The Funny Way of Fate

The true adventurer goes forth aimless and uncalculating to meet and greet unknown fate.

--William Sydney Porter, aka O. Henry

I’m still in the city with a funny name in Idaho.  Yesterday I had thought that I would leave today to go to Glacier National Park, but it was such a warm and beautiful day that I figured I’d maybe stay one more day and get a longer bike ride in.  I only went about 15 miles on my bike yesterday since I got in a little bit late, and I noticed that the trail on which I was riding went much further than where I stopped at.  “If tomorrow is as nice as today, I’ll end up sticking around and seeing how far this trail leads,” I told myself.

Well, last night it got windy, and it rained a little bit.  This morning when I got up, I found that the tarp I had placed over my bike for the night had blown off, and the seat was soaked from the rain. 

Proof I was on the trail...

Plus, the sky was mottled with dark gray clouds.  And it was about 48° out, compared to the 80° of yesterday.  I checked weather.com, which promised it would clear up, and that the sun would break through the clouds in a few hours bringing the temperature up to just shy of 60°.  I then asked weather.com to tell me about Glacier, and it said it would get up to a toasty 43° today with winds up to 39 mph.  Decision made.  I walked over to the office and asked for one more night.  They even gave me the special discount of $15 off again, and I didn’t have to act stupid! I didn’t know it yet, but fate was actually smiling on me when it persuaded me to stick around another day.

By about 11:00am my bike seat had dried up and the air had warmed up to about 55°, just as weather.com had predicted.  Not entirely warm, but not –too- cold either.  I was actually pretty happy about this, because last week I bought some new, warm bike pants so I figured it would give me a chance to try them out (I was willing to test them out at 55°, but not at 43° in the wind!).   I set out again to follow the same Centennial Trail, looking forward to seeing how much farther it went than where I stopped yesterday.  As I rode through CDA, it was a very different scene than last time.  Yesterday with the warm weather, the beach and the park near downtown were bustling with people.  Today, at just before noon and at about 25° cooler, it was practically barren.  It actually made for a nicer ride, though, as I didn’t have to weave my way through the crowds and worry about running down small children, large dogs, or the elderly.   The trail took me about 3 miles farther down than I went yesterday and it ended at Higgins Point State Park.  The point where I got on the trail was about in the middle, so I figured I’d head back and explore in the opposite direction.  I wound my way back alongside the lake, through the downtown area, and around the college and then continued on past my starting point.  It was a nice, smooth paved path, but it started running alongside Highway 90 so it was not very scenic.  It did provide a little bit of a workout though, so it turned out to be worthwhile.  As I hit about 28 miles, I was feeling a little low on energy and was wishing I had something with more calories than just the water in my water bottle.  The gods must have been smiling down on me, because just as I was thinking about more calories I saw a shopping center up ahead with the familiar green Starbucks sign.  Caffeine and sugar would do the trick, so I stopped in and grabbed a large iced caramel coffee with whipped cream.  As I was sitting and sipping, I figured I’d call the San-Suz-Ed RV Park in Glacier, where I was planning on staying, and see if I could work myself a discount before I arrived.  I picked this place to stay because it had very good ratings on Google, TripAdvisor, and Yelp.  Also, they provided breakfast and, according to many reviews, apparently sold delicious pies as well.   After a few rings, a woman answered the phone and I asked her about availability for a few nights starting tomorrow.  Before I could get too far, though, she interrupted me in a very apologetic voice and said that they were working on their plumbing system and that they wouldn’t be open until later in the season.  Drats! 

