Gig Harbor Washington to Bar Harbor Maine 2001

We went through another time zone yesterday so when Gridley's alarm went off at 6:00 this morning, it was really the middle of the night. He didn't hear it and I assumed it was meant for someone else. We were as surprised as Kathryn was when she knocked on our door at 7:45, fully dressed and ready to ride, and we were still in bed. We took advantage of the free breakfast and were out by about 9.

First thing we did was look for a grocery store. We hadn't seen anything in the area. Turned out we were right around the corner from an Albertsons, KMart and Walmart. Civilization! Gridley found some sunblock and cheap gatorade. I looked for more gas for my stove and decent tunes. Struck out. All I got were some razors.

We rode down Main Street which was really an old modest neighborhood, Reminded me of parts of Tulsa or Bartlesville. Rode through the blocked off downtown streets where they were preparing for a massive sidewalk sale. Loaded up on maps at the visitors bureau and got out of town.

More hot babes.

We hit hills immediately. Big rolling hills, very much like the ripples of Eastern Washington. They continued all day long with varying severity. We hadn't felt too bad about oversleeping because it had been raining. It was still very overcast and relatively cool. The humidity was still high, but it dried up as the day heated up.

We'd left the kids at Walmart and decided to duck down to Lewis and Clark State Park for a lunch munch. It was about 20 miles from Williston. At about 10 miles out I got ahead of Gridley and he disappeared. I waited a long time and he never showed, so I went down to the park by myself. It was about 3 miles off route, downhill all the way to the Missouri River. I ate my bagel and enjoyed the view for a few minutes, then fought my way back uphill and upwind. As I neared the highway I thought I saw a biker, maybe two. I hurried up a series of hills and caught up with Garcia and Kathryn.

More hills.

They were really taking it easy and were very shocked that I was behind them. They hadn't seen Gridley. Very strange. We stopped a couple of miles later at Lund's Landing. We expected a bait shop/beer store but it was an elegant resort and restaurant. We sat on the porch in the shade guzzling quart tumblers of sun ice tea, eating a variety of sandwiches (meatloaf, burger and catfish), homemade veggy beef soup, delighting in the hospitality of the hostess, the wife of a former state legislator, and topping the experience off with homemade Juneberry-rhubarb pie. What a treat! They had free camping. If Gridley had been there, we probably would have stayed the night. But he was missing in action and we had to pedal on.

Another oasis.

The pie kept us happy for a few miles, but the hills and heat made for a long afternoon. We finally hit New Town after 8:00, scarfed burgers at the only thing open, got a message from Gridley (we figured out how to use my cell phone voice mail to leave messages for each other), and headed for the campground. The guy that runs the place plays a real asshole, but easily let us talk him into staying around long enough for us to shower. I put my new razors to use.

Would you care for a copy of the Watchtower?.