Day 13! Chores and Errands

We would have liked to have slept in today because we were not going very far, however, some early morning crows yelling at each other right outside our tent made that an impossibility. Even Davan didn't sleep through the racket.

We got up, packed up, made the last of the pancakes (I forgot the day before, we were saving some for breakfast because we didn't have the stuff we usually liked to put in our oatmeal - raisins, freeze dried fruit, ect) and were off riding toward Grant's Pass by 9:00.

It was slow going into Grant's Pass, as Anthony, particularly, was still really whopped from the ride the day before. This isn't surprising, considering the load he had to haul up that mountain. Normally Davan is a big help on the climbs in particular, but she, I must say, got tired and bored with the hard peddling and there was some slacking, just when it was really hard going. Luckily, Anthony is a very strong bike rider and was able to do it, but there was some backlash.

We hit Grant's Pass at 10:45 and made the visitor's center our first stop. Anthony and Davan went in to ask our questions while I stayed with the bikes. While staying with the bikes is usually Anthony's job, I was more than happy to do it to give me a chance to write in my journal and because Anthony is the one in our family who does the best with comprehending and remembering directions.

The questions were, perhaps, a little unusual for visitors, other than asking about a place for lunch. We needed a laundromat, a Fred Meyer (not where we usually shop, but abundant in Oregon and usually having everything we want from "regular" food to "health" food, so it was our go-to grocery store for the trip), and a Post Office. They all got to talking about the trip and pretty soon, four people from in the visitor's center were outside, checking out our rigs and asking us the questions. This was completely fine with us. Anthony, in particular, enjoyed telling people about the trip and we all thought it was cool when people realized we were doing something special. On the coast, tourers were fairly common and incited little comment for the most part. In Grant's Pass, we were a novelty.

We washed all of our clothes, towels, and rags, with the exception of the clothes we had on and our rain gear, but, rather than dry it, put it all in heavy duty trash bags to hang at camp later. Bike clothes are not compatible with driers.

Then we rode into the "restaurant district" without finding anything that called out to us. We came to Fred Meyer and opted to do our shopping before lunch. We had spotted two places right by the grocery store that were possibilities, though.

This was a big shopping trip. We were out of all of our snacks, some of which had been in stock from home, much of our light weight emergency stock and had no meals, either. Plus, we were about to go into a section of our trip where we expected the grocery stores to be more like convenience stores when were even able to find a store. So, it was a long shopping trip. Knowing this, though, and also it being a short ride day made that no big deal. I was even able to stay calm when we got in line behind a woman on WIC, who just changed their rules, and, thus both woman and cashier were confused. This took a very, very long time, but hey, we were in air conditioning and Davan was playing with the woman's baby, so no big deal.

Before going to lunch, we had dessert. A very special treat for us are Rice Dream treats and they had them at that Fred Meyer, so we had to indulge. We like the Mint Pie. These are not health food, though, so indulge wisely.

The two restaurant choices were a Mexican place and a pizza place. We were inclined toward the Mexican if they had good choices for Davan and I, so I checked out their menu. It would have been okay, but not great. Mostly rice and beans. We particularly enjoy portabella mushroom fajitas, for example. So, off to Abby's for no cheese veggie pizza for Davan and I and a cheesy indulgence for Anthony. It was yummy and we all ate plenty. Davan and I split a large and had no left overs. Of course, we were quite full, but still able to ride, at least gently. LOL

We didn't end up stopped at a post office, after all, as Anthony had forgotten to ask about one. The post office need was mine. The small journal I'd brought was a few pages from full and I wanted to send it off to my best friend, Chris, as we keep regular sharing journals for each other. I'd also forgotten to replace my journal at Freddy's when we were there. Opps. I'd have to do both jobs soon.

So, we finished off the last 10 miles or so to the camp ground for a total of 31.23 for the day, with the last couple of miles being on a bike path. We found a blackberry patch on the path and stopped to pick some:


The path was nice...until it turned to gravel, then not as much fun, but it was still worth taking the bike path rather than riding on the busy road.

We stayed at Valley of the Rouge State Park that night. The showers were nice. The air was dry, making our laundry dry before we even went to bed, which was sure a nice change and our only real complaint was a lack of river access for swimming. Ah well. We had lots of time for hanging out, reading,
journaling, playing cards
and making dinner, which, yes, we were hungry for even after our big, late lunch.

This evening, with a recent shopping trip, we had sweet potatoes, kale, onions, nutritional yeast, and chilli beans as a one pot meal. It was yummy and very filling. Even Davan who usually only tolerates kale was actually glad to see it in a meal. We did eat much fewer veggies than we do at home while on this trip.

We tucked in just before sun down for some family book reading, as always, and lights out before full dark.