Veterans Memorial Bridge over Lake CDA

There went my plan for pie!  As I was imbibing myself with caffeine, I Googled a few other places around Glacier and found a KOA near the entrance that had a pool and hot tubs.  I called them and asked about their availability starting tomorrow, and the lady told me that they don’t open for the season until Friday night, May 1.  I asked about the rate, and she said it was $49, but that they had a first-of-the-season promotion where you could buy two nights and stay for three.  That sounded pretty good, but now I had to figure out where I’d stay tomorrow night until the KOA opened.  In my mind, a modified Credence Clearwater Revival song started playing, and I heard “Oh, Lord, stuck in old CDA again…” Then I realized that it probably was a good thing I did not head to Glacier today.  I was just assuming that I would be able to pull into a campsite as I had done at every spot so far this trip.  At least now I had the option to revise my non-plan. I got a refill on my sugary coffee (because refills are free, of course), and spent a while trying to figure out what to do.  I found another campground inside Glacier Park that is currently open—Apgar Campground, but they have no hook ups and no showers. Of course my RV has a little shower in it, but my water heater only holds 6 gallons, which doesn’t make for much of a shower.  I can also be completely self-contained on my batteries, but I’ve become a bit spoiled lately with being able to plug my RV into electricity, which lets me run my oven to roast things for dinner.  Yes, I know—it’s not real camping, but so what.  It’s comfortable.  As I mulled over options and finished my second large bucket of coffee, I could feel my veins start to quiver from the jolt of caffeine.  My energy-depleted state from only about 20 minutes ago was completely gone and I needed to go burn off some of the calories and chemicals that were now whizzing around in my blood.  I got back on my bike and was practically sprinting down the trail.  I headed back past my original starting point and began going back through downtown CDA again.  As I rode past the beach, I noticed a seaplane parked at a dock on the lake, and figured that might be something to do tomorrow and would make it worth staying one more night here.  I steered my bike down a ramp and onto the dock to see if I could find out how much it cost.  There was a thin man with close-set eyes wearing grubby clothes and a faded green hat who was washing the plane.  He looked up at me as I rode up, and stopped his work to come over to where I was.

“Looking to find out about a plane ride?” he asked me, looking almost cross-eyed.

“Yah, I might be here a day longer than I had originally planned, and I was looking for something to do tomorrow,” I told him.

“$60 to go up.  I can take you this afternoon,” he told me.

“Well, I’m not really interested in this afternoon.  I was thinking about tomorrow,” I re-explained to him.

“We’re going up this afternoon at 5:30 if you’d like,” he told me, completely ignoring what I had just said.  I was about to ask him if he worked for the California State Park system as he was reminding me of the fellow who took the calls for Jedidiah Smith Campground a couple weeks ago (read about that here if you missed it).

Uhh...huhhuh..I saw a hairy woodpecker and a nuthatch.

“Umm…no, I really don’t want to go up today.  Is it possible to go up tomorrow?” I reiterated.

“The plane flies any day, but if you want to go today we’re leaving at 5:30. It’s $60,” he handed me a little flier with information about the flight.

“So you’re saying there’s a spot available today?” I asked him, trying to look as serious as possible as I took the little flier.

“Yes there is! Want to go?” he didn’t see the humor.

“Maybe I’ll come back right before then,” I told him.

“Great! See you then!” he turned around and went back to washing the plane.  I really hoped he was not the pilot, because if this was how he acted on the ground, it probably would have made for a real frustrating tour for whomever was going at 5:30 today. 

I got back on my bike and rode up the dock and back to the trail.  As I was riding up the path, a young couple was walking down towards the seaplane.  “They can take you up at 5:30 today,” I shouted to them as I rode by.  They looked at me, confused, not really sure if I was talking to them or talking to myself or perhaps talking on an unseen blue-tooth headset.  I got secret pleasure out of telling them that little inside joke, though.

As I made my way back onto the path, I could feel the second pail of Starbucks kicking in, and I felt like a toy car that had been pulled backwards across the carpet about 15 times, just ready to take off.  I re-traced my route down the Centennial Trail, taking advantage of the lack of people and pedaling with all my might to burn off as much caffeine and sugar as possible.  I kept alert for other things that might jump out and appear interesting to do for the next day, but somewhere along the way decided that I’d go to the Apgar Campground inside of Glacier Park, at least for Thursday night.  If it turned out ok, I could stay there a few more nights, and if not I could go to the KOA with the hot tubs and electricity for their 3-for-2 special.  With that settled in my head, I tried to spend as many calories as possible on the rest of my ride and I ended up with the odometer on my bike turning just past 45 miles by the time I got back to my van.

So in the end, it appears that fate had twice intervened today to steer me in a direction other than I had casually un-planned, and it ended up working out:  the day in CDA turned out nice enough for a long ride, and I also avoided getting to Glacier and frantically trying to figure out where to stay.   And, also, I just noticed that it is well past 5:30, so I suppose fate has kept me out of the seaplane as well.