Day Twentyfour- Done (Over 1775 miles)

August 13th-

I did wake up in the middle of the night a couple times. One time, I was so thirsty that I had to finish the last drops from my water bottle. Another time, it was so cold outside that I had to use the trusty thermal blanket. I'm not sure if I used it right, but I'm still alive, so it's all for the better.

I packed up my things in the bitter cold of 6 am in the hills (Rockies). I had no water, so breakfast wasn't a good idea. I didn't want to dry out my body with digestion. I figured I had about ten miles until I reached a place I could get water, so I rode.

The ride was still uphill, but was beautiful. I kept wondering when I was going to get some water though.

After it seemed like too long, I went over to a creek and tested the water. There was no strange smell or taste, so I took one sip to get me the rest of the way. Right after the summit of the "hill," I had to stop at a point in the road where there was construction. The construction guy said, "I brought an extra bottle of water today. You can have it." Who could ask for anything more?

They let me ride down behind the other cars going about 30 MPH into part of a valley. There is a visitors' center there which I stopped at to fill my waters. I realized I had a little glimpse of phone service, so I made some calls.

Following the phone calls, I met Kristen. She works at the Moose State Park State Recreation Visitors Center (I'm not 100% on the name still). She gave me some tips for my travel and I asked her to follow along on the trip.

I rode mostly North into a small town by the name of Walden. There wasn't much to this town, but it was a nice stop before the many empty miles I was about to travel. I got an extra water bottle and some food to eat for dinner in the middle of nowhere.

A few miles down the road I met Kurt and Krista (see picture). They took some time off to cycle around Colorado. It seemed to me that he was carrying all their stuff, but I'm sure they worked out some deal. We told eachother of what was to be expected in the other directions. Kurt gave me a pair of gloves saying, "it gets cold in the mornings, especially if you spend the night in Rabbit Ears Pass." It was that sentence which made me decide to ride faster and farther to avoid having to sleep in Rabbit Ears Pass.

Rabbit Ears Pass was a beautiful climb of up and up and up. But, like I said before, going up a mountian means you get the downhill. What a downhill it was. I flew down the hill with a top speed of 35.5 and an average of 33 MPH. The descent lasted around ten minutes as it was about 5 miles long. I would've loved to have taken some pictures, but the ride was too exhilerating to stop.

I rode into Steamboat springs which is where I asked a guy by the name of Travis a million questions about the area. He works at the Gas Station/Ski shop there. After hearing my story, he bought the food for me that I was about to buy. I gave him the blog information, so hopefully he reads my thank you!

I ate some hot, fatty food at the McD's in town and typed until they kicked me out at 11 pm. I rode over to the camp sites that Travis and Kurt had told me about and was surprised to see the $29.54 charge for camping there. I think I stayed at a hotel for cheaper than that back in Lincoln, NE. Well, I rode over to a campsite where the people were still awake and asked if I could camp in the corner of their site for the $18 cash that I had. Alex (see picture) said I could camp there for free.

The two of us stayed up until about 4 am talking. He kept offering me a beer everytime he grabbed one, but I stayed true to my goal: no alcohol on the trip. We enjoyed the campfire until we let it die out and went to bed.

Daily Lesson: Memories come in two speeds; fast and too fast.

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