Aug/090
Day 43 – Across another Border – 68.2 miles
Today we got up early as planned. We left the crappy motel and went to breakfast in town as there was nothing for the next 50 miles. Had and OK breakfast in the bikers cafe then left town just before 9.
We had a couple of hills that weren’t too bad and then the race to the border. The others are getting better at sprinting now and me just bombing it off doesn’t work any more. They are still a little eager to prove this though so I upped the pace a little and Chris decided he would sprint the final 3/4 mile. Very naive of him to think he could outsprint me over that sort of distance! I won the race as usual I think the land border race now stands at 5-0-0.
We took some photo’s briefly at the border and then headed off to Riverside where we had been told there were some nice bars for lunch. The food was actually pretty crap. Had a good hot chocolate from the grocery store opposite afterwards though.
The riding had been cold all morning but whilst we were eating it had started to warm up. A lady at the bar had told us of the free hot springs in Saratoga, the town we were headed to. This made the ride to town worth doing. The final 17 miles or so were fine and when we got to town we headed straight for the springs.
It was called a hobo pool but we didn’t see any hobo’s! The main pool was roasting. only a few of the locals could stay in it for any amount of time. It flowed into the river where it was somewhat cooler and very nice for us.
We went and did some Laundry, then went to a restaurant for dinner. Opposite was an ice cream shop which Chris obviously had to go into! We ate a pretty massive ice cream each then headed back to the hot springs where we planned to camp for the night.
After about an hour in our tents we saw a flashing light and an American accent telling us it was the Police department! I got out to see what the problem was. The copper told us that we were camped in the wrong place and had to move a couple of miles down a pitch black lane out of town.
Me and Callum Couldn’t be bothered to completely pack our tents away so we rode 2 miles in the pitch black with one hand, carrying a tent filled with our sleeping bags, roll mats and pillows in. It wasn’t the brightest thing we had ever done but it save us 3 minutes in packing and unpacking our tents!
On the ride to the campsite we had to go down a dirt road with a junction. With no idea which way to go we blindly followed Callum – once again the Reidy luck prevails and we found ourselves at the campsite.
We finally got to sleep, at the correct campsite, by about 11pm.