Today was supposed to be our rest day. We were giving it up to travel to Seaside and position ourselves for the return trip on Hwy. 26. In reality it turned out to be a much more restful rest day than the one we had in Missoula.

I slept in and was one of the last ones to leave camp. A first. Smoker John was riding the bus back to Portland. His knee was bothering him and he had accomplished his goal of cycling to the ocean. John said he was going to stay at Ft. Steven's another night and take some photos. He would meet us at the hostel in Portland for our goodbye dinner. We took on his share of the group cooking gear. I took the spice bag. That had started out as salt and pepper and was now a bulging gallon size Ziplock bag.

I was feeling lazy. I felt like I should go see Ft. Clatsop. I was on the Lewis and Clark trip. How could I do that and not see where their group wintered? I gave myself a mental talking to. Carlton found the fort so interesting he was going back for a second day. In the end I pointed straight down the road to Seaside. Lazy, lazy. I want to do the entire ride, but not the 15 (?) miles extra to see the fort.

The distance to Seaside passed in no time at all. The toughest part of the ride was riding up the hill out of the campground.

Coming into Seaside I stopped at a fruit stand and bought a $6.00 bag of cherries. I doubt the bag weighed a pound and the cherries were a bit past their prime. I ate them with gusto anyway.

I stopped at a bicycle shop and bought new gloves. They had black and blue fabric. The owner said that bright colors went out of style a long time ago. Screaming yellow is not my most complimentary color, but if it makes me visible, I'll wear it. I asked the shop owner for a recommendation for a seafood restaurant. He recommended Norma's.

As I was preparing to mount my bike, Bob and Robert crossed the street. They said they were headed to the beach and the hostel was only a block away. The hostel in Great Falls was the first one I had stayed at. It felt more like a B & B to me. I was interested to have another hostel experience. At the International Hostel 930 N. Holladay I was roomed with Peggy and Jerry. The hostel looked like an old 50's style strip motel with two short legs on each side of the office/kitchen/living room area. I don't know if they had any dorm type rooms. Our motel type room had twin bunk beds and a double bed. Peggy and Jerry hadn't arrived yet, so I took a shower and tried to keep my things tidy on my side of the room. It was very cramped and there was no question of putting any bicycles in the room. I was instructed to chain my bike to the fence in the back yard. I was shown a storage garage, but it was already very full with kayaks. There was a church group staying at the hostel also. With our two groups, they were full.

I walked downtown to Norma's. They were very busy. I had a shrimp cocktail. It was disappointing because I was expecting big prawn shrimp and I was served a dish of little itty, bitty shrimp. My clam chowder was the best. I also had a fried fish sandwich, made with fresh fish. It was SO good I almost ordered a second one. It was with great difficulty I restrained myself.

After eating I wandered around the very tourist oriented commercial district. I bought some souvenirs. I had to remind myself that I still had to carry my purchases two more cycling days.

I walked back to the hostel with a newspaper. I sat in the back yard and read until a bunch of the teenagers came in the back. I couldn't concentrate and felt sleepy, so went in to take a nap.

Peggy and Jerry stopped by the room. They had been grocery shopping. With Smoker John gone, Peggy finally got Jerry as her cooking partner. They made us an unbelievably scrumptous meal of grilled salmon steaks with baked potatoes and salad. They even bought paper plates so those of us who had only bowls (quite a few) could enjoy our food. Peggy warned us they had blown the budget. There was nary a word of protest.

It rained during the evening and there was discussion of the forecast for the morning. We hoped we would be lucky.

Heart

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