Day 15
June 15, 2005
Today was the best day of the trip thus far. I know they are some pretty strong words, but it’s true. So let’s get to it…
We woke up around 6:30, broke down camp, and went across the river for some breakfast before we hit the road. After breakfast we stopped by the gas station and stocked up on food since there was a stretch of 65 miles without services ahead of us and we weren’t sure where we’d be staying for the night.
As we got rolling, and even while breaking down camp and the short trip to the restaurant, my knee was definitely not doing as well as I had hoped and/or as well as yesterday. I was pretty concerned about it, but just took more Ibuprofen at breakfast and took it easy in the early miles. In the early stages of the day, I figured out the pain disappeared when I stood out of the saddle and pedaled standing. So at one of the first little rest breaks, I raised my seat post about two inches. That first little break was where we met out first road-friend of the day.
As we pulled up to a little turn out on the side of the road, there was a man taking a few pictures of the mountains along the road. I don’t think we caught his name, but he looked like Elizabeth’s brother Brian, so I’ll call him Brian. Brian, in his early thirties, is from Grand Rapids, Michigan and is taking time to ride around, in his comfy Ford Taurus, and tour around while he contemplates his next career move. He was a great guy to talk to and clued us in on the road ahead and asked us questions about our own trip. He snapped a picture of the three of us, wished us well, and rode off into the sunset. …Or not, it was like 11am.
Today’s entire ride also followed the Lochsa River, and you know how I feel about rides along water… The Lochsa was also the best river-companion of the trip to date. It’s a great, strong river that never reached deeper than four feet. There were fly fisherman dotted along its banks, and it talked to us the whole time with its many rapids along the way. It may sound silly, but I really will be sad to turn away from it tomorrow.
Elizabeth and Amy are also great riding partners, for me at least. Chris and Chaz are great guys and we had a ton of fun together, but as far as “on the bike,” riding partners, the girls are much more my speed, especially with the tender knee issue right now. They stop at all the historical markers, which is often a welcomed little breather to let the legs rest a second, and for those who aren’t familiar – they are big signs that are scattered about every five to ten miles with little facts about Lewis & Clark’s expedition, or the battles that were fought in the region, just history of the region and its beginnings. They just seem to enjoy the actual ride a bit more and take their time covering their ground, which is fine by me.
About ten miles after we met Brian, we came upon a girl going west. Her name is Marta and she’s from Barcelona, Spain. Listen to this little story. In April she flew from her homeland, truly, to New York City, got on her bike and started heading west, sounds simple enough, but there’s more. She’s headed up to Seattle, she’s thinking about hanging out in Seattle for a few months to make some money before she continues. From Seattle she’s heading down the Pacific Coastline and heading for San Francisco. From there she wants to hit the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas before heading down to Mexico. She’ll hit Mexico and work her way through Central and South America where she’ll call it a day in Brazil. And she’s serious. The poor girl looked like she had been collecting souvenirs in NY and hadn’t quit since. She was so desperate for space, she had bags tied to her handlebars, just extremely way too much stuff on her load, and she knew it. But she was a trooper. And she was doing all this on a standard $100 mountain bike. If you ever read this Marta: It was great to chat with you! Good Luck and Safe Travels on the rest of your journey!!!
Another ten miles up we stopped by an old, now historical, ranger station Marta had recommended. As we were walking up, a really nice, older man stopped and chatted with us about how he and his wife were both from and met in Santa Cruz, as well as various other relevant topics. We continued up into the little main building and found an incredibly sweet older couple and their granddaughter managing the grounds. The gentleman implored us to take the self-guided tour of the old camp and, unwilling to let him down, we obliged.
It was actually very interesting. Many old cottages, well preserved/even more well built, of the ranger’s station 70 years ago. As we finished the little loop, I sat down on the lawn to put my shoes back on, it felt so good to walk around barefooted, and the older gentleman sat down right beside me and began talking about my knee and the ride again, the brace prompting the continuing conversation. Amy came out of the restroom and sat down beside the gentleman, the sweet lady and her granddaughter walked up from one of the cottages in the distance and sat down to join us, and then Elizabeth walked up and sat down, joining the afternoon social. The six of us had the best little conversation possible. The little girl was the cutest, the folks were the nicest, and it felt like we were some cousins coming from the shore that they had been waiting for. I didn’t want to leave. I really would have been content setting up camp right there and chatting with them the rest of the night over the campfire. It was really neat; the three of us and the three of them, just sitting on the grass talking about everything…
I really thought that would be the highlight of the day. But one more thing about that little stop… It was there that we heard there was a restaurant in Powell. I thought we’d be stranded tonight. News of a restaurant completely put a fresh wind in my sails. Yeah, if it weren’t for the thoughts of the new dinner to look forward to, I would have been asleep on those nice people’s lawn an hour ago.
