There's no crying in bicycle touring!
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B & P just moments prior to departing.
If only we knew what was in store for us. |
Sometimes things just don't work out as planned. This was one of those times. To make a long story short, let's just say that fate conspired against us this day. Between the 40 m.p.h. headwinds, B's sore and swollen knee, and multiple flat tires, it didn't take long for us to figure out that this just wasn't going to be our day.
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| One of the few photos taken during our 4 hour, 15 mile ride into the teeth of the wind. |
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| Had to stop at the corner of Fur. |
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| Sand-hill cranes. Great to see these making a comeback. |
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B's knee. Swollen again, a week after the crash.
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We still wanted to try out our camping gear, so we made the decision to camp at least one night. This was a good decision as it allowed us to determine that our camping gear is awesome. It got down to 28 degrees and we stayed nice and warm. Thanks Big Agnes!
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| Camp is set. |
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| Time to start dinner |
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| Snacking on a pumpernickel pretzel while waiting for the main course. |
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| Cooking after dark requires a great deal of skill. |
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Veggie burger on whole wheat pita. YUM!!!
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| Time to crawl into our happy little tent for the night. |
We awoke the next morning to the wind howling yet again, so we made the decision to call off the rest of the trip.
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| Awake and happy as we realized that our camping equipment worked better then we could have hoped. |
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| It's cold out and some hot Alterra coffee is going to be SO wonderful. |
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| Tea bag, coffee bag, what's the difference? |
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| I'M HUNGRY!!!!! |
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| Warm vanilla almond granola with dried cranberries. |
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Listening to the wind and being grateful I am not pedaling into it.
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| Breaking camp. |
So after making the decision to call the rest of the trip off, we decided to make the best of the rest of our time off and head to a comfy resort.
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| Comfy! |
The rest of the time was spent sightseeing, mini-golfing, EATING, enjoying the scenery and each others company.
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| B presenting the woods. |
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| Beautiful wife, beautiful scenery. |
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| Had the best veggie burger of my life here. Actually, have never had a bad meal here. If you go, try the glorious chocolate cake. It is slap yo mama good! |
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| Water bug eye view. |
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Sedimentary my dear Watson. Sedimentary.
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| Things are looking up. Literally. |
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I like this shot.
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| A little mini golf to satisfy our competitive side. |
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| Did ya hear about the new pirate movie? It's rated ARRR! |
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| Probably not the best place for two vegetarians to go for dinner! |
After this it was time to head home. On the way we stopped for some snacks and to use the facilties and B found this in the ladies room.
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| Where else can you get a $5.00 footlong AND something to protect it with in the same location? |
In closing I will say that we learned a great deal on this little disastrous trip. BUT, that is the exact reason we are doing these shorter trips. Better to fail miserably close to home than thousands of miles away.
We have already started looking at dates to try this again. Not going to plan so extensively the next time though. It seems like every time we plan in detail, things just don't go well. When we just kind of wing it, we have a much better time.
Time for good points bad points:
B's bad points: Hills, headwinds and sore knees!
B's good points: It's not about the destination, but rather the journey. Make the most of what happens
and move on.
P's bad points: Headwinds, flat tires and a plan that didn't work out.
P's good points: Found out we made great decisions in our choice of camping equipment.
