Our Next Adventure: Day 13: half way there

62.2 miles

We woke up at what had to be the sleepest campground ever. We woke up around 8am and there was not a peep. Even when we left around 10am the campground was still pretty quiet and just starting to stir. We got a B&B booked in Fernie (which is our halfway point, and the last town on our first section of maps).

We got rolling and worked up a sweat pretty fast with our first climb. I decided to wear long sleeves today to prevent further sunburn. I didn't get too much worse the day before but better safe than sorry. I ended up wearing one of Mike's semi dirty long sleeve shirts because the one I had was thicker. Nothing says love like wearing your husband's dirty clothes. The morning was quite lovely. The sky was overcast, there were little raindrops, a slight breeze and it was still cool in the morning. Plus we were on a pretty quiet country road. It was a really lovely stretch. I even saw another elk. Mike didn't though. It was seriously right next to the road again!

We arrived in Jaffrey and got lunch at a little cafe. The food was very good and we connected to the Internet which we normally don't do until the evening. However, Mike realized quickly that our B&B canceled on us. So back to the drawing board for us. We were a little taken aback that they had overbooked but it ended up being for the better. We found another B&B and booked that. Then finally after a much longer lunch break than we had expected, we hit the road again. We had a choice to take the route that was recommended which was country roads but 5 miles longer or stay on the main highway that we have been on coming into town. I really didn't enjoy the traffic on the highway so we opted for the longer route. The rolling hills had a lot less traffic along with a bunch of dirt bike trails and an intersection with The Great Divide mountain biking trail. Our road finally came to a T where we connected with a different road to take us back to the main highway. I was sure happy that there was an outhouse located there.😉. We began hearing thunder and seeing a storm brewing off to our left. We peddled quickly knowing that our next town wasn't too far off. We arrived at the highway that would take us into the town of Elko and made a fortunate turn away from the storm, but it was chasing us. Lucky for us Elko is located on top of a huge hill. Jk. The winds picked up a light rain started, traffic was heavy and we were peddling as fast as we could up that hill. We finally arrived at a gas station, got off our bikes, stowed them away under the awning just as the sky let loose. The workers in the convenient store were absolutely wonderful. They let us hang out in the store for about 30 minutes while the storm passed and we enjoyed some cold beverages. They even filled up our water bottles for us. Once the storm passed we got back on the road down to Fernie. 19 miles to go, but through a tunnel. The road was busy to say the least, but we got to enjoy a downhill ride.

Gotta love the semi looming in the background.

The tunnel was super short which I appreciated and the car following us saw us going in the tunnel which helped. Pretty quickly the sun came out and we got a gorgeous rainbow over the river next to the road.

We rode into Fernie and found our lodging at the Old Nurse's Residence B&B. I think Mike said it best when he said B&Bs are the way to go. The hospitality we received was absolutely spectacular. The home was filled with antiques that I got a quick tour of. We quickly showered up and walked down to one of our hosts favorite spots called The Curry Bowl. The menu looked so amazing it was hard to choose. We sat upstairs on their patio and had a beautiful view while dining.