Ride C2C #4 - Day 9: Rest Day at Gateway to the Breaks Motel

Date: 7/1/23
Day: 9
Route: Rest Day - to Breaks Interstate Park
Miles: 4.46
Total Miles: 349.43
MyZone MEPs: ? A few

Hooray for rest day!  This is an unscheduled one and so we’ll have to do some rethinking of time… but is much needed after the 5,000 + feet of climbing yesterday.

We slept in until 9:15 am this morning - what a treat!  We made microwave oatmeal and brewed some coffee while we write and relax. We go up to the nice sitting area above the hotel office

so we can be outside and write - and soon enough we are joined by Mr. Big the stray cat and Amy, one of the staff, Jennifer the Manager, and Tom the other manager soon join us to chat.  Before we knew it, it was noon!  Unfortunately they were smoking and that sent us off to make our PB & honey sandwiches.

We then rode the 2 miles UP (shocking, right) to the Breaks Interstate Park where we saw a variety of local (stuffed) animals in the Welcome Center and read about history of the area.   Daniel Boone (1770’s) had led the exploration to find the route through the Cumberland mountains and the next quest was to lay a rail line to ship the coal that was so rich in this region.

Outside was a cabin from the early 1800’s along with a hillbilly still to brew up whiskey.

We rode our bikes up to a trailhead and we both soon realized how tired our legs still were from yesterday.  The view over the “grand canyon of the south” was stunning.

We thought about going to another viewpoint, but our legs said no to the hills involved with getting there.  We were going to the restaurant for an early dinner when we noticed a gathering over at the amphitheater.
 

There, one of the park rangers was giving a talk about the local raptor birds - the two we saw were the turkey vulture and the bald eagle.  BIG BIRDS indeed.  The Turkey Vulture thrives on dead animals can smell animal decay for 10 miles.  The park ranger said “could you imagine smelling a McDonalds from 10 miles away?” 

On to our late lunch/early dinner where I ate too much at the buffet (salad, breaded shrimp, meat patty, brownie and apple cobbler for dessert) and Doug said he wasn’t too hungry, only eating salad and a little bit of soup (the soup wasn’t that good).  It was starting to rain and the 2 miles back to our hotel went quick as it was all downhill.

Hanging out at the hotel, writing, reading, and I’m sure there is a game of cribbage in our future.