Today’s ride was in in the SAG van, and was quick and pleasant. I regretted not being able to pedal over Thompson Pass into Montana. We arrived in the town of Thompson Falls around 11:00am.
I spent the afternoon exploring the town with David Butler, a former AOL executive who was taking some time off from biking due to dehydration problems earlier in the week. We checked out a few shops, as I was looking for button-up shirts that I could more easily wear than t-shirts (I’ve just been wearing my cycling vest since the accident). Didn’t find any at first, though. We got some lunch at a local diner, then caught up on our e-mail at the library. Then we got some ice cream at a great little shop, where a lot of the other cyclists were starting to trickle in. We walked to the far end of town to a grocery store, as David wanted to pick up some snacks, and there happened to be a second-hand store next door. I found a nice gray, short-sleeved dress shirt, and a light blue Hawaiian shirt ($3 each!).
I had not felt too much pain yet, but I think all of the walking finally got to me and I started to feel pretty sore in the shoulder. David was getting tired, too, so we bummed a ride from the grocery store back up to camp (at Thompson Falls High School) from a couple of locals. They turned out to be a man and his grandson from outside Spokane, who were on their way to meet the rest of their family at their summer cabin in the hills outside of town.
After dinner and Tour Talk, we had our first weekly awards ceremony. Kira gave me some duct tape, to fix my collar bone. I told some of the tale of the hospital trip, and thanked the staff and my fellow riders for all of the help that they have given me already with getting around, packing and unpacking at camp, etc. I decided I could handle of couple of beers, so I joined the usual suspects, as we hit two of the local bars for a little while.
Filed under: Coast to Coast 2004 |
Miles 4 Melanoma 
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