The alarm went off at THREE and we got right up. The plan: let’s get the 48 miles to Cambridge by mid-morning, get a motel room and food, find a post office to send some stuff home that we no longer need to carry, sleep from late afternoon to midnight, and then get up and be on the road by 1:30 a.m. tomorrow for the long climb out of Cambridge as we try to avoid the afternoon triple-digit heat. That’s the plan. So we threw on our GoreTex for warmth (keeps the wind out) and headed out of New Meadows into the Payette National Forest in the dark. This area is gorgeous, and I was somewhat sad to be doing some of it in the dark, but the dawn light came around 5 am so we actually got the double benefit of riding in less traffic AND less heat by leaving so early, and we still got a couple of hours riding in the forest when we could see it waking up as the light grew brighter. It’s also kind of cool riding in the dark (yes, we have many lights with which we can see AND be seen). We rolled into Council, basically halfway to our destination of Cambridge in mileage, but further along in time because the ride from Council to Cambridge was mostly a gentle downhill or flat ride, with a few hills thrown in to keep us honest. Traffic, wind, and the sun were kind and we were in Cambridge by about 930 am or so. We got the lay of the land - one restaurant (Chinese), bike shop permanently closed, post office open until 430, general store for groceries, and the one motel…the Frontier. The Frontier had a room AND it had just been cleaned so we got right in. Day of riding over at 10 am!? That’s a nice benefit of getting up so early to ride! We came in the room and immediately washed ourselves and our clothes, then sorted out our stuff we want to send home to lighten the loads we carry, then rode to the post office 0.25 miles away. It took a half hour to Tetris our stuff into two Priority Mail large, flat boxes, while a local dude kindly talked our ear off. He even offered us showers and to stay at his place tonight; so KIND!! He was an interesting dude: high school teacher, logger in the summers, a lifelong jogger, and an income tax preparer. Talk about a Jack-of-all-trades. The postal clerk said the Chinese restaurant was crap (she said it much more diplomatically) and another kind lady pointed out that Hugo had just parked his taco truck at the intersection a block away while we’d been inside the post office packing our stuff. TACO TRUCK!!!!! We rode there and I ordered a burrito and paid for it while V rode to the Chinese place half a block away; she didn’t want the Chinese so she came back and asked me to order her the $8.50 quesadilla and, instead of the meat that comes it it, have them leave that out and put beans in it instead. Sure, darling. So I ordered that for her. But no. When I asked to order that, Hugo said he won’t do substitutions and that she’d have to get a $10 burrito (which comes with beans, but not cheese) and just leave the meat out of it. I kindly said she didn’t want a burrito, she wanted a quesadilla but then, referring to himself in the third person, he pointed at his menu at the bottom and read it aloud to me like I was a kindergartner: “Hugo does not do substitutions or add-ons to menu items.” LOL. Ok, Hugo. Whatever, man. Adios. So we left, and Vanesa got lunch at the grocery store and Hugo didn’t make any sale to her. Seriously, am I crazy or is that just bad business? We were the ONLY people at the truck so it wouldn’t have slowed his business down to make a substitution, it would have cost him LESS to put the already-cooked beans in and leave out the more expensive meat, AND he gave up $8.50 and got $0.00. LOL. While V got lunch and groceries, I sat outside and ate Hugo’s (meh) burrito and a few people gathered around Maui and me. Ok, let’s be honest…a few people gathered around MAUI. But we all chatted for 5-7 mins about our trip and then they wished us well as said they’d pray for our safety. As we headed back to the motel and we rode by a sign with the name “Erik Thomas” nailed to a telephone pole in town. Erik Thomas? A great friend of mine in Portland is named Eric Thomas (with a “c”) and it’s just weird to see this sign today because Eric has been on my mind for the last several days! Weird coincidence. Then, when we got back to the motel 30 seconds later, we found a note rhat had been written to us and tacked down near where our just-washed chamoises were drying in the sun. Another bike tourist named Keith Adams had seen our shorts and had left us a note inviting us to socialize if we were up for it. Keith Adams? Keith Adams was my boss when I was a travel physical therapist 15 years ago! Could it be the same one? It turns out it wasn’t, but was a fun coincidence nevertheless. It was so weird to see those two names show up here in Cambridge, Idaho of all places. We met up with Keith and chatted for a bit outside before we then all headed to the pool and floated around while talking all things bike and bike touring. Keith is a gregarious guy and it was nice to be social - even less-social Vanesa hung out and enjoyed his company! This is the FIRST budget motel we’ve stayed at that had their pool open (other than one in Charlottesville VA and one in Murphysboro IL, but those were indoors in fancier and it wasn’t hot enough to want to swim); literally all the others have either not had a pool or it was not up and running. Oh, and did we pick a good day for it…Cambridge is going to reach 100 degrees today and it was 85-90 when we were out there. Now I lay here doing this, but in a minute I’ll got get our clothes from the pool fence outside, assuming they’re now dry, and then will try to sleep as it’s already 4 pm and we’ve decided to get up at midnight tonight. V is already sleeping. Tomorrow morning we will enter…OREGON!!!!!!!!