The Ace Saloon

Yesterday (Sunday) I woke up at 7:30 at Mundo Hot Springs.  With the time change I lost an hour the day before.  The plan was to ride to the town of New Meadows, around 49 miles away.  I didn’t get that far and it ended up being the shortest day of the trip. Just 23 miles.

They don’t have breakfast at the springs, so it was either a breakfast of trail mix or biking three miles back to town to the restaurant.  So it was trail mix for breakfast. This is unlike the breakfast this morning  at the 7 Devils Cafe (named after part of a mountain range) which had a portion of bacon the size that no one should eat. This reminds me of the movie City Slickers in which the three main characters are mourning the death of the ranch manager. One of them says “The man ate bacon at every meal.  You can’t do that!”

I’ve been taking my time leaving in the morning and it was nearly eleven when I hit the road. The ride was flat on highway 95 with lots of farms, many with structures that were quite rundown looking. Country music is big around here and one farmhouse had it blasting for all to hear.

I eventually got to a store about twelve miles up the road where I could get something that resembled a meal. They had a deli and the woman there made me a sandwich.  I went outside to eat and review my map.  The end of this particular map section ends in Missoula, Montana.  There will be plenty of climbing along the way.  I even had a fair amount of climbing later on this particular ride. It’s getting very hot during the day and I altered my plans to  make this ride a short one and stay in the town of Council, just eleven miles away. This way I would be at the base of the climb for the next ride and then set myself up for being at the base of the climbs for other days. Now I’ll get them out of the way before noon and before the hottest part of the day, hopefully.

As I left the store, the woman, who kindly offered to give me some ice for my water bottles, said as a goodbye “enjoy that hill.”  I said thanks, not thinking much of it, but soon figured out what she meant. It was  quite long and steep. After that climb I ran into a cyclist coming the other way.  We both stopped, as you do when you see someone traveling with all the gear. It was the first time I’d seen a solo female cyclist, but she said she was with two others and they soon showed up. They were Mara and Greg, a daughter and father, along with a friend named David. They had started in Virginia. We talked about climbing hills and Greg said, out of acceptance, “By this point when I see one, it’s just another hill.” They’ve done thousands so far.

Since I had changed my plan I needed a place to stay in Council. On the Adventure Cycling map a hotel was listed as the Ace Saloon. I thought this was a bit odd and different and when I came around the corner into town the saloon was right there.  I parked the bike and went in. The guy behind the bar was very friendly and when I asked about the room situation he was quite honest. “Oh yeah, we have ’em. But it’s… just a bed and a table…and…” He was running of out things to describe. “It’s just a room?” I finished.  “Yeah, it’s just a room,” he said.  “Bikers stay here coming through.”  The price was very nominal (and with good reason) and I thought it would be neat to stay out west in a room above a saloon.

The hotel entrance was actually separate from the saloon entrance, but the rooms are directly above the bar. It’s easy to know this from the loud music blasting up through the floor until 11pm.  Thankfully it wasn’t all country but a good mix of Elvis, CCR, Janis Joplin and even some Beatles. Not the best night’s sleep, but good enough.

The Ace Saloon and Dance Hall