Day 35-Eating Our Way to Ennis

We had one of our earlier starts this morning at 7:00. We said goodbye to Sean (or is it Shaun?). We convinced him to do a short day and go to Dillon, and the Bike Camp there. 

Another beautiful day for a bike ride…this one through the Ruby Valley. 

Our destination for today was Ennis. I arranged a Warmshowers stay with Rachel and Mike. Every westbound cyclist that has stayed in Ennis has mentioned this couple. More on them in a moment. 

Today was a little unusual in that we went through several towns…well, 4ish (not counting Ennis). There was another town that was on the map, but technically, we didn’t go through it (Laurin). 

The first town was Sheridan. It was a good sized town, but nothing was open when we went through. That was okay, because we were only 9 or so miles in for the day. Alder was the second one. Unfortunately, the market was closed, but about a half mile down the road, the Ruby Campground and RV Park was open. RV parks typically have a small selection of food, but mostly I needed to use the restroom. But I did get a Coke and a Payday bar (my first actual candy bar of the trip, and it wasn’t my first choice, but the selection was slim). From Alder, we started doing a bit of the climbing we were doing for the day. It was the easy part. 

Before long, we were rolling into Nevada City. It’s a historical town that they have mostly kept in its original look. 

We took some photos, then started heading out of town. We didn’t make it very far because we saw this. 

Ummm…yeah, had to stop for sure! Talked to a group of older gentlemen (and their younger nephew who was spending the summer working in Nevada City) who had many questions about our trip. The elder of the group even wrote down our names. 

Nevada City sort of blended into Virginia City. VC was more of the same, but bigger. We planned to eat lunch there. We were not even hungry, but we still ate there. There were numerous museum-like store fronts interspersed amongst the current shops. Too bad this one wasn’t a real shop…I think I need it. 

Hair is getting a little wild!

A barber shop would work. 

Virginia City scenes. 

There were lots and lots of people walking around the town. Pretty touristy. 

After picking up some postcards for the kids, we headed out for the steep part of the climb. Spotted these as we were leaving town. 

Six turkeys visiting the town. 

And so it begins…5.3 miles of mostly 6 to 7% grades. 

Still climbing…

Oddly, we seemed to come to the top before we should have. Never fear, it was a bit of a false summit, but the remaining part that was climbing was just 1/2 mile of pretty easy grade, then a most awesome downhill with this viewpoint on the way down. 

Down into the valley to Ennis! See the road?

Made it!

We found Rachel and Mike’s house pretty easily. Rachel met us out front, and led us back to the garage to park our bikes. The garage is like a bike store (parts).

Yes, that is a vending machine of bike parts (and other stuff)

See the boxes of tubes to the right? Every size!

After showering and getting laundry going, Mike had to go to the grocery store, so he drove us too (along with Bill, who is also staying here tonight). Doug and I and Jordan each have a bedroom. Bill is in the garage. Both Jordan and Bill are also from Washington. Bill is in Vancouver, and Jordan is in Seattle. I asked Rachel if they had ever had three Washingtonians from three different cities in one night. She said no. 

Mike and Rachel cooked a massive pasta dinner with salad and garlic bread. Then, Mike whipped up some fresh strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was all delicious. 

While we were eating, there was a big boom (which Loki, the Bernie did not like). Pretty soon we heard sirens. Ennis does not have a fire truck. It occurred to us that perhaps a transformer had blown. Several minutes later, the power went out. It still hasn’t come back on. I told Rachel, the best people in a power outage are campers and cyclists. We are used to no power! We all brought out our headlamps. 

With all the food we ate during today’s ride, and the big dinner (and snacks they provide), this was not one of those days where one would lose weight! Probably won’t need to eat again until…who am I kidding…I’ll be eating breakfast tomorrow morning!

Loki decided to sit next to me. 

Going to sleep now…