Sunday in Ferndale

We spent a very relaxing day in Ferndale – it’s advertised as a “step back in time” and that’s obvious as you walk up and down the streets of this quaint town.  It’s a house painter’s dream to live here – should never be out of work – all wooden structures.

Having shopped at a Costco on Saturday gave us all we needed to fix some delicious meals on the weekend.  Thanks to the  great facilities at the Redwood, we had plenty of room to cook and eat and pretend it was home.   Coffee after Sunday church proved to be more than just a coffee – we were invited and shared the makings of a potluck lunch with the locals.  This has proven to be so interesting for us.  They tell us first hand what  living in small town America is like now and the stories behind the scene.  Over lunch we learned from a lady who, with her husband had bought the motel where we were staying and had lived there for many years until they sold to a retired dairy farmer and that explained to us the “cow” in the yard.

Everyone could explore the town at their leisure and many of us checked out the “big” hill eading out of town.  Roast beef dinner with all the trimmings was on the menu for supper and that could bake on its own so no one had to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  John, who was out cycling around, came across a bike with a note on it saying, “take me, I’m free”  - brought it back to the motel and stripped it down to nothing salvaging the tires, tubes, gears, brakes, etc., etc.  It had been a very good bike in its day.  Now we have lots of spare parts in case they are needed.

Over coffee after dinner, Bernie laid out the options for Monday’s ride – there were 2 choices, a short 43 kilometre ride or a long, hard 107 kilometre ride.   The difference being, climbing steep hill after steep hill after steep hill.   The theory is that for every up hill there is a down hill and we had read that some of the down hills were  13 kilometers long.   Right away 7 guys said they would do the long route.  Some riders waffled, to do or not to do.  No pressure was put on anyone.   Those waffling could sleep over it.