Day 52: Fires Force an Unscheduled Rest Day; Water is Precious and the Smoke Gets Heavy

August 22, 2015

Notes:

1.) If you select the “Comment” link near the bottom of the page you can leave a message for me. I enjoy getting them.

2.) Miles Remaining to Canon City: about 1,196

3.) Miles Traveled to Date on This Half of the Journey: 804

4.) Money Found Today: 0

5.) Total Money Found: $0.21 (Will I find enough to buy a cup of coffee?)

I’m taking today as a rest day in Lowell.

My Presence Significantly Increased the Population

I awoke last night to find the power out. No big deal, I had been warned that might happen because the firefighters planned to shut it off for some reason, but they expected to have it back on by morning. I rolled out of bed at 4:20 am, not wanting to sleep too late since I am planning a very early start tomorrow morn in an attempt to reach somewhere in Montana. Flushing the toilet, I noticed that it didn’t refill. I checked the sink faucet, and sure enough there was no water. Of course; the Inn must use a well for water and it has an electric pump! No worry, the water will be restored when they turn the electric back on. My water bottles were almost depleted, but I had just enough to make a cup of coffee. Well, I had almost enough; I had to use about half a cup of diluted Gatorade to have enough. Yeah, that’s weird, but the restaurant wouldn’t open until 7:00 am and I wanted my coffee to sip while I worked on this journal. There was no coffee maker in the room, and without power it wouldn’t have worked anyway, so I fired up my jetboil stove and boiled the water/Gatorade mix and produced an instant coffee that was no worse than what we used to drink in my drill rig days. I had about 50% battery in my tablet computer, and I used the flashlight app of my cell phone to illuminate the keyboard, so I worked away. Once the power comes back on I can just recharge everything, right? So here’s where I’m staying;

My Home For 2 Nights (Forest Fire Forced Delay)

I figured that whatever the firefighters were doing they would finish by 6:00 am or so to allow the 2 hotels in town and the restaurant to get up and running. But there was no power at 6 – no power at 7 – and no power at 8:00 am either. I heard some rustling outside the café, so I walked over and met a couple of locals who show up for coffee every morning. They gave me the bad news; power likely wouldn’t be restored for another 1-2 days. The firemen had shut off power to do a controlled burn around the electric substation located in Syringa. They protected the substation during the burn, but a burned tree fell over and into a powerline leading to the substation. So they did as much harm as good it seems, but these things happen when you are trying to combat a forest fire. The electric company crews were busy trying to fix all the damage caused by the numerous fires, and Lowell was just a tiny burb that wouldn't be a high priority.

Gadzooks! To be perfectly honest, things are looking rather gloomy right now. The restaurant can’t open without power. I returned to my room and assessed my food stocks. I have bread and peanut butter, 1 small can of tuna fish, an instant potatoes mix (enough for 2 meals for me), 1 apple, 1 plum, 1 orange juice, 1 pastry, and 2 instant oatmeals and 2 instant grits. Plus I have about 1 dozen fig newtons and 4 cheese crackers. I need to give first priority to my food needs for breakfast tomorrow and during tomorrow’s gonzo ride, then whatever is left I can use for today. But I need water first. I’m mad at myself for not realizing that the water might go off when they turned the power off – I should have filled all the water containers last night. But what’s done is done, I need to survive first and then I can be mad at myself later. I heard someone walking around outside, and I ventured out and another occupant of the Inn was packing up to leave. He and his wife had just retired and were moving to Oregon, and he was driving a U-Haul truck and she was driving their car. He was interested in my bike trip and we talked a lot; he was quite an effervescent fellow and I enjoyed talking with him. I told him I was concerned about having enough water and he went to the back of the U-Haul and returned with 7 plastic pint bottles of water for me! Wow, was I ever grateful for that! It wouldn't be enough for today and tomorrow, but it put me way ahead of where I was.

