Day 10, July 26, 2012, Fairmount Hot Springs to Fort Steele Resort and R.V. Park

 Day 10, July 26, 2012, Fairmount Hot Springs to Fort Steele Resort and R.V. Park

Awake at 6 AM to turn off the iPhone alarm, crawl back in bed, then get back out and turn on the coffee pot to make hot water, then I go back to bed and lay there listening to Frank take a shower. When Frank finished I decided to get out of bed and begin packing. We had a 7:30 breakfast appointment with the boys in cabin 34 at the Smoking Waters Cafe and Coffee shop. Turns out our cabin was way faster than those in 34. 

Smoking Waters is a very nice cafe with good food and good coffee. The layout had 3 and 4 person tables surrounding in a horseshoe fashion a round table accommodating 6 to 8 people. The open end of the horseshoe was toward a large stone fireplace with nice, comfortable looking, arm chairs. The bathroom was bright and cheery with posters from the 50's touting Fairmount's entertainment venues, i.e. all the outdoorsy stuff one could do year round.

We left full on a good bacon and/or sausage, eggs, and hash browns' breakfast. We rode, perhaps 3-5 miles, on the busy 93 then got the opportunity to ride on a side road, Columbia Lake Road. A nice, quiet road with a few locals running or biking. The sun was bright and warm.

Columbia Lake

 

Looking the other way.

When Columbia Lake Road came back to 93 we started out as a group and pretty much stayed that way into Wasa, 14 miles from Fairmount. It was time for a break. We rode in to Canal Flats and when the road we were riding on T-boned with another street there was Steve's Cafe. We decided to give the cafe a shot. No sooner than we pulled up and out rushed Diane to greet and welcome us in.

 

Is Pancho Villa guarding my bike, checking it out or thinking about taking it for a ride?

Diane is a talkative lady who makes good pies. Several of us sampled her lemon meringue. It was tasty. Good crust and I have been told the secret to a good pie is a good crust. I have never made a pie so I don't really know. Just passin' along kitchen lore.

 

Log loader has lifted the trailer on to the log truck.

Day 9, July 26, 2012, Fairmount Hot Springs to Fort Steele Resort and R.V. Park 

City boys have never seen a log loader do its thing. Would have been better if they could have seen it take the logs off the truck.

When we left Canal Flats it was warmer. After climbing an easy hill I sped ahead to the top and pulled off my leg warmers and vest. Everyone passed me. The terrain favored me to chase everyone down. I caught and passed Mike, Frank, Jay, and Herb, but Bob and Geno had pulled away quite a distance. I settled into a pace I thought would eventually close the gap and not wear me out. then I began to notice they were changing off pulls. Were they out to make me work to catch them? There came a minor hill and it seemed they were slowing, so I decided to put on a burst and see if I could close out the final few meters to catch on. I did and I needed to sit back in third place for a while to recover and also make them work a little longer. There came a time when l felt it was time for me to take a pull. I pulled out and passed them with some effort and slowed to let them catch on. I pulled us to the top of the descent into Skookumchuck, which was our next designated rest stop. 

There was a store, but no restaurant. They did make grilled cheese sandwiches. I stood out front to flag down the rest of the gang. After a few minutes Jay came down the hill and I waved him in. He relieved me from watch duty. I went in and ordered a grilled cheese. What we got was cheese grilled between two pieces of bread.    

Herb, Frank and Mike showed up about 30 to 45 minutes later. Herb had a flat tire. Obviously they were hungry. Mike asked for a grilled cheese then wondered if he could have some fresh tomatoes with his grilled cheese. What the three of them received were three grilled cheese and ham sandwiches with tomatoes and lettuce. The waitress who did all the above joined in our frivolity, givin' as good as she got, but she didn't get too much since she was cute, friendly and makin' the sandwiches.

After Skookumchuck we headed for Wasa, which had a real restaurant. I pooped out on the way to Wasa. I was last in to Wasa. There I ate chili and fruit bowl, although I could not finish the fruit bowl.

Our last stop for the day and night was Fort Steele RV Park and Campground. I led the group out of Wasa, eventually I tired out and gave way to Geno. I slipped into the fourth place back and motored along. Soon the last climb of the day became apparent. The road was straight and you could look up the road and see the climb stair casing its way up. At the bottom of the climb Geno began to attack. Herb was behind him. Later he explained he knew what Geno was doing, having ridden with him for many years, so he pulled off leaving Bob to hang on to Geno's wheel. Bob began to tucker and a gap was created. The pace got my blood flowing and soon I decided to catch Geno. I pulled out and passed Bob in hot pursuit of Geno. It took quite a bit of effort and soon I was sitting on Geno's wheel gasping. We motored along until the descent into Fort Steele. The RV campground was on our left on the east side of Fort Steele.

We spent the night in a small one room cabin. It had one double bed, no bedding, and one double bed bunk bed with no bedding. I decided to sleep in the top bunk sharing the space with Jay. I spent the worst night of our trip, so far. It was hot, a few mosquitoes had made it inside, my butt was sore and the sleeping bag was too hot to crawl into. No one else's snoring or moving around kept me awake just my own discomfort. As far as I can tell I did not sleep. If I did it was not deep, refreshing, sleep.

Stats:4:20, Mx= 32.2, Av= 13.2, El Gain= 1250, Mx Alt= 2846, ODO= 3410, D= 57.5