Hank – We left the campground at 8:30 and made our way to Rumford. Those 17 miles were fairly flat so we covered them pretty quickly. I found a place called the Deluxe Diner that was open on Sunday so we went there for a late breakfast. I pushed and then pulled on the door and it wouldn’t open. From inside I heard a woman’s voice. “It’s a slider.” I slid the door open and we went inside.

The Deluxe Diner is an old style diner where you sit at the counter shoulder to shoulder with all the customers. Jody and Julie own and run the place. Jodie does most of the cooking. At least she did while we were there. There’s no rush to ordering because Jody is the only cook. This is a great place where you can take your time and meet people. Jody asked where we were from and was excited to hear about our adventure. She took our picture to put on their Facebook page. A couple of times there was a familiar rattle of the door and Jody wouldn’t miss a beat. “It’s a slider.” And then she or Julie would welcome whoever came inside. It looks like when the regulars who order the same thing each time come Julie just writes their name on the ticket and Jody knows what to fix. We found a gem of a diner. When we left we met three gentlemen who had come to town for a memorial for a friend who had passed away. They were originally from Massachusetts but one of them now lives in Redmond, WA. He asked questions about our bikes and they were all interested in our adventure. After chatting with them I gave them a heads up on the sliding door.

The remaining 28 miles to Farmington had a couple of long climbs. They broke us out into some good sweats. The fast descents cooled us off really well. We had a three-mile stretch of construction where parts of the road were not paved. Fortunately, traffic was light all day so it wasn’t that bad. Just a little rough. Right before the second long climb Kathy got a flat tire. Somehow a short piece of wire the size of a nail punched through the sidewall of her back tire. Again, the back tire. That makes 10 flats for Kathy. Still none for me,

Just before arriving at our hotel Kathy spotted an ice cream shop called Dutch Treat. I paid. After enjoying our cold snack we checked into our hotel.

Kathy – Today was a pretty great 45 mile ride!  I beg to differ from my husband, those first 17 miles were not flat…but they were small rollers.  😉  Why can’t all of our rides be like this: small rollers, cool morning temps in the mid 60’s, shady trees covering you as you roll past a river to your right, and mountains that surround you.  It was a pretty sweet beginning to our riding day!

We met some folks from Seattle who told us about an app called Gaia.  Apparently it tells you more accurate elevation than Google Maps for Cycling.  The app works for hiking and cycling.  I am going to try it out.   After our fabulous breakfast that Jody prepared we were off to ride again.  This is where our 1,500 feet of elevation came in. We had some road construction where the roads were really bad with constant bumps, pot holes and loose gravel.  Other times we had fantastic smooth roads with lots of shoulder room.  Surprisingly the elevation was not super hard.  I am not sore at all, even with carrying 75 pound Sadie up them.  It was such a gorgeous day today that the elevation was secondary to enjoying the beautiful scenery.  Feeling content tonight.