Cherish
Captain and Zilla modelling their personalized trailer - near Lind, WA
Fresh off our encounter with The Four Amigos, it was time to put some tires to trail and start making some real progress east towards Idaho. I knew it would still be a few rides before I’d gotten my stamina back after having not ridden for most of the winter, so I tried to manage my expectations and just go with the flow. Besides, it was still February meaning the weather was cold and unpredictable so we’d have to be flexible.
As expected, it was cold, windy, and grey with constant threats of snow flurries or super cold rain. This meant I was wearing a sweatshirt while riding and gloves. It also meant I needed to keep a close eye on the dogs to make sure they weren’t too cold. Being in desert, there wasn’t any vegetation to act as a windbreak or to help retain heat, so the dogs spent a lot of time out of the trailer walking to help keep their body heat up. This meant I was walking and pushing more than riding, but I really didn’t mind. I just wanted every healthy and happy, so if we had to move at only 2 miles/hour so that Captain could walk and be warm, so be it.
(click photos to enlarge and see descriptions)
There wasn’t much to see on the trail, so we had to find excitement in the little things. Zilla made sure to go and check out an old, derelict tractor while Captain took off on her own adventure to explore some grain elevators. We also saw a cattle drive up on a hill about 2 miles away. It took about 10 minutes of watching to figure out what was going on as the cows were the size of ants and the cowboys on horseback weren’t much bigger. They were way too far away for any photos, so we just enjoyed seeing the slow migration of the herd along the hillside.
As we travelled on, the trail started to get even more remote than before. We were starting to hit stretches again where it would be nearly 10 miles between road crossings, so if anything happened to the bike or trailer, we were on our own. The only things we shared the trail with were tumbleweeds and rocks. Though stark and lonely at a glance, I found happiness in the fact that I was out here with my two best friends and we were able to basically relax and just watch the world slowly go by. These are the types of days I cherish.
As we rode along, the temperature increased slightly and I was able to take off the gloves and sweatshirt which was nice. It also meant that the dogs would be ok too, so they got to spend a little more time in the trailer just relaxing and enjoying the ride. Overall, there wasn’t much specific of note along the trail, though at one point, we were able to see so far in either direction that we were able to see an entire train, from start to finish, just by turning our heads from left to right. It wasn’t a small train either, there were easily 100 cars or more on it.
Speaking of trains, since we were following an old rail line, we would see the occasional artifact from the former glory days of the Milwaukee Road. In some cases, it was a few shards of glass from an old insulator of a telephone line, or maybe an old rusty rail spike, and we even came upon an entire railroad tie that was surprisingly well preserved.
Shortly after we finished this section, we saw a couple walking one of the most interesting looking dogs I’ve ever seen. His name was Fezzik (most likely named after the character in “The Princess Bride”) and he an enormous pink snout that really caught my attention. He didn’t seem like he wanted anything to do with me or the dogs, but his owners were nice enough to chat with me for a few minutes and to let me take his picture.
While getting situated at the hotel that night, a brand new red Mustang pulled in. It was so new it didn’t have license plates yet. A woman driver in her 60’s got out of the car and her tiny chihuahua jumped out and immediately ran towards me as another car pulled into the parking lot. I did my best to chase the dog out of the way of the car before she got hit and was able to avoid a senseless tragedy. As I was bringing the dog back over to the woman in the Mustang, she proceeded to drop most of the groceries she was getting out of her car so I decided to be nice and help her pick them up. During the clean-up, we exchanged some small talk and I learned that the woman was missing most, if not all of her teeth, was named was “Fancy”, and that the next day was her birthday. She then proceeded to tell me that she had just bought herself a birthday card at the store because it said “Fancy” on it and she proceeded to show me the card. The reference wasn’t to someone being named Fancy, but more along the lines of “You’ll look fancy in your high heels” written in the body of the card. Anyhow, I felt really bad for this woman being alone in a crappy motel on her birthday and having to buy a card for herself, so when she then asked me to help her carry her groceries upstairs for her, I felt a bit obligated.
When we got to her room and she opened the door, the first thing I noticed was that there was a glass pipe and a hypodermic needle sitting on the bed. This helped explain the lack of teeth and I felt even more sorry for Fancy. She asked if I had a knife she could borrow to cut her avocado open for dinner so I went and got the knife I’d found on the trail ( Cut's Like a Knife ) and when I returned, Fancy had portioned out a few strawberries to thank me for helping save her dog and carry her groceries. She then offered to get some whipped cream for me as well but the way she said it felt more like she was hitting on me than being nice. I had no interest in flirting with Fancy, so I declined the whipped cream and continued with the small talk for a few minutes as I ate them.
Once I’d finished eating, I told her it was time for me to go and asked for my knife back. She then handed it back to me so I was free to leave. I should note, I’d never really gone into her room, I had been standing in the doorway, keeping the door open, as I just didn’t feel comfortable being in the room with the pipe and needles but I didn’t want to be rude either so had been trying to trying to walk the line of being nice but not giving her any wrong signals. Anyhow, as I turned to leave, she put her hand on my shoulder and said, “You know, if you want to have some fun later, you should come back up and bring $100. I don’t have any teeth so it will be a lot of fun”. I instantly and politely declined and was on my way.
Back in my room, I began feeling really sorry for Fancy and after some time, I decided I’d do something nice for her and went to the grocery store next to the motel and bought her one of those tiny, single serve cheesecakes so that she could have something to celebrate with on her birthday the next day. I then went back to her room, carefully making sure to not bring $100 or even my wallet with me so that there’d be no confusion of my intentions, and then knocked on her door. I heard some shuffling inside and a few minutes later, she opened the door and this time, instead of me seeing a pipe and needle on the bed, there was a man sitting on the bed, partially clothed, and I noticed Fancy had changed her clothes as well… Why she would answer the door while she was in the middle of what they were up to is beyond me. I quickly explained that I just wanted to make sure that she had a nice birthday and had gotten her the small cake which I handed her. She thanked me and then again asked me if I wanted to stop by later to have “a little fun”. I again declined and wished her a happy early birthday and left.
As I walked back downstairs, I started to laugh at the absurdity of what had just happened; I had just met a prostitute named “Fancy” and she’d let me down.
(click below for video)
