Caution. Range animals next 16 miles.
Mountains gradually giving way to buttes.
Grassy fields becoming sagebrush.
Dense fir forests turning to widely spaced groves of pine.
And an articulate young guy we were chatting with at our lunch stop saying "crick" when he described the smaller rivers. I thought you'd have to have a grizzled beard and a shotgun across your lap to say that. I thought we had all pretty much come around to talking like news anchors on TV.
That's one of the great things about being out here. We get to talk to lots of people and learn a lot about how different we are, and how different we aren't. Then we get back on the bikes and have all sorts of time to think about it. People seem to be entirely comfortable starting conversations with us. A lady at the little cafe in Wauconda had seen us by the road looking at birds so she told us all about the local wildlife. OK, she wasn't exactly accurate in her species ids. It was obvious that she loved it all, though, and her directions let me see both a bald eagle and a golden eagle in one day.
Lazuli buntings, yellow headed blackbirds, Bullock's orioles, evening grossbeaks whirring and buzzing, goldfinches, western and mountain bluebirds, both eagles. Wow.
In answer to a few comments: bike food? I have to assume they like ostrich burgers, I guess. Aline is Bruce's wonderful sister who is driving a SAG vehicle for us for a couple of weeks & letting us ease gently into this life. Bruce plans to figure out how to get pictures into this today - our first rest day.
Details: 62.9 miles
1666 calories
Totals so far: 296.18 miles
7553 calories
I grew up saying "crick" in rural upstate NY. I don't think I've heard it in 25 years.
ReplyDeleteI know my grandfather said "crick" and every once in a while that would slip out of my mom's mouth.
ReplyDelete