July 14
13 Miles
It was a short ride into town, off the main highways and even on some bike trails for a mostly flat and relaxing ride on a cool and drizzly morning.
First stop was coffee and breakfast, where we could use the service to make a plan for the day. Despite a couple offers of hospitality, we had a lot of hotel points to use and will not likely be near any major hotel chains for quite some time, so we took advantage of the opportunity for a hotel room and a full zero day tomorrow.
We stopped at REI to pick up a few things (especially DEET – every square inch of my ankles is thoroughly bitten up), had lunch at one of the many Thai restaurants in town, and checked into the hotel. We got a lot of stares rolling in with our loaded bikes, but it sure is a conversation starter and a few folks stopped to chat with us. This hotel is busy, as they apparently also run tours in addition to hosting conferences. Showers and laundry were the first order of business, along with catching the highlights of the first ten stages of the Tour de France.
Aside from laundering our clothes, Paul also took the opportunity to wash the tent in the bathroom tub. With all the rushing into the tent at night, and all the murdering of mosquitos, and two nights of damp conditions, it was in need of some cleaning.
Tomorrow will be a true rest day, though we do have errands to run in town, it will be on foot. The other cycling couple we met in Coldfoot is also in town so maybe we’ll meet up for lunch.