But again, I thought that little family was to be the peak of the day, but it got better. The last five miles of the ride to Powell were pretty grueling, just for the shear fatigue factor, we were pretty spent. But we made it to the Lochsa Lodge and were excited by the camping facilities that were within walking distance. As we pulled up to the restaurant, I spotted Kaye chatting with another couple about 30 yards away. The three of them noticed us as we were pulling in and we all enjoyed a nice wave and “Hello.” As I was parking my bike and getting situated, a guy came up and tapped my arm with a nice, “How are ya?” It was Kirk. Just as we finished our quick little updates of the days prior, the girls must have mentioned my name in introducing themselves to Kaye. She came over with an enthusiastic, “Byron!!” and shook my hand, she hadn’t recognized me pulling in. I filled her in on my knee and filled her in on some other details of the trip… It was like meeting up with old friends. We chatted outside for a bit then all went in for dinner. It was unbelievable.
And I didn’t even mention the guys doing the Ride for Hope. There’s a group of 20 guys out here cycling across the U.S. for underprivileged youth. A few packs of them passed us a few times today and when we got to the lodge, we found out they are staying here too. And they’re really great too, we talked with several of them after dinner. They’re finishing in D.C. on the 17th of August.
So it was just a great day. My knee felt better after I adjusted the saddle, it was a perfect day for riding, the river was beautiful, the grade was just right, the people were unforgettable, the surprise of friends at the lodge was unreal… Just couldn’t have asked for a better day. I really don’t think it could have been better. I guess maybe a bed to sleep in, rather than a sleeping bag in a tent would top it off rather nicely.
Hey, Guess what, I got the bed too!
We were talking about where to throw up our tents at dinner and Kirk said he’s in a cabin with an extra bed if I wanted it. It took about 12 seconds to convince myself the girls would get over it and on the twelfth second I said, “Absolutely!” I took care of his meal and got a warm bed in return, sounds like a deal to me.
So I’m off to rest now, in a bed.
I really wish you could have been here for today, I really don’t know if it will be topped. But you never know…
Tomorrow we land in Missoula, MT! I can’t wait…
Today: 68.58 Total: 810.80
Today was the best day of the trip thus far. I know they are some pretty strong words, but it’s true. So let’s get to it…
We woke up around 6:30, broke down camp, and went across the river for some breakfast before we hit the road. After breakfast we stopped by the gas station and stocked up on food since there was a stretch of 65 miles without services ahead of us and we weren’t sure where we’d be staying for the night.
As we got rolling, and even while breaking down camp and the short trip to the restaurant, my knee was definitely not doing as well as I had hoped and/or as well as yesterday. I was pretty concerned about it, but just took more Ibuprofen at breakfast and took it easy in the early miles. In the early stages of the day, I figured out the pain disappeared when I stood out of the saddle and pedaled standing. So at one of the first little rest breaks, I raised my seat post about two inches. That first little break was where we met out first road-friend of the day.
As we pulled up to a little turn out on the side of the road, there was a man taking a few pictures of the mountains along the road. I don’t think we caught his name, but he looked like Elizabeth’s brother Brian, so I’ll call him Brian. Brian, in his early thirties, is from Grand Rapids, Michigan and is taking time to ride around, in his comfy Ford Taurus, and tour around while he contemplates his next career move. He was a great guy to talk to and clued us in on the road ahead and asked us questions about our own trip. He snapped a picture of the three of us, wished us well, and rode off into the sunset. …Or not, it was like 11am.
Today’s entire ride also followed the Lochsa River, and you know how I feel about rides along water… The Lochsa was also the best river-companion of the trip to date. It’s a great, strong river that never reached deeper than four feet. There were fly fisherman dotted along its banks, and it talked to us the whole time with its many rapids along the way. It may sound silly, but I really will be sad to turn away from it tomorrow.
Elizabeth and Amy are also great riding partners, for me at least. Chris and Chaz are great guys and we had a ton of fun together, but as far as “on the bike,” riding partners, the girls are much more my speed, especially with the tender knee issue right now. They stop at all the historical markers, which is often a welcomed little breather to let the legs rest a second, and for those who aren’t familiar – they are big signs that are scattered about every five to ten miles with little facts about Lewis & Clark’s expedition, or the battles that were fought in the region, just history of the region and its beginnings. They just seem to enjoy the actual ride a bit more and take their time covering their ground, which is fine by me.
