Q. What’s worse than seeing 100 dead snakes on the road?
A. Seeing 1 live snake on the road!
Q. And what is worse than seing 1 live snake on the road?
A. Seeing 2 live snakes!
Q. And what’s worse than getting a flat tire?
A. Getting a flat tire during a rain storm!

Yes....but dont worry frinds, abuelitas y mamitas, the snakes are NOT dangerous! (only rattlesnakes and we havent encountered any of those yet!) and the rainstorm....well, let’s just say that we work well under pressure!

We climbed a lot today....we rode 58 miles out of which we climbed 12 of them at a 7% elevation grade to get from Riggins to Grangeville, where we have decided to take a well deserved day off tomorrow! In one day we climbed about 4300 feet to the top of an endless switchback mountain on the old I-95N. To think that if we had taken the same Interstate South we might make it all the way down to visit my fam in Miami (and the trip might actually be shorter too!)....but no...we kept climbing up the White Bird Mountain all the way to what seemed to be the top and then, well; then we climbed some more only to come all the way back down on the other side and finally into Grangeville where i got to eat......are you ready for this?......finally....after 3 weeks of craving....i found.,...SPAGUETTI!!! I was so excited...food gets me very excited these days...!!! so yes, we walked into a little Italian Pizza shop with the motto “We Toss’Em, they’re Awesome” and i got to savor my homemade spaguetti....(which i am going back for again tomorrow!)

Also....we finally met some cyclists doing the same route as us. We met Andy, a funny british guy from a town near Wimbledon who started the trip on the East Coast and was very close to finishing. He had a bunch of advice of places to visit and people to meet; and what to do and not to do on our cross over East.

We also met two young women, Candace and Adrien who had also started their trip on the West Coast (like us) from Ohio who decided to quit their jobs in Insurance and a Maximum Security Prison and travel across the country on their bikes.

And then we met David, a native of Virginia, who had come to the West Coast to help his friend move to Seattle; then he decided to visit some friends in Bend, and there he decided he wanted to pedal all the way home back to Virginia, so he bought a used bike and met up with us along the way. David actually rode with us for a couple of days, until the big switchback mountains....Cesar and i have our own pace when going up mountains so we told him not to wait for us...so he sped off, but not before he offered to ride along with us on his truck and carry our paneers for us once we made it to his hometown....

It has been so amazing the people we have met and how much kindness we have encountered. I am excited for tomorrow’s rest day, to stay in a nice hotel tonight and get ready for the Rocky Mountains coming up very soon as we leave Grangeville.

instead of "I wanna Rock with you" by Michale Jackson, we sang "I wanna Ride with you"