Colorado becomes Utah

August 15th

 Tim:

Day 23 may have been the most spectacular of all. We spent the day from 5800 feet to 9000. With 131miles traveled, I went over a divide, a summit, and a pass. The highest being Dallas Divide at 9000 feet. I started the morning in Gunnison, Colorado and had a wonderful climb after Blue Mesa Reservoir which went on for twenty miles, absolutely stunning,

and then climbed up the Cerro Summit. Had a nice downhill into Montrose where we had lunch in a lovely little coffee shop in Colona, where I began the last climb of the day, the Dallas Divide. At Ridgeway there was a street festival. I called Marcia hoping she had stopped to enjoy it. She had. It was about 90 degrees as I made the last climb and met Marcia at the Dallas Divide. This was followed by a wonderful downhill for about 15 miles into a river valley.

I then climbed up off route into Telluride which was just spectacular and where we had the best camping experience yet in a Town Park in this picturesque ski village. At about 8700 feet, it’s the highest campsite we have slept at so far. We had a lovely delicious meal out, where I filled up with an excellent  local beer, great food, and had an excellent night’s sleep. The journey continues and it just gets better and better. I am so thankful to be doing this with my wife. 

Tim:

Day 24 started in spectacular Telluride where I started up Lizard Head Pass to 10,222 feet. Beautiful climb, lovely mountain lakes, and then a fast descent where I hit over 45 mph going down into the valley below. Once we emerged from the valley, the terrain quickly changed to high desert, no trees, rolling hills of southwest Colorado and transitioned into Utah. It peaked out at over 90 degrees, and for the last 60 miles I had a 10-15 mph headwind. But I made it to Monticello, Utah with 119 miles traveled. Doing well.

Marcia:

Telluride was so much fun. The campground was a little piece of heaven with an icy mountain stream filled with lovely round rocks and swimming holes. The mountains just soared up from our quiet and shady site. Interesting place, and one I would love to return to one day with my skis on. On the way down the next morning I got a bit lost (again) and stopped three lovely ladies taking their morning walk together.  We had a great conversation, and they explained to me that the town I was looking for was just one house a mile back, so I wasn't really lost after all...

Utah...

After spending the night in Monticello, a depressed little desert town, we took the morning and headed north 50 miles together by car to visit Arches National Park. Astounding. Just go see it sometime. You have to. 

We headed back to the route and Tim started out. The high desert at the beginning of Utah was desolate and incredibly windy. I know this because I had a grocery cart laden with 8 gallons of water and several bags of food which blew over before I could get the car door open, causing the bottles to roll down the street. Once I gathered all it all up and tucked everything into place in my trusty little car, I headed off to pass Tim and head on to our first meeting place. Except I found him by the road changing a flat. The wind was roaring over and through and creating a pink dust storm all around us as he struggled to get the tire fixed, four tubes later. It’s amazing how much damage one teeny tiny piece of wire the size of a fine needle can do. By the time we got it fixed the sand had stopped trying to recreate The Grapes of Wrath, and we were off once more. We ended up at Natural Bridges National Monument and campground which was our reward for a tough afternoon, as it was so far beyond beautiful I have no words left for descriptors. So I will just quote from our bike maps… “an immense landscape….dizzying universe of pinnacles, castles, fins and hoods; spires and towers; a ever-changing kaleidoscope of a thousand different colors.” There were also cute little lizards and scrubby juniper and piñon trees and birds I never knew existed.

All the words in the world and our pictures don’t begin to do it justice. I was and continue to be overwhelmed by the strange and awe inspiring beauty of the canyons, the sand, the bridges and arches, the switchbacks and buttes. We stopped today, August 15th, in Hanksville where I have ordered new tires and a bunch of tubes to be mailed to us at the next town with a post office (84 miles from here) from the nearest bike shop to us right now (250 miles from here!). There is not a blade of grass in this town, just pink sand and red rocks and hot hot wind. We are in the depths of the wild wild west.