July 26, 2019
Balfour - Castlegar, BC
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I woke up at 3:30 AM. Darn, darn. I had been sleeping so well. I took three slugs of Zquil and thankfully went back to sleep. At some wee hour I woke up enough to plug in the fan to cover the highway noise. Of course, I was just feeling sleepiest when it was time to get up. I gathered all of my belongings and went downstairs in one shot. I’m not sure if the stairs helped or hindered my fatigued legs last night, but they didn’t appreciate the extra exercise.
I’m getting very tired of oatmeal. I hope we have breakfast included at our lodging tonight. It’s a more upscale place. I’m ready for anything but oatmeal. We were discussing overnight stays and I checked the Fireside Inn , by complete chance I saw that we had only one night reserved there but we needed two. Eeegads! I called, yes we could get a second night. We have the deluxe king suite. I think I made a mistake here and thought the $161. Price was for two nights and what a deal, we might as well stay in the nicer room. Instead I got one night. Now we have two nights and still in the fancy room. Look st us go. My legs are so tied I might not leave the room except to eat.
We are off. There's sunshine out there today.
Genny and I were both ready for a day off. Our legs were not in the mood for riding. I took 5-10 miles before my legs gave up and admitted we had to ride today. At least it was a fairly easy day. We climbed and descended the same 50 feet over and over again while circling the lake. We had enticing lake views the entire morning. There were plenty of people out walking and bicycling right on the highway. I guess it's the only road if you live lake side.
We had several quick stops on the way to Nelson at mile 20. I hadn't been looking forward to Nelson - I remembered as being big and busy and we got lost trying to get out of town. I was surprised when we came upon the bridge. Nelson already? That was fast. I like following Jim. He takes all of the turns and Bertha confirms that he's gone the correct direction. We took a side street through town. Of course it was up. Then it dumped us back in the downtown area close to the hostel we stayed at in 2016. I recognized the A&W, that's where Oren and I got lost. This time we didn't get lost. Jim took all of the correct turns and we were soon on Highway 3A, climbing away from town. Ugh. It was a stiff climb with lots of traffic, including helicopter traffic. We saw a sign for helicopter tours. We've been enjoying nice Highway 23 from Revelstoke. It has an excellent road surface and little traffic. 3A is much busier, although it still has new pavement. Canada is way ahead of the USA on maintaining road infrastructure.
At this point I think we all wanted to get to town. The temperature was warming up. I don't usually like the heat, but it was a novelty after all of the wet days. My legs even felt hot! Jim has a thermometer, it said 95, but he allowed that it was in the sunshine. I told him we were in the sunshine also. He kept waiting for Genny and me to catch up, but he would find a patch of shade to wait in.
Genny had asked for a place to eat after we left Nelson and Jim replied there wasn't anywhere. Look - here's Slocan, with a steakhouse right across the street. But we'd already had a snack and mentally were thinking food in Castlegar. We kept moving. There was a paved bike path - Slocan Valley Rail Trail. This end was paved. I'm quite sure Oren and I checked that out in 2016 and it was very rough dirt. I wonder how much of the trail has been improved.
We had get down the road fever. Off we went. I'm happy today was a fairly easy day. My legs feel better now. I think riding helped loosen them up. Yesterday, about four miles before town I pulled the seat cushion out of the cover and rotated it. That was an excellent idea. The cushion had compressed at the seat edge and my sciatic nerve was getting compressed. Now I've flipped the cushion over and it's cushy again. So, my legs were happy and my butt was happy. I was happy too because tomorrow is a rest day. We have a king suite at the Fireside Inn. I"m looking forward to a little luxury.
We had two choices coming into Castlegar. We could go around to the north, ride an extra three miles, and have one bridge to cross. It was longer, but had a shoulder. The more direct way that Jacinto took had two bridges. He said both were just fine. Jacinto also took the back way from Nelson, Government Road to Granite Road to Blewett Road. He got 600 extra feet of climbing, but roughly the same distance. Jacinto liked that road as it didn't have any traffic.
We stopped at a little bakery next to the Kootenay Grocery store. They were busy. I had potato soup, it was good. I also ate a huckleberry muffin that was excellent. It was a nice break. Then we had two more miles to the motel. Rest day, here we come!
Remember how I only booked one night at the Fireside and called up at the last minute for the second night? I got the first night for $141. and the second night for $181. It pays to be the early bird. Jim got their room much cheaper . . . . ah, well. It's a huge room. Don and Marilyn could hold a square dance in here.
I believe I can be stirred to go to the Safeway across the street. Maybe they have fresh cherries. There were a couple of fruit stands on the way, but we didn't stop. Cherries sound good. They are only in season for a short time.
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Today's ride: 49 miles (79 km)
Total: 734 miles (1,181 km)
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