Day 17: Our Breaking Point … Had To Happen Eventually

Hey y’all - Dustin here. This morning I woke to a sound that has become all too familiar - the sky aggressively sobbing… and then I looked at the weather radar and saw a lot of moderate to severe rain covering exactly where we were supposed to go… So I thought to myself - technically we are ahead of schedule, and it’s the only rainy day for the next week (supposedly - by now I definitely have trust issues), soooooo why don’t we just not bike today? 

I texted Julia and Brian to say we should forgo todays ride, and I think they may have been the happiest I’ve ever seen. I mean happier than Julia seeing a baby, and happier than Brian not getting a flat for more than 24 hours. Anyway - so todays post will be a little short because we literally did nothing all day.

We packed up our stuff and headed to a hotel (thanks Julia’s parents) to have some breakfast, and set out to dry our tents that if I didn’t know any better may have just been pulled right out of a  lake they were so wet… we strung them up across chairs, shower curtains, and hangers and then I put on the formula 1 race I missed the day before even though I already knew what happened. Julia said she’d watch it with me but she fell asleep within 5 laps and then I too started falling asleep so I just decided to take a nap instead (Brian was on the phone with Ria and went to the lobby so he wouldn’t wake us up).

After waking up I tried to set up some places to stay, but the Warmshowers app wasn’t working, and I called three campgrounds, all of which didn’t answer. So you could say I was irate, like please just take my money, I’m just trying to give you my money! After an hour of doing that - Brian and Julia decided I needed some food and beer so we walked downtown to find a place.

We stumbled upon a info sign that told us a restaurant that had happy hour $5 dollar drafts from 4 - 6, and by golly it was 4:32 so we went straight on in. Honestly - one of the things that surprises me most about being out here (other than people being so chill about grizzly bears and not wanting to take my money) is that craft beer is literally between $4-6 a pint. And if you’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 years and don’t know - beer in New England costs at least $12 a pint for the good stuff. Anyway - we ate duck legs, fish tacos, burgers, fries, and fried buffalo cauliflower and it was delicious. Our waiter was actually from Massachusetts and moved out here during Covid - he paused and stared at us every once in awhile during our conversation with him - but he was nice enough, so probably not a serial killer right? 

After eating we walked back to the hotel and decided to start watching all the best scary movies - so we watched the conjuring - and now as I type we are watching it follows (not that great but definitely funny). So here we are - just trying to relax ahead of a long day tomorrow (with hopefully no rain). Tune in next time to see if the trip broke our spirits again tomorrow or if we actually got it together enough to ride on! In the meantime - enjoy me preparing for our next bear encounter: