Nelson - New Denver, BC: Two mountain goats a day keep the cyclist alert. - Near Paradise after 30 years of marriage

June 29, 2016

Nelson - New Denver, BC: Two mountain goats a day keep the cyclist alert.

After a very restless night, I was happy to leave town. I had a few moments of half awake panic about the big ride today. I told myself to knock that off - I have been SO anxiety free this summer about my capability, I'm not interested in starting that up again.

I couldn't get Bertha to connect again. I don't know if it's the new phone, or if ridewithgps has kicked me out because I've asked so many questions. I was very sure I had the route downloaded to the phone, set to 'ride'. Then when we were already down on the street to leave, the phone said it wasn't downloaded. Damn. This is two days in a row. I had no map, no nothing. But I did know to stay on Highway 6 the entire day. It would have been nice to know when the high point was or how many miles to town. I spent the entire day thinking we had 66 miles to ride. In the end it was only 61. Five miles less is a nice surprise. Five miles more, not so much.

It was pleasantly warm as we left town at 7:30. Which was not good news. I'd rather it was a touch chilly. It was going to be a warm one. The hostel didn't have ice. I had refrigerated my bottles, but that little bit of cold soon disappeared.

Traffic was busy until 3A split off from highway 6. We spent the morning riding along the pine tree shaded highway, which was very nice. The view today was tall, snow peaked mountains, rivers, lakes, and green everywhere. Pine trees, aspen trees, ferns, grass, plus colorful flowers. I'm sorry you weren't here to ride with us. This is even more beautiful than yesterday!

We started out with the same pattern as yesterday. I took off out front for the first few miles. Then I settled into my touring pace and Oren took the front. He gradually pulled further and further away from me.

Since today was a big climbing day, the plan was to stop in Slocan for food. Slocan was off of the road, downhill. Who knows how far we would have to go? I didn't see Oren at the turn, but supposed he wouldn't want to go downhill. I kept moving. Damn. This is beautiful country.

I did remember that the climb started after Slocan. There was a real good granny gear up for about a mile. Then it leveled off to a gentler up that I could pedal in my middle chain ring. Yes! How many miles can we climb like this? I hope the entire distance.

I started seeing Oren around the occasional bend in the road, but I couldn't catch him. Oren! Hello! Stop! Finally, finally he was waiting for me at what he said was the top of the summit. I sure wish cyclists could be rewarded with summit signs. No sign beyond one that tells commercial vehicles to check their brakes because of the steep downhill. While we were munching on our snacks, a dump truck did pull over and the driver got out to check the brakes. I was impressed. It must really be a downhill. We don't have signs like that in Colorado and there are some serious grades.

Oren gave me the pleasant news that it was 7 miles to town! Off we went. It was a curvy road with little shoulder, but a good surface. The occasional car was polite to go around.

Tonight we were at the Dome Quixote. This was one of the lodging splurges I allowed myself this trip. Oren didn't feel like splurging, so had picked a different motel. Since I don't have a phone with international calling now my phone has died and Oren doesn't want to pay $1. a minute to talk - we need to know who was where and when we would meet again. Texting certainly makes life simple! Our lodges were two blocks apart. The grocery is right next to our place. One restaurant is open. It's next to Oren's place.

Oren said he'd walk over after he got settled and check out our fancy digs. I was ready for a shower and salsa and chips for a snack. Of course the very nice owner had to go over everything in great detail when all I wanted was to pay and sign and hop in the shower. I did find out that New Denver was the only location for a Japanese Canadian interment camp during WWII. The museum is open until 5 PM. I didn't make it over there. Had I gotten to town earlier, it would have been an interesting afternoon.

I was just stepping out of the shower when Jacinto came in. He was very, very sad. I thought he'd had another flat tire. No. This was worse than a flat tire. ??? What could that be? He had left his leftovers in the community kitchen at the hostel. Jacinto had been busy going up and down all of the stairs taking his things to the basement to load his bike. The last thing he was going to get was the food. Darn, darn. That was several days worth of food collecting. This was a serious problem. He had to have normal snacks during the day. He had dried fruit and nuts, and a bar. It was not good. Jacinto likes 'food'.

Tonight we met Oren for dinner at his place. There were no leftovers for Jacinto. More sadness. He had to go to the grocery for breakfast items. He would have regular snacks again during the day. Not good.

Oren was very enchanted with our native Chinese waitress. That went downhill in a hurry when our food took forever to arrive and she forgot Jacinto's salad dressing and Oren's second beer. They had been discussing her opening the kitchen early to fix breakfast for us. I asked Oren how long that would take. End decision was: too long.

We stopped by the grocery again for breakfast items. I was sure the friendly lady at the motel said the grocery closed at 8 PM. It is 6 PM. Darn. Jacinto walked down to the convenience store for items. Oren came over with me to see the route for tomorrow. We ended up deciding to make it simple and stay on Highway 6 the entire distance rather than cutting off the piece to Naksup. By doing that we would save on miles but gain climbing. Routing is just easier on 6.

We are in beautiful, tourist country with beautiful tourist prices. In this area the lodging was B & B's and they wanted not two nights but three. That just wasn't going to happen. I finally found the Hummingbird B&B. It sounds a bit rustic, we have to use a bath house. Leslie will fix us dinner and breakfast.

Wi-fi here at our fancy dome is no good. We have to sit outside of the office for wifi. I have photos on my camera that I can't get off. I've tried to send them twice. Now I'm going to try Jacinto's camera for some photos, but it might have to wait for better service.

One exciting part of my day was seeing a baby mountain goat crossing the hillside above me. Mom soon came along and they both scrambled away like they were scared. We have quite a few mountain goats in Colorado. They are afraid of people.

Tomorrow is a longer day in miles, shorter day in climbing.

I didn't even notice the bicycle in the photo until Jacinto pointed it out.

Two of the other dome houses on the property. It is very interesting how the inside is arranged on walls, but the exterior walls are curved. It appears they are all made of cement, walls and floors.

You can tell a cyclist is staying here for the night - look at the clothes left out to dry!

Bill owns a Barcroft Dakota and was happy to talk recumbents.

Mama and baby goat. In Colorado the mountain goats are so used to people, they don't pay any attention. These two seemed afraid of me.

This is the 25 mile rail trail from Slocan. It looks quite rough for our purposes. We went on the highway.

I couldn't help myself - another barn photo.

Today's ride: 62 miles (100 km)
Total: 534 miles (859 km)

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