Norris - Ennis
Time Traveled: 2 hrs 15 mins
Distance: 16.65 miles
Food Eaten: coffee w/sugar & cream, shortbread cookies, Probar, fried salmon filets, tartar sau e, salad, coleslaw, a few French fries, fish sandwich, salad, bread, blackberry pie, orange
This morning was filled with pain and misery, brought on completely by ourselves. Beware of small town bartenders and the people that frequent such bars. People watching can get much too fun and interesting that it can be very easy to drink a few too many just to prolong the experience.
Well, we are glad that we were able to have been a part of such an occasion, but we were sure paying for it in the morning. Not much sleep was had in the cramped space with semi trucks driving screaming past us all night long. I crawled out of the BBQ shed at the break of dawn and slowly dragged myself across the street to the infamous gas station. My body ached from exersion and a sleepless night. My head and stomach punished me for my over consumption. I had only one goal and that was to use the restroom. Once that was taken care of I could move on to the next very important task of finding food and bringing it to Joe.
My poor husband had it much worse than I. He spent the early hours throwing up under Carmen's biggest grill. I needed to find him something that would be easy on his stomach. I wandered around the tiny shop as a swarm of locals crowded the coffee station, laughing and joking together.
The gas station is the town hangout in the morning, and all of the 32 people that populate Norris ends up there at some point before noon. I must have been some good entertainment for them as I staggered around in my bicycle clothing and long knee socks, groping snacked goods and peering at the nutritional info. My hair was an attractive display of something similar to a birds' nest and I smelled like Carmen's ashtray that she filled to the brim last night.
When I made my way to the coffee station, an old man started to joke around with me, saying he hoped there was some left for me. I reciprocated with him as best as I could, paid for my stuff and got the hell out of there. Joe and I were more than ready to leave Norris back to the people who loved it the most. You guys enjoy your small town life and that's fine. Keep it. We're getting the fuck out, and not a moment too soon.
The bike ride away from our sleep (or sleepless) site wasn't much more inviting. We faced strong, cold headwind again, but this time we had to climb a scary pass with not much of a shoulder. At least we were out riding, and we both felt much better because of it.
Our climb was long and painful to us poor, tired, hungover saps. As always, when we reached the summit, we were filled with happiness, relief and elation. The next stretch into McAllister was all downhill. We stopped at the only place available for food, then moved on to Ennis, which was a short distance away.
It was decided that after a sleepless night in a storage room, we deserved a nice motel with a bed. The Sportsman's Lodge was our pick and we relished our stay in our little cabin. Dinner was found at the connecting restaurant and our waiter told us of his own vagabonding ways. We grabbed a slice of heaven in the form of blackberry pie and took it back to our room to enjoy on our bed.
The night was a wonderful relief and I fell asleep watching an old movie on TCM. It's the only channel I can stand watching as it doesn't have commercials and I'm a total pushover for old movies.
