June 22, 2023
Day 50 - June 22 - Saratoga, WY Layover Day 2
Biding Our Time
John’s Story
We are alone now at the Agape House at St. Barnabas. Nikolai, Steve and Louis left this morning to ride 114 miles to Jeffrey City. Good luck to them! I felt a bit of separation anxiety as they pedaled off. Because Nikolai is Russian, I told him до скорого (pronounced doe skorova) which translated roughly means “until next time” or “catch you later”. Maybe he’ll remember the guy who spoke a few words of Russian with him.
Today there is a fair chance of afternoon thunderstorms, so I hope they make it without getting caught in one. After today the rain chance drops to close to zero for about a week. Good news for us.
I did my routine bike maintenance in the cool of the morning while Ed worked on his in the bike shop. Walked to a cafe that we were told is the local favorite. I was planning on just a cup of coffee and a snack, but when I saw the breakfast burrito smothered in green chili on the menu I had to go for it for second breakfast. It was huge! And it was about the best green chili I’ve ever eaten. I saved half of it for breakfast tomorrow morning. So what’s to eat for Elevensies?
For my own edification I researched he difference between “green chile” and “green chili”. Green chile is the pepper itself. Green chili is a dish you make with it. Now you know. And so do I.
I thought I’d share a little view of our domicile for our stay here in Saratoga.
When we came back from the cafe a woman arrived at the house and introduced herself as Susan, one of the contacts for the hostel. She also was the Episcopal priest for the church for 10 years. She invited us to come over to the other side of the church for their weekly tai chi class, which we did. It was my inaugural tai chi experience. The tai chi instructor was Mary, the other hostel contact, and the woman at whose house Ed’s derailleur will be delivered this afternoon.
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Before the other bikers left this morning they told us we might expect four bikers to arrive this afternoon, bikers they may have met a few days ago who spent a rest day elsewhere. We are to show them the ropes here. It rained for a while at mid-afternoon with some small hail. I hope if those bikers are out there that it missed them.
Part of the bicycle ministry here at St. Barnabas is to fix up old bikes and sell them inexpensively to anyone who wants one. The fellow who did that for many years is now 87 years old, and last year was the last time he will be doing it.
This afternoon a man came to the door with his four children to look at the bicycles stockpiled in the back yard here. I chatted with the dad for a while, and found out he had moved to Saratoga in February after retiring from the Air Force. Both he and his wife are Physician Assistants and came here to work in the new hospital that opened a few weeks ago. In the course of our conversation I discovered that he had been a young airman at Travis AFB in California in the late 90s working in POL (petroleum, oils and lubricants). My brother-in-law John, who retired from the Air Force in 1999, was a chief master sergeant working in POL at Travis at that time. I asked him if he knew my brother-in-law. He said he worked for a chief named John but couldn’t remember his last name. I showed him my brother-in-law’s FaceBook picture, and indeed he thought John was the chief he worked for. I called John and asked him if he had an airman in his group back then named Steve Martin and yes he had. Well, I have him here on the line I told him, and handed the phone to Steve. They chatted for a while and confirmed the relationship, and John was already talking about coming by to visit next time he drove east to visit his daughter in Minnesota. This was one of the most interesting coincidences I’ve seen in a long time.
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Yesterday Nikolai cooked a meal for himself and Steve and Louis in the kitchen here. It inspired me to do the same rather than go out for a meal or eat something slapdash out a couple of cans as though we were camping. I rode to the grocery store yesterday to buy the ingredients, but was not hungry or motivated enough last night to cook. This afternoon I did. I was the Executive Chef and Ed was my trusty sidekick and sous chef. It turned out great! There are enough leftovers for Ed to have it for breakfast if he’d like. I enhanced it with some shredded Gouda cheese on top and used penne instead of spaghetti. Here’s the recipe.
One Pot Tomato and Mushroom Pasta
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Because we ate a big meal in the middle of the afternoon, we will just have a small simple meal for dinner, probably purchased at a cafe with an adult beverage on the side.
It has stopped raining and hailing and the sun is out. I love the smell of this part of the country after a rain.
Ed’s derailleur has been delivered and he is in the bike shop installing it. We also need to do some adjustments to my rear derailleur. Once all that is done we plan to go to the hot springs before dinner. In the meantime I’m headed up for a nap.
On our way to the hot springs (close to 6:00 PM) we saw another cyclist on the side of the road studying his phone. He was looking at the weather (storms about) before heading farther south (opposite of us). We convinced him to stay in Saratoga and led him to the hostel. Reinhold is from Germany and cycling to the East Coast. He is thankful we saw him and pointed him to the hostel.
After beers and food (more than we needed) at the cantina we returned to the hostel to find Reinhold FaceTiming with a female German friend who is a day ahead of him on his route. On the way, Steve Martin drove by in his pickup and hollered good luck and safe travels to us. It’s all about the people, I tell you.
Laundry and then bedtime. Back on the road tomorrow.
Ed’s Story
Not much to say today. Most of the day I sat around waiting for my part to be delivered. I called FedEx in Laramie and got the tracking number. I just watched it all day.
Finished watching The Flight with Denzel Washington. He was a drunk pilot who kept an airplane crash from killing all the passengers based on his flying skills. He kept denying his alcoholism but came through at the end of the movie.
As John noted we cooked a delicious lunch.
I noticed that FedEx delivered my package at 3 p.m. Since it was raining, I called Mary and she delivered the package back to the church hostel so we wouldn’t have to ride there to get it.
It took a while to install and adjust, with some corrections needed, to get the derailleur operating properly.
My first mistake was not running the cable correctly. Once I identified that I corrected and fixed it.
The next problem I had was when I was in the middle chain ring, with the cassette on the smallest gear, the chain rubbed against itself at the derailleur.
I called Nick at All Terrain Sports in Laramie, where I bought the part. After some discussion he recommended I remove one link from the chain as it was probably stretched.
Once I did that, the problem corrected itself. After cleaning up my work area and lubing the chain, I took the bike for a test ride and it operated perfectly.
Got back to the hostel and then went to the hot springs to relax. Showered then to the Mexican Cantina for some beer and a snack.
Need to wash clothes when we get back and pack up our bags.
We’re going to try to ride 44 miles to Rawlins, Wyoming tomorrow. Wish us luck.
Until then happy biking!
Today's ride: 2 miles (3 km)
Total: 1,675 miles (2,696 km)
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