The weekend in Boise

It is now Sunday evening, and our two day stay in Boise is about over. The week ahead of us is looking a little more challenging than the previous two, so my detours from the route might not be as significant this time around. However, rumor has it that there are some really cool sand dunes and a big waterfall not too far from the route that we may have to venture out and find.
On Saturday, I rode a nice light tempo - still recovering from the week's more difficult rides. I had a chance to ride some of the day with Gerald Krabbe, a participant from the 05 tour who was visiting his son Josh. It was nice to have a short reunion, as Farmer John has also been tagging along wih us for a short while. We had to say goodbye to a few riders who only had the time to sign up for the first two weeks. All of us young folk went out to celebrate Joel's last night at a local watering hole - Joel was a great guy and he will be missed by all!
On Sunday we had a great celebration rally that was hosted by a Reformed Church that was a recent plant from about five years ago. It was moving to see how well we were received and supported by the Body of Christ, especially one that belongs to a different denomination (apparently there aren't any CRCs in Boise). We were provided lunch again which was extra special for me and the rest of my sweep team since it ment less work for us!
After not being able to watch the Tour de France, a few of us decided to go floating/swimming in the river running through the city. When biking home from the service i saw a good number of tubes and rafts floating down. So I grabbed my air mattress and biked down to the park where everyone starts. The water was freezing, and it took a while to get used to, but John Vanderveen and I gathered up the courage to share my mattress and try out the rapids that populate the 3-4 miles stretch of river. After overcoming the initial shock of cold water we had a great time - even managed to stay upright through a couple rough parts of water. We got out at one point where people were jumping off of a bridge into the water, and we started talking to a few locals. They were shocked that we actually made it down the river on such a flimsy flotation device, and they offered to take us the rest of the way in their strdy rafts. They were two sheets to the wind, and were jumping from one raft to the next causing quite a stir. It was quie amusing! They then were kind enough to give us a ride back to the park where we began (and also where we had our collected value of $6,500 worth of bikes locked to a picknick table), and then back to the high school we are staying at - we arrived just in time to clean up the last of dinner! We didn't exactly have a plan when we began floating so we were very grateful for their assistance (Thanks Gabe!)
Well, I hope you all had a good weekend, and keep the comments/e-mails coming. I love hearing from you all! Cheers