States 21 and 22 Idaho and Wyoming

State 21 Idaho What an amazing trip this was from start to finish. It could not have gone better. I flew into Spokane Washington on Saturday June 9th and ran in The St Joes River half marathon on Sunday the 10th, in St Maries Idaho. The temperature in Houston when I left was low in the 80's and I had been having trouble training in the heat. I had been hoping that it would be at least a little cooler in Idaho but didn't expect much improvement. A few days before I left I checked the forecast and was Thrilled to see that the expected high temperature fro race day was in the 60's. When I arrived on Saturday the radio reports were calling for early morning showers which never materialized, and it was a perfect day to run. NO wind, No rain, just overcast and cool.

On a comical note....I was at the Rental car counter in Spokane, and the woman asked for my credit card and driver's licence. After I gave them to her, she asked how many passengers would be in the car. I replied "One....Me". Then she asked "Who will be the driver?" Huhhhh....once again, Me !! Thinking back, what I should have done was begin arguing with myself in several different voices, about who's turn it was. However then I probably wouldn't have got the car

My Hotel was only a block from the starting line which was a good thing, because 10 minutes before the start, I discovered I had left my water bottle in the room. I had to run up and get it and got back just in time to here 5-4-3-2-1 BANG and the race started.
St Maries is a small quiet town in remote Idaho. Not a lot going on there. I really enjoyed myself, despite  the fact that there was nothing particularly outstanding about the race. It was very small, and there were no spectators except for the aid station volunteers. There was no expo or an after part to speak of and they didn't have post race beer. It was a nice out and back run through the little used roads of rural Idaho. the roads varied from the highway to asphalt to gravel to dirt (turned mud by the previous day's rains). The scenery was nice, but paled in comparison to what I saw later in the week. Nothing fancy, no bells or whistles, but a Great run, if this is the kind of experience you enjoy, which I did.

The day after the race I drove down to Syringa Id. and went White water rafting on the Lochsa river. A complete blast. The 60 degrees on race day went to high 80's for the rafting and was a perfect day. We covered 20 miles of the Lochsa and encountered 32 named rapids, 22 of which were class IV. Everyone in the raft had a Great time and no one went into the water until the next to last rapid. Named the "Terminator" the raft went totally vertical and everyone went into the water and ended up swimming. It was a near tragedy as I thought I lost my camera which I had on a lanyard. When I got back in the raft the lanyard had snapped and the camera gone. I was upset, not because of the camera which was about 10 years old, but because of the memory cards which had all the pictures from all my half marathon runs on it. At the time I just wanted my card. at the take out the guide found it lodged in the bottom of the raft and all was good. The camera still worked and the card was fine. The next mooring the camera stopped working and I had to replace it, but I request to recover the card had been answered. A minor miracle. Our guide Mikey had to drink a beer from his bootie for having to swim. Pretty nasty, but at least it was beer and not something disgusting. Drinking from the bootie was bad enough.
While in Syringa I stayed at the River Dance Lodge. I was by myself , so I didn't need one of their cabins which sleeps 6, so they put me in a "Glamping Tent". Pretty cool, it was the most upscale tent you ever saw. The tent was mounted on a wooden deck and had a queen size bed and wood burning stove inside. It was right beside a little stream which provided the most sleep educing gurgling. The stream was also fed from  snow melt, and was ice cold, which made it the perfect beer cooler. The lodge served meals if you wanted, and the food was excellent. You didn't get to order what you wanted, just ate what they were serving. The only thing I found strange was the dessert on the first night. They had Ice Cream flats, but instead of Root Beer or Soda, they used Guinness Beer. I like ice cream, and I like beer, but the combining of the two really didn't work for me. However, I still highly recommend the River Dance Lodge if you are ever near the area.
After the time in Syringa, I moved on down state to Victor Idaho, and stayed in the Teton Mountain Ranch there. Another really great place to stay. They had a hear of about 200 elk which were not far from cabin. It was very peaceful to listen to the bugles of the elk as it got dark out. While at the ranch, I took a day long horse back ride with the owner. we rode up through the Teton Mountains and got up to around 8000 ft. There was still snow on the ground where we were. We made it up to the second highest peak in that part of the range. The highest one was still blocked by snow on the ground..
I took the horse ride on Thursday and then on Friday, I drove about 2 hours to Arco Idaho. I was in the Navy and served on the USS Hawkbill SSN 666, a Nuclear Powered Sturgeon Class Fast Attack submarine. The boat was decommissioned in 2000, and the sail was set to Arco where it is on display. So I went to see it there making it's final surface there in the Idaho dessert. It brought back a lot of memories.

States 22 Wyoming
Saturday the 16th I ran in Jackson Hole half marathon in Jackson Hole Wyoming. An absolute Gorgeous race. The "Run the Bluegrass " in Kentucky bills itself as America's prettiest half marathon, and it was beautiful, but Jackson Hole is some strong competition for Lexington Ky. They both are stunning, but in different ways. Jackson Hole was another small race, not many spectators, or a big after race party, just mind blowing scenery and a Great course to run along. They did attempt to have a full marathon, but canceled it due to only having 18 participants. The half marathon had busses to take you to the start in Teton village and you ran back to the Finish near one of the Ski Lodges. For those who wanted to do the full marathon anyway, they showed up at the finish line and had to run from there to the start line in time to do the half marathon back. There was no timing so full marathoners were on the honor system to keep their time and make sure they ran the entire course going out.