Day 32: Cruising Northward

Finally this morning it was not below freezing chilly.  It makes packing up so much nicer.  After discovering that there was hot water in the sinks, I took some time to shave this morning.  It helps so much when the sweat starts running to not have anything in the way.

We had a brisk couple of miles into the larger town if Quincy where we stocked up at the Safeway for the next few days.  It would be several days until we get to another large grocery store.  I used the Safeway wifi to locate a coffee shop in town and we headed there next.

We hung out at the coffee shop for about an hour (a bit too long) and caught up on the blogs, paid some bills, and chatted with the owner.  Turns out he used to live  in Seattle until fairly recently and he was interested in reminiscing a bit.

I was feeling the time pressure a bit when we rolled out of town.  The plan today was to get to an RV park just south of Lassen Volcanic National Park so we can start the day tomorrow with a really long climb.  It would be nice to finish early today and get some extra rest.

The route was pretty uneventful today but it did take us up a canyon alongside a nice creek for a while.

A very nice ride if you ignore the logging trucks

The tough part about the late start mornings is that we end up riding more when it is really hot in the afternoon.  This has been the case the last few days and the lower elevation doesn't help.  Our fault entirely but a trend that needs to be corrected.

We stopped at a little store at Canyon Dam (can you figure out how it got it's name?).  The owner was very nice and let us fill our water bottles from his store room.  We chatted briefly and then were on the road again.

Cold drinks and kitschy yard art...perfect

Being a recreation area, canyon dam has a free fitness center adjacent to the store.  I was tempted but ultimately passed in order to get back to the bike.

Surprised the equipment was available...guess everyone was at the lake

We didn't have any summit climbs today.  Summit in this case means that there is a sign at the top of the hill that says summit.  It doesn't necessarily mean a giant climb to get there (but sometimes it does) but it does mean it is time to take a picture.  It also has come to mean it is time to leave a note for Randy.

Sometimes the map calls out a summit but the road signs don't.  Since we had to climb to cross the PCT again and we hadn't yet left a note fir Randy, we decided it counted and left a note.  I have lost track of how many times we have crossed the trail at this point but it is a large number.

No hikers to be seen anymore

After this ride I am sure I will nit return as a hiker

By mid afternoon, we were hit and tired and still had a ways to go.  We kept pushing the pedals and eventually we found someone talking to us through the road signs.

Check...

Great news...

Yes!!!

As it happened, this was the RV park we were shooting for.  I thought it was still a couple miles down the road so I was excited.  First order if business was cold drinks followed by arranging to stay the night and learning where to find the showers.  A quick camp set up and I was off to the showers.  Reading and an early dinner came next as I was quite hungry.  I should have grabbed a bit more at the grocery store as this was the first night that I was still pretty hungry after eating all my dinner stuff.  Have to save the rest for tomorrow.

Off to sleep thinking of a giant hill for tomorrow (and breakfast).