Day 13

We're still in Eureka and will be here through the night because we took our second rest period one day early. It turns out that we've almost made it to Glacier National Park and all of the hotels, both there and in the surrounding areas, are completely booked for the weekend! So we decided that it was better to take rest earlier rather than later.
My right knee is still a little achy, so we bought a brace and have been icing it all day, but please pray for full and swift recovery. It's not bad enough that I can't ride; it's more of an annoyance than anything.
Well, I tell ya what, we've sure met a lot of interesting people on this trip so far. For anyone who thought that Mark and I were crazy for making this trip with just the two of us, I can assure you that there are people out here that are way more adventurous and daring than we could ever dream of being!! Most of the tourers that we've met so far are making their journey alone. We've met a few other couples, like ourselves, but we've seen no groups of more than two, as of yet. They come in all ages and all different builds. A few days ago, we met a retired aerospace engineer doing a 6,000 mile tour by himself while he waits for his wife to retire.
Last week, we met a 65-year-old tourer who only averages 18 miles/day and is riding alone to South Carolina. We asked him when he plans on hitting his destination and he looked at us with tired, lonely eyes and responded, "Well, I thought I'd make it by October, but now it's looking like mid-November. But ask me again next week and I'll have pushed it to December." He was also carrying a pull-behind trailer...it looked heavy.
Two days ago, we passed two guys that have no maps, no destination, and no discernible plans for each day. They just pedal until they're tired and then they camp wherever they happen to be. Last night, the German tourer that we met didn't use a tent! We had gotten our camp spot set up just the way we like it, then we looked over at him and he was stretched out on the picnic table! I think he thought we were really high-maintenance for having a tent, a clean change of clothes and a shower. Ya gotta respect a guy like that, though. He's the type that'll never die of a heart attack or fail a stress test.
On our first mountain climb, we saw a guy who had attached Tupperware boxes to the back of his bike and was riding in khaki pants and a checked, flannel shirt. There we were with our high-visibility, dry-fit biking shirts, padded shorts and reflective panniers! Again, I felt like we were too high-maintenance for this trip.
Some tourers eye's light up when they see us and others just nod at us knowingly, as if to say, "Yup...I know exactly what you're feeling right now." We appreciate both types. Some tourers are traveling 500 miles and others are going 5,000. We hardly catch anyone's name, as that is low on the list of tourer questions. High on the list are: Where did you start? Where are you ending? How many miles have you travelled today? What kind of tires are those? Where are you staying tonight?...etc. Names are rarely mentioned.
Anyway, since our rest days consist of nothing but ice baths and tv watching, I thought I'd give you something more interesting than that to read about today. Grace and peace!!