Now I could see that others were hanging out at the café next door, so I ventured back over. The owner showed up and let us all in, and he proceeded to make coffee on a propane cook stove and passed it out to us all. The local gang all discussed the state of the fires and smoke and the power outage. Word of mouth is really all they had for news, and no one expected the power to be restored for a couple of days. Some of them had generators they could use to power their homes, and some were going to try and rent a generator in Kooskia but they thought none would be available due to the ongoing disaster. I was the “outsider” in this group, and the owner told everyone I was traveling by bicycle and they all asked me the usual questions, to which I was happy to answer. I told them I could survive on the food supplies I had until I reached Powell tomorrow, but that I was short on having enough water. A lady who lived nearby heard that and said that she had water cause her place had a holding tank, and she volunteered to bring me water. I gave her all my empty bottles and she returned with them plus a gallon milk jug full of water. Thanks to the kindness of a stranger once again, I now had enough water to make it! I had enough food if I ate lightly today and saved most of it for breakfast and an on-the-road lunch tomorrow, plus a bit for snacks to fuel me to Powell. The café here in Lowell has food in the coolers, but they are afraid to open the cooler doors because the food may spoil before the power comes back on. So no help there. I would HAVE to get food tomorrow in Powell, else my attempt to reach Montana would die from lack of energy to power my bicycle "motor." The locals seem convinced that due to the concession contract the lodge at Powell had with the Forest Service, that they were required to always be open and that I would almost certainly be able to get food there. I hope they are right; to them, Powell is just an 80 minute drive through the mountains, it’s no big deal if you get there and they are closed. To me, it will be a real disaster if they aren’t open, cause I will need to fuel my body to give me the energy to continue. I can’t call the restaurant at Powell since I have no cell service, and the landline at the café is inoperative since the power went out. Here’s the local gang in the café at Lowell;

The Local Gang (and me) Enjoyed Coffee Brewed on a Camp Stove (the power is out)

The locals think that Lowell is almost Heaven.

At The Moment, Lowell Just Doesn't Seem Like Heaven To Me. But the Cafe Serves Good Food!

Honestly, it's a pretty place (when you can see it without the smoke), but at the moment it doesn't feel much like Heaven to me. Smoke, nearby fires, bad air, uncertainty about food and water; at the moment, Lowell seems like a close proxy for the other place.

I returned to my room and worked more on this journal. The battery in my tablet computer was about to expire when I heard a gurgling noise in the toilet. What’s this? Maybe the owner found a generator? I tried the faucet and got water! I had a couple of empty bottles and quickly filled those. Then I tried the lights and they worked! It was about noon now, and I hooked up all my electrics that needed recharging and went over to the café and found out that the power had been restored faster than expected and the café would open again in a couple of hours. I was elated! It's amazing how a simple thing like having electricity rejuvenated my spirits; I was happy even though I was still facing a desperate situation to try and escape from this smoky hell.

I returned to my room and continued working on this journal for a couple of hours, then went outside to walk over to the café for a burger. You could barely see for maybe 100 yards – the smoke had thickened so much it was like a thick fog! My heart sank – I don’t think I can bicycle too well in this thick smoke. But I remembered when I stopped in Mount Vernon, OR because of the fog-like smoke, and how it cleared up by the next morning. So maybe that will happen again. I have a dust mask I can wear, but it will be difficult to wear it and bicycle; to even get a drink I would have to first remove my helmet and then remove the mask. I suppose I could just not wear the helmet. But then I wouldn’t have a rear-view mirror, since my mirror is attached to the helmet. In the very early morning there will be hardly no traffic, so not having a rear-view wouldn’t be much of a hindrance; so if I need to wear the mask, then perhaps I will just not wear the helmet tomorrow morn. The waitresses were outside the café taking photos of the smoke with their cell phones, and they said they had never seen it so thick. Great news, I’m here during a record-setting smoke storm - sigh...

The Smoke Had Thickened Considerably; I Was Not Happy

I can’t even see across the river anymore.

I Could No Longer Even See Across the River

Well, I’ve had my spirits crushed today when I realized the lack of power meant no water either, then I was rejuvenated by the kindness of strangers providing me with enough water to make it to Powell, then my spirits were really lifted when the power was restored and that meant the café would open, and now this stinking smoke is trying to crush me with the realization of adding even more difficulty to the already Herculean task that lies ahead of me tomorrow. Honestly, it’s hard for me to find much good about my situation at the moment. But I’m not going to let it defeat me. I’m just not. I’ve been in a bad funk before on the first half of this journey and I got through it, and I will find a way to get through this. Somehow. I mean, come on now; I'm inside for the night, I have food and water for tomorrow's journey, I'm healthy, and I'm living the adventure of a lifetime - that's enough, that's more than enough! In the meantime, this is the best I can do to keep the smoke out of my room;

Now I need to make preparations for tomorrow. I’m hoping the smoke will clear up, and I’m planning on a really early start. I’m going to use the café phone now that power has been restored, and call ahead and check on things in Powell, and call a few potential lodging options for tomorrow night, assuming I can make it to Montana. Maybe it will be better in Montana? Tomorrow I'm planning for a major Gonzo day - a record-breaking Gonzo day for me anyway - that's all I need to do to make it to Montana, just ride longer and harder than I ever have before. Child's play. Good night everyone...

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