Since we had such a long day yesterday, today would be relatively short, just less than 30 miles to the campground. Unfortunately, 100% of the road is uphill today.
With the chilly temperatures, we headed out quickly to try to warm up. The tall trees lining the road are quite pretty but do not let much early morning sunshine hit the road to warm frozen cyclists.
Initially the grade was not very steep and the first few miles ticked by quickly. Shortly I could begin to feel the effects of yesterday's ride. My legs were more tired than they should be early in the morning, even going uphill. Yesterday was very tiring and I had not recovered overnight in spite of the day off in Ashland. Not a good sign.
As the morning wore on I knew that I was going to have to slow down and just slog up the hill. Sarah went on ahead and I slowed down. To make it even more of a bummer, my computer had stopped working again. I did not know how far I had gone or how fast I was going. I knew the top would come but it is tough to focus when feeling lousy without a goal. Eventually I settled on pedaling for 15-20 minutes and taking a water break.
We passed the entrance to Crater Lake National Park. This meant a nice break for photos and that it was only 7 miles until the end of the riding day.
National Park number five for the trip
After another hour and more went by, we arrived at the Mazama Village campground. It is the only open campground in the park along our route and it has a store, cafe, showers and laundry. A good spot to take our day off tomorrow. As it was still before 11 when we arrived, it would be more like a day and a half off. I think I need it. Tomorrow Sarah wants to ride the rim road around the lake. It is still closed to cars but open for bikes. I am going to opt for the day off so she will do it solo.
The campground is still several miles from the visitor centers so the stamps will have to wait until tomorrow.
Ferit and his sister showed up and Sarah squeezed into the two seat truck with them to head off up the hill for sightseeing. I had a nice quiet lunch at the cafe and caught up on some postcards to my nieces and nephews and some blog entries for the last few days.
A nap and reading took the early afternoon.
When the others returned, we started to make dinner. Again we were eating much better than the typical bike camping fair. Some kind of Turkish yogurt soup and roasted eggplant and pepper salad. Pretty good stuff and the warm meal felt great.
Roasting dinner...smells good
Really tasty...Don't get used to it
The mosquitos were another matter. They were everywhere in the evening. I grew up spending time in some pretty mosquito infested areas of Alaska and this was every bit as bad. Eventually I looked around and saw that other campsites didn't seem to have the same issue. It may have been the price to pay for the food we were eating, it was attracting the bugs.
The fire used to roast the eggplant and peppers was still going after dinner so Ferit and his sister wanted to roast marshmallows. After a quick discussion it became clear that they meant only marshmallows. They had never heard of a s'more. No good. I quickly went over to the camp store before it closed and returned with a couple of chocolate bars and a box of graham crackers.
With a little instruction on the concept and technique for transferring a hot marshmallow, they were up and running. Dilik (ferit's sister) quickly declared it delicious and immediately wanted another one. Now they know how they got their name.
First s'more experience was a hit
No s'mores for me so I was off to the tent to escape the bloodsuckers and read my book until I fell asleep. I am looking forward to seeing more of the park tomorrow and getting some new stamps in my book.
Full moon bed time
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