Gig Harbor Washington to Bar Harbor Maine 2001

Another great day. I woke up to Mickey packing up, although she was obviously trying to be quiet. We'd been tentatively heading towards Garcia's relatives in Barney for the 4th of July, but we weren't going to be able to get there until fairly late on the 4th. So we had a group meeting this morning and decided to head toward Fargo instead. We all have bike issues that we need a big city to solve. Besides, Fargo for the fourth and fifth just sounds like a good time.

Mickey Smak, travelling light.

I had a good time talking to Mickey before she left, discussing riding in various countries and arguing helmets. Dutch people are strongly opposed to helmet laws and wearing helmets period. I didn't offer my opinion that anyone with anything in their head worth protecting, should.

We headed for the store but, as I didn't need anything, I rolled on. I stopped a couple hours later in Glenfield and found another store, it was the building marked "Beauty Salon", and guzzled some OJ and donettes. The town kids on their bikes were fascinated with mine, as usual, and raced me out of town. The hearts of many small towns are just off the roads. I'm beginning to ride through them whether I need to stop or not. The recumbent is a sure conversation starter so I always get to talk to somebody. Most folks seem like they've never been beyond the city limits. It's like dropping into Twilight Zone episodes.

Another couple of hours later I stopped in Cooperstown for lunch. I thought I'd found the only restaurant in town and enjoyed a grilled chicken chef salad, the special, and some iced tea. As I was leaving, Gridley rode up, determined that he couldn't get pancakes and eggs there and we went down the street to another place where he could. They didn't have iced tea, so I had some mixed berry pie.

Kathryn and Garcia showed up as we were leaving, then Gridley went to the old courthouse to call a Fargo bike shop and I rolled on again. The last 25 miles or so went pretty fast, almost all with a stiff tailwind. As I pulled into Hope (that's Hope, far Beyond Hope) several bikes were leaving. They didn't want to waste the tailwind and were heading 14 miles to the next town. But the next town has no pool and it was getting hot. We may dub our ride the Tour de Pool. I found the pool and park and waited a few minutes for Gridley.

The pool was very cold, which was very nice. But the best part was the shower. It has cinder block walls and no ceiling so you can shower and dry off in the nude in the sun. Brilliant design. Again, Kathryn and Garcia showed up as we left the pool. They went in and showered but were too weenie to jump in the pool. I guess growing up in Houston and DC is kinda like being born on the sun. (They assured me that they later did get in the pool, but we have no photographic evidence.)

Swimming?.

We camped in the city park with a good view of the pool. Gridley had been looking for flags for our bikes for the 4th and finally found some. We all had them flying from our BOBs

We just need to plant petunias.

Gridley and I went to "Sports Bar". I knocked back a couple of Old Milwaukee NA's and we talked them into changing the channel from Jeopardy to the weather channel. Looks like a quick ride to Fargo tomorrow.