happy. The head of has got lot's to do and doesn't really multitask well anyway. Every so often, I shift too hard and the chain comes off, mistake, but we have to notice instantly because the bike slows instantly. There's plenty of grease on my hands when that's fixed. Finally we get out of the maze of Boise downtown and I ask Laura what she's so nervous about. The joys of a recumbent tandem where the head of the centipede has his feet higher than his head. Anyway, tomorrow we head for Fairfield or maybe beyond. On a nice country road.