Day 63: The Night Before the End of the Trail (Christmas)

Day 63 - 7/18/08
Start - Elk River
End - Tobermory Cabin
Mileage - ~57 miles
Good early start and rolled down into Elkford, BC around 10 am or so. There are really only a few shops in Elkford, so there wasn't much of a choice in where to stop to wait for Marky-Mark to show up. I chose the first gas station which was reputed to have strong coffee and scrumptious calories. Mark showed up soon thereafter whereupon I found myself consuming something vaguely equivalent to motor oil. But it souped me up rather nicely and in my caffeinated state I also had an english muffin with egg and cheese. I'd have to agree with the hobbits that the 11ses meal is one of the best of the day. 5-7 meals per day sounds like quite a nice thing, eh? But not if you're trying to maintain a svelte figure of a madonna impersonator, good thing that's not my life. Rolling out of Elkford placed us onto a beautiful gravel road that delivers us nearly 110 miles into Banff. Next to the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico, it probably is one of the most isolated sections of the trail. And the beauty is certainly accompanied as well. We got the word from another racer, Matthew Lee who won the Tour de Divide this year, that a certain hut named Tobermory was THE place to stay. So that was the goal. About 5 miles out from the hut, the sky started to open up with rain and a little bit of sleet. Great- so it made the finishing run into the hut quite expedient, albeit a bit nippy. It was almost uncanny how we planned to stay here. This was the worst rain we encountered of the trip and we've got a friggin' cabin with a wood burning stove, bunk beds, and a sesame street comforter!! Heaven I tell you. I immediately passed out on the bed while Mark putzed around with the fire to warm our newly discovered abode. Now it's rather toasty in here and I am as happy as a mosquito in a nudist colony. Tomorrow we've got a longer 70 mile day, but nothing can stop us from finishing up this little adventure. Banff will be acquired, even if it requires a bit of the proverbial "inner diesel". It's odd how the last night of these epic adventures to me always seems like the night before Christmas when I was young. Instead of being anxious to get downstairs and break into the presents early- I now can't wait to pedal 70 miles into Banff. I guess that's the way it goes. As I've aged (and probably not matured too much), I'm glad that I still retain a little of the 'ol Christmas fever from time to time, even if it is in the buttass remote boonies of British Columbia in the pouring rain. From your lovely Banff-bound Stewie logging off- "to all a good night!"