We woke up at 12:30AM to the sound of our Airstream trailer’s smoke alarm. After confirming there was no smoke and that it wasn’t a CO detector, we put it in a drawer and went back to sleep, hoping it wouldn’t go off again. It didn’t… The owner replaced it as soon as we checked out.

The Airstream trailer didn’t include breakfast, so we ate oatmeal, canned peaches, and hot chocolate. We could’ve gone into town and bought a regular breakfast, but we felt like getting on the trail.

The weather was perfect today. It threatened rain a few times, but never enough to cause Natalie to put on her raincoat. Early on, we had a tree down in the middle of the trail that we had to unload our bike in order to navigate around. In the past, these types of obstacles might have been bigger deal, but we’ve dealt with so many they now seem like a fresh puzzle and we just get to work. The key is to take everything off the bike first. It’s so much easier to maneuver when it’s unloaded. This obstacle was made manageable by tipping the bike on its side and moving it under the downed tree.

The trail was especially beautiful today. It’s hard to remember how each day looks different (all of our memories start to blend into one), but the tunnel of trees seemed especially beautiful and green today. I think they may have been a bit taller.

The ride was slightly downhill, and the trail was well packed, so even though we rode a little longer than normal today, it felt much easier. We only have one day left. We are both sad to have this coming to an end. I think having one more week of riding would have been just right. It usually takes me about a week to fully get my mind off of work and into the ride.

I am amazed that Natalie can remember where every bathroom is that we passed a week ago. We’ll be approaching some unique tree or house and she’ll say “there is a clean bathroom around the next corner”, and she will be right. It is her superpower.

As we get to the end of the trip, we get increasingly efficient at packing our stuff into our packs and loading the bike. Everything just kind of clicks at this point. Our gear fits in our panniers without having to repack and everything seems organized on our bike. I made a short video of where everything fits on our bike. Natalie pointed out that the video misses identifying our “trunk” which sits behind her seat and is filled with extra food. We usually ride all day and only share a single clif bar sometime around lunch, which we take from below my seat, but all of our stock of food that we carry with us is behind her seat.

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Tonight we are staying in a hotel just feet from the trail. Most of our stays have been within a block of the trail. And knowing what we now know, every single one of them could’ve been made to be that close.

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We had a good dinner at Kickstand and are now resting to be ready for tomorrow’s ride.