We say goodbye to Bend tomorrow. It has been a terrific visit. We’ve covered a lot of ground, had a lot of fun. One of us has consumed a fair amount of coffee and beer. Not Puck.

I decided I could be a big girl (if I keep drinking beer like this, that won’t just be a figure of speech) and have ONE beer at Crux while I write this. So I must write quickly or I will be tempted to have two! Crux is a cool place. I’m sitting here looking at Mt. Bachelor while I drink my (very good, AND only 12 oz., perfect!) beer. Thanks Chip for recommending!

Not a bad last morning!

We had a great last run this morning. I needed a really tired dog – tomorrow will be a rest day, we have a long drive – so we went out for a couple hours and did a nice climb. There is something so satisfying about running uphill. I know you are saying to yourself: “it’s the downhill that comes after, stupid”. But it’s more than that: a je ne sais quoi. It makes me feel strong as long as I don’t look at my pace.

We scored a tiny patch of snow at our turnaround point. Heaven is a patch of snow on a hot morning!

Any port in a storm

The rest of the day was predictable: CrossFit, coffee, one last river stop with Puck, coffee, beer…

Can I tell you one of my fantasies? Don’t worry it is not X-rated. I will preface this by saying that I was once a smoker. You probably didn’t know that about me, but I was. When I started running back in my late 20s, I was smoking and running. I decided one had to go. Fortunately I decided to give up smoking. Anyhow, I feel this gives me the right to pick on smokers.

Back to my fantasy:

Picture me on my bike riding next to a big truck (picture a big jacked up truck, just for maximum effect). The guy in the big truck tosses a lit cigarette butt out of his window. I reach down, pick up the cigarette butt and toss it back into his truck. Then I make a quick and successful getaway on my bike before he can find his shotgun. I dream about doing this. Seriously, wouldn’t that just be so awesome? Assuming I got away…

I saw a guy toss a butt today, which is why I was thinking of this.

Selfie gone bad

Back to real life. My plan is to be up very early tomorrow – we’ll pretend we are back on Mountain Time already – and hit the road. It’s a long haul to Sun Valley and I’d like to be there sometime in the afternoon if at all possible. We have to start planning our Sun Valley adventures!!!

Beer is gone, gotta go!

Stay tuned. Sun Valley, here we come.