They Rode West: Summits Aplenty

Now it was Sunday morning and it was time to get out of the church before we disrupted services with our boisterous presence. We wrote a thank you note and cracked the windows, hoping to alleviate some of the damage we had done the night before. Four summits today. Three serious ones and a trainee. Robinson Summit at 7,588 feet. Drop a thousand feet. Little Antelope Summit at 7,438 feet. Drop. Pancake Summit at 6,521 feet. (That was the softie.) And Pinto Summit at 7,351 feet. This country has quite a few mountains.

We began to enjoy a few small rain drops just at the beginning of the final climb but luckily evaded a storm. Rode on to our destination, Eureka, which is unfortunately situated on a steep hill. The wise venture none too far into town without necessity, lest they climb back up to the start. We rested at a well-stocked grocery store and got the word on camping in a city park on the street behind. We sat outside and snacked on various delicacies. I bought a bag of tortilla chips and an awful container of salsa. Mostly red water. So then I bought a dip advertised as guacamole but the avocado content was dubious. The combination of both dips led to an acceptable pair for the chips. We got the word on the local pool and rode over. Our aquatic recreation was indoor this time, in water that was very warm. The pool toys were well stocked. There was an an enormous inflatable beach ball that we tried to jump on top of unsuccessfully, maybe four feet in diameter. Then there was another inflatable monstrosity, what looked like a curly cue french fry. Water torpedoes. Some members of the cycling crew were getting a little bit rowdy, the lifeguard was not into it.

Pools offer not only a source of entertainment but an accessible place to bathe. There is much grime to be chiseled off. I took a shower and split off toward the library to hopefully gain internet access and update this website. The library was closed by this time and there were no exterior outlets but I did find a prime location at the rear patio of the senior's center across the street. There was an extension cord hanging from their patio cover which I tried at first without success. But the juice was soon flowing as I discovered that the plug was at the end of a series of multi-colored party lights decorating the trellis. Festively illuminated, I started to peck away. An older woman arrived soon after and started to tell me a series of incredible stories. She had been the first female graduate of the Long Beach Police Academy but wasn't allowed to work as a police officer so took a job as a security guard instead. She had shot and killed a man on the job and watched a cop get blown away right in front of her during the same incident. She had a passion for the outdoors and talked about a four month backpacking trip in Oregon and of raising horses. As recently as a few years ago she had weighed 150 pounds more but willed herself to walk and be active again while the other seniors drove around in motorized carts. She told me that kids these days don't really know how to have fun and that it was good that we were on this ride. I didn't catch her name before she left but she thanked me for listening and I thanked her for the stories.

I was just packing up the computer when Nate, Jordan, and Jeremy arrived with Swedish Fish. I relayed some of the stories and I left Nate with the computer while the rest of us went back to the park. I later spilled teriyaki noodles all over my leg, thankfully without any serious burns. We were drifting off to sleep when another touring cyclist arrived and sort of inserted himself into our camp, but we are brothers in arms so we attempted to be polite before the eyelids closed again.

Eureka has been one of the more interesting Western towns. They have a historic opera house and courthouse that I was interested in seeing but as it was Sunday, no dice. The buildings and facades speak of a time when gold money instantly energized a region and brought culture and people to a barren land. I've wondered if these few outposts would have ever existed if not for the promise of ore. Would anyone have built a road? Would there have been a reason? Would most of the West still be untouched passes and scrub brush?