Day 16: Recuperating in Fairfield

September 12, 2008

I still had no energy in the morning, so I paid for one more night at the motel. I walked around the tiny town and took a few pictures. Fairfield is at 4800 feet elevation and obviously gets a lot of snow during winter.

The county's fleet of snowplows in Fairfield.

A bike shop in a town of less than 1000 inhabitants!

Surprised to see a bike shop in the sleepy town of Fairfield.

In the motel lobby I used their public computer to check email for the first time on this tour. Later I had a turkey pita sandwich for lunch at an excellent sandwich shop across from the high school. It has unique sandwiches that are not typical in such a small rural town.

The Fairfield business and government district across the street from the high school.

Old "service station" with art deco architecture.

Back in the motel room I tightened all the bolts on the bike and inspected the equipment. Then I took a 3-hour afternoon nap.

My Big Agnes pad recently developed a slow leak, so I filled the bathtub with water and held the pad underwater. When pressing very hard on the mattress I was able to find extremely tiny bubbles leaking from a seam. It was easy to patch, but it would have been impossible to find the leak without a bathtub full of water.

While killing time in the motel room I watched the TV news about hurricane Ike bearing down on Galveston, Texas. A world away from rural Idaho.

The weather was sunny all day with a strong west wind in the late afternoon. In the evening I ate at the sandwich shop again. The town was buzzing with activity. It's Friday night and there is a home football game in town. After dinner I saw a loaded touring bike parked next to the tavern. I looked around inside the tavern but it wasn't obvious which of the many patrons was the bike tourist.

After dinner I saw this touring bike next to the tavern.

In the evening I spent $35 on groceries, assuming that I will pedal 4 days before getting to the next grocery store.

This was the only day of my 34-day trip that I didn't bike at all. I have a stuffy nose but my energy level is increasing after a day and a half of rest. Hopefully tomorrow I will be ready to bike again.

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