July 16, 2006
Day 67: Dillon to Jackson Hot Springs
When your day starts off with a nurse drawing circles on your butt with a magic marker, you know it could be a rough day.
Toni had had a rough day yesterday, so I didn't talk to her about my spider bite last night. This morning, I took her aside to tell her about my bite. She really wanted to see it, so we hid behind a bush barely big enough to hide one cheek so I could drop trou. She said it looked really bad and we went over to see Robert, the doctor of the group. She told him I had bites with 'pustulation' and he was kind of looking around for them. I just blurted out 'they're on my butt' and then he wasn't quite so anxious to see them! Robert is the sweetest guy in the world. He recommended I take antibiotics and have Toni draw circles around the bites so they could all see if they were getting better or worse. Lucky me!
Between all that and not being able to find my bike computer, I was kind of late getting out of town. The day was less than 50 miles, so I wasn't too worried about it. But the day was rough. Really rough. I knew I'd be slow over the two passes today, so I took off when I could. I pulled up behind Robert just as we were getting out of town. He was dragging, but I didn't think much of it. Miles up the road, Alvin kept trying to call, but we couldn't keep a signal long enough to get a message through. I was frustrated because I knew he wouldn't be calling if something wasn't wrong. Hardly anyone else kept cell phones on during the day except me and Patrick and I didn't know how far back Patrick was, but I know he likes road kill pictures, so I took this one for him.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
About the time I caught up with Toni starting to fix yet another flat, Alvin got a text message through that said Robert was having serious cramping trouble. We did eventually connect, with Alvin and Patrick trying to get a ride for Robert, but they were all really far back and didn't know when they'd catch up.
I stayed with Toni for a while until she got her tire mostly fixed and headed up the road. The first pass wasn't too bad, but the second about did me in. The whole day was service-free, so there weren't any cold-liquid options, and it was hot. I stopped in the shade of a sign for a while and felt a little dizzy when I got up. I attributed it to the antibiotics or just standing up too fast, but I knew I had to be careful. I saw a sign for a convenience store and tried not to get my hopes up. I thought it would be a little off the route, but I never did see it. I had visions of buying a bag of ice and a bunch of Gatorade to leave on the side of the road for Alvin, Patrick, and Toni. I didn't know how far back they were or whether they'd found a ride for Robert. But no convenience store. . .
Big Hole pass was a Big Pain. Harder than Hoosier Pass was for me for some reason. A hill you could see going straight up in front of you for miles and miles. I kept stopping and hoping a car would throw me a tow rope and drag me up the hill, but there was almost no traffic. I wasn't even that impressed with the scenery and was too lazy to take many pictures, even though it was kind of pretty. I would have been happy for some shade and something cold to drink. As it was, I was running low on good water by the time I got to the top of Big Hole. Alvin and Ron came up and shared the top of the pass with me, but they both sped down the hill quicker than me. The downhill was disappointing and I dragged on the flats into Jackson that I thought were going to be downhills. Only Patrick and Toni were behind me and I was sure they'd catch up, but Toni had a rough time with the pass, too, and Patrick waited for her. He's so sweet.
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
There wasn't much in Jackson. I got a not-very frozen slush from an old-style general store and went over to check in for camping behind the lodge/hot springs. Dumped off my stuff and showered in water that was way too hot for comfort. Patrick got there and we went to the bar for two 7-Ups. The lodge had a monopoly in town and knew how to use it-prevented cooking in the camping area, so I paid $15 for lasagna dinner with the group. Robert was there but seriously hobbling on a seriously cramped leg.
As hard as the day was, I never could have predicted that one of the most amazing moments of the trip would have happened there in that dead little town. Alvin and I grabbed our cameras and took off for the edge of town to check out the sunset, but it ended up being one of the most beautiful moments of the trip. I'd never really seen 'purple mountains majesty' in that way before. And I hadn't put my batteries back into my camera. Luckily, Alvin's matched mine, so we took turns taking pictures on his batteries. But it wasn't the pictures so much as just watching the light play on the mountains. Purple, pink, and orange and a good friend to share it all with as we reflected on the experience of the trip and how little of the country we were actually seeing. Just a ribbon across the landscape. Amazing moment.
When the mosquitoes threatened to carry us off and the sun went down, we headed back to camp. The temps go from hot to cold pretty soon after the sun goes down, so I snuggled in for a cold night and tried not to let anything touch my still-sore spider bite.
Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 3,374 miles (5,430 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 2 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |