Day 39

We woke up looking at a big day. We got ready and headed out. The only place in town for breakfast was about a mile away. These places that only have a single option for breakfast… 

We arrived before they opened and stood outside watching the sleepy town start to come to life. Two women parked outside the restaurant and almost looked shocked to see they were not first. I heard the door unlock. When we entered the place looked like a nice local diner. The ladies from out front came in, and a pair of guys, and another pair of guys… before we got our coffees there were six groups of people. It was impressive how fast everyone came upon opening, and even more impressive that the one waitress handled it all, well. 

While we ate I drifted off through the window. There was the Roxy theatre and the Town Center Hotel. Both looked closed and out of shape. You (or at least I) could see what this town might have been like in it’s hay day. The large hotel acting like a rooming house for prospectors and loggers or miners coming into town trying make a new life for themselves. Take in a show at the theatre and maybe even a meal at the only place in town that does breakfast. 

After breakfast we headed out of town. A few quick turns and it was as if the town never was. 

I don’t know if it was the length of time the farms went on or if they really are just boring, but suddenly everything was so beautiful! Tall evergreens stood to show us how short we were and how short they were in comparison to the huge mountains. The road slid through ridges along the mountains. I felt dwarfed in the presents of these huge peaks. 

There was some construction that made the road tight. It was fine but it definitely had the feeling of if anything goes wrong here it can really go wrong. Trucks, cliffs and less road way with more debris is not the best combination. I could hardly take the time to look at the worlds largest truck as we passed it. 

I think that was really the biggest change of today… for weeks you would see something as a dot way up ahead, then it would be slightly larger, and it would steadily grow until you saw it slowly pass. Today, things would appear and be gone just like that. It wasn’t so much the speed, though today I hit my fastest on this trip, the thing was with the turns and hills. It made everything more exciting, you couldn’t tell when there would be something amazing that you only got a glimpse of or … what was that?!?! 

We got to Ferine, a nice town. But it was only 40 miles from where we left this morning. We wanted more, maybe not the 50 more miles that the next town was, but 40 was not really the day we were looking for. So with a quick stop for food we hit the road again. 

The road meandered along rivers and streams. They were all low in their banks but the way the shores were covered in rocks and such a large path was cut through the valley. You could tell at some point, I assume spring, these rives and streams got much much larger. 

There was one section of road that ran through a valley, long and green valley. It was really beautiful. I don’t really have the words to truly give it justice. The valley was a pure green with grasses and trees genteelly swaying in the breeze while the river lapped on the shore. All contained by these tall rocky walls of the mountains on either side of the valley. 

Around a few corners and we were heading down a large hill. On the other side of the road there was a cliff, and a wall of road to our right. As the road curved and followed the contours of the ridge I could see we would go through a small tunnel. They cut a hole through the side of the mountain instead of taking off enough of the side to continue the road. So far all of the roads have been nice so I will not question their choices. As we approached I started to get worried… this looked tight. I saw a sign that said, bikes in tunnel when flashing, that had lights on top. I questioned how we turned on the lights, but as we approached they started to flash. Maybe they have this all figured out. We rode down the hill in to tunnel, at least we had gravity on our side. Inside the tunnel we could hear a truck coming. There was no where to go, nothing to do… we just continued hoping he saw the flashing lights and was paying enough attention to not accidentally kill us. Inside the tunnel the noise was tremendous as the truck headed toward us. Just as we got to far end of the tunnel the truck safely accelerated past us. It was still heart pounding. 

We continued through the jits and jats of the foot hills and lower mountain paths. There was a seemingly endless amount of views. 

Some of the bigger hills were happily heading down for us today, but sometimes speed can be scarier then effort. Staring at a large up hill gives you the anticipation of the work to come, but you push the right foot down and the left comes up, you push the left foot down and the right comes up, repeat, and then you’re at the top. Going down, you crest the hill and you can feel gravity pull, and pull, and pull. It’s great to have little to no work… I mean you got to the top some how, but on this side little to no work. Except as you speed down the hill and you something in the road just ahead, do you try to avoid? Brace for impact? There is little time to decide. 

Heading down one of the larger hills there was a group of animals grazing in the field below. It was a good hill so neither of us really had the time to look, but we are both sure it was a group of cows with a single bison. Our first… if it was in fact a bison. But I was very excited to see a bison, even if it was in a pasture… as in not really in nature. 

One more quick stop for some water. The guy having an ice cream at the gas station was full of useful information and nice conversation. Recharged and ready to go we headed out for the last of the ride. 

At the top of a hill very close to town I started to loose it… I was finished, though not at the hotel. Jerry made a joke and I pushed through and just as hard of a wall I hit we were at the top of the hill and now heading down into town. As we entered town there was a sign for the Days Inn with deluxe hot breakfast, just 3 kilometers ahead. We pressed on to the far side of town. When we pulled in to the hotel I saw we had gone just over a hundred miles. My first century ever!!! And I did it on the 39^th day in a row of bike riding. I’ve never really keep really track of this kind of a thing but I did know I hadn’t done one before, and I know I did one today! 

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MikeDiazTheFirst

Mike was born in Queen, New York to a blue collar family. An avid self educator, artist, and traveler he’s traveled around the globe three times while immersing himself in the culture of 48 different countries and counting.  Read about his journeys and musings here.

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