About ten miles after we met Brian, we came upon a girl going west. Her name is Marta and she’s from Barcelona, Spain. Listen to this little story. In April she flew from her homeland, truly, to New York City, got on her bike and started heading west, sounds simple enough, but there’s more. She’s headed up to Seattle, she’s thinking about hanging out in Seattle for a few months to make some money before she continues. From Seattle she’s heading down the Pacific Coastline and heading for San Francisco. From there she wants to hit the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas before heading down to Mexico. She’ll hit Mexico and work her way through Central and South America where she’ll call it a day in Brazil. And she’s serious. The poor girl looked like she had been collecting souvenirs in NY and hadn’t quit since. She was so desperate for space, she had bags tied to her handlebars, just extremely way too much stuff on her load, and she knew it. But she was a trooper. And she was doing all this on a standard $100 mountain bike. If you ever read this Marta: It was great to chat with you! Good Luck and Safe Travels on the rest of your journey!!!
Another ten miles up we stopped by an old, now historical, ranger station Marta had recommended. As we were walking up, a really nice, older man stopped and chatted with us about how he and his wife were both from and met in Santa Cruz, as well as various other relevant topics. We continued up into the little main building and found an incredibly sweet older couple and their granddaughter managing the grounds. The gentleman implored us to take the self-guided tour of the old camp and, unwilling to let him down, we obliged.
It was actually very interesting. Many old cottages, well preserved/even more well built, of the ranger’s station 70 years ago. As we finished the little loop, I sat down on the lawn to put my shoes back on, it felt so good to walk around barefooted, and the older gentleman sat down right beside me and began talking about my knee and the ride again, the brace prompting the continuing conversation. Amy came out of the restroom and sat down beside the gentleman, the sweet lady and her granddaughter walked up from one of the cottages in the distance and sat down to join us, and then Elizabeth walked up and sat down, joining the afternoon social. The six of us had the best little conversation possible. The little girl was the cutest, the folks were the nicest, and it felt like we were some cousins coming from the shore that they had been waiting for. I didn’t want to leave. I really would have been content setting up camp right there and chatting with them the rest of the night over the campfire. It was really neat; the three of us and the three of them, just sitting on the grass talking about everything…
I really thought that would be the highlight of the day. But one more thing about that little stop… It was there that we heard there was a restaurant in Powell. I thought we’d be stranded tonight. News of a restaurant completely put a fresh wind in my sails. Yeah, if it weren’t for the thoughts of the new dinner to look forward to, I would have been asleep on those nice people’s lawn an hour ago.
But again, I thought that little family was to be the peak of the day, but it got better. The last five miles of the ride to Powell were pretty grueling, just for the shear fatigue factor, we were pretty spent. But we made it to the Lochsa Lodge and were excited by the camping facilities that were within walking distance. As we pulled up to the restaurant, I spotted Kaye chatting with another couple about 30 yards away. The three of them noticed us as we were pulling in and we all enjoyed a nice wave and “Hello.” As I was parking my bike and getting situated, a guy came up and tapped my arm with a nice, “How are ya?” It was Kirk. Just as we finished our quick little updates of the days prior, the girls must have mentioned my name in introducing themselves to Kaye. She came over with an enthusiastic, “Byron!!” and shook my hand, she hadn’t recognized me pulling in. I filled her in on my knee and filled her in on some other details of the trip… It was like meeting up with old friends. We chatted outside for a bit then all went in for dinner. It was unbelievable.
And I didn’t even mention the guys doing the Ride for Hope. There’s a group of 20 guys out here cycling across the U.S. for underprivileged youth. A few packs of them passed us a few times today and when we got to the lodge, we found out they are staying here too. And they’re really great too, we talked with several of them after dinner. They’re finishing in D.C. on the 17th of August.
So it was just a great day. My knee felt better after I adjusted the saddle, it was a perfect day for riding, the river was beautiful, the grade was just right, the people were unforgettable, the surprise of friends at the lodge was unreal… Just couldn’t have asked for a better day. I really don’t think it could have been better. I guess maybe a bed to sleep in, rather than a sleeping bag in a tent would top it off rather nicely.
Hey, Guess what, I got the bed too!
We were talking about where to throw up our tents at dinner and Kirk said he’s in a cabin with an extra bed if I wanted it. It took about 12 seconds to convince myself the girls would get over it and on the twelfth second I said, “Absolutely!” I took care of his meal and got a warm bed in return, sounds like a deal to me.
So I’m off to rest now, in a bed.
I really wish you could have been here for today, I really don’t know if it will be topped. But you never know…
Tomorrow we land in Missoula, MT! I can’t wait…
Today: 68.58 Total: 810.80
posted by SuperByron3000 at 6/17/2005
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