Oct. 15 – White Gravy and Lizards

Looks like it rained a little last night, but I was warm and dry under my Gazebo! I got packed up and headed out of town about 9:30 – just in time to catch a couple of the 100 milers coming to the finish line at the race – yes they had been running (or hobbling, which is what I saw) for about 24 hours. I rode past them as they came towards the finish line – so I didn’t get any photos – but just imagine the most miserable looking people you can, clad in garbage bags against the rain and there you have it. The rest of the town was totally silent with no person to be seen – I am sure everyone except the runners and the staff there was sleeping off their hangover from the moonshine the night before! My goal today was to ride to Toronto reservoir, where there were several campgrounds. It was another cold and windy day, but I was able to catch a little corner of the wind to my benefit. A couple of times the road curled to the north…..and that was brutal – I am thankful that I was traveling mostly east and a bit south. I stopped for lunch at the Copper Kettle restaurant in Eureka. Here I had probably the most unhealthy lunch I have ever eaten! I asked what the most popular item was – which was the hot roast beef sandwich….but they were sold out. So I ordered the second most popular item – the hot ham sandwich. Here is how it goes: Get two pieces of thick cut white bread, toasted on a griddle with butter. Fill the middle with greasy sliced up country ham. Cut it in half and put on a plate. In between the two sandwich halves put a big scoop of mashed potatoes. Then cover everything with about a gallon of white gravy.

It was delicious!

Properly fueled for an afternoon of pedaling I took off towards Toronto. When turned off the highway onto the county road towards the lake, I stopped at a convenience store to fill up my water bottles in case there wasn’t water at the campground (there wasn’t). The old couple who owned the place was very nice and talkative. First the man asked me if I liked to read westerns. I don’t know if I have ever read a western….but I said “sure”. He thrust a book in my hands and said, “ I just finished this one – it was really good.”

So now I am reading a western – actually pretty good!

Next he asked me if I had a lizard. I thought asked me if I had seen a lizard and I was kind of confused. Then he pushed a bin full of little plastic lizards towards me and handed me a zip tie. “Pick a lizard and attach it to your brake cable – that way wherever you are in your travels, if you see a cyclist with a lizard on their cable, you will both know that you have been to my store.” I like it!

Then I was off on a picturesque county road through the little town of Toronto and on to the state park. I selected the southernmost campground as it was the farthest along, arriving about 5:30 or so. There were signs saying there was a fee for camping, but I didn’t see anywhere to pay and honesty it looked like no one had been there for at least 30 years, It was all overgrown, The bathrooms were worse than the ones back in Haswell, and there were no signs of humanity to be found. So I picked the best spot I could find and set up.

It was a nice, quiet night and no bloodthirsty hillbillies or band of rabid raccoons bothered me.