Currently living in Pittsburgh,PA…or at least that’s what it feels like when we stay somewhere for several days 🙂 Taking a day off to catch up – no sightseeing whatsoever – so here goes…
Day 45: Eggs for breakfast, packed up, dropped off the car by 9am, & picked up our bikes. Oh, how I’ve missed them! Seriously! It feels like my kid 🙂 I feel like I have purpose again; I was feeling soft & lazy with a vehicle. Destination for today: somewhere between Moab,UT & Fruita,CO when we get tired & find a nice place to pitch a tent.
We biked along Hwy 128 all day. There was a nice bike path for the beginning, gorgeous views, quiet, peaceful, & pretty flat. It was overcast too, so that helped. We stopped at a winery on the way for a tasting, shared a bottle, & had our lunch there as well. We took a long break there to charge things, blog, play cards & Yahtzee, & read. It was a great resting place, right on the river – beautiful setting. We even met a family from MN (Shoreview area, which is really close to us in St.Paul) & chatted a bit. Very nice people.
Back on the road, we biked until 7pm. We had to pull over at one point in the afternoon to take a quick cat-nap on a bridge crossing the Colorado River. We were SO tired (the wine probably didn’t help 😉 & couldn’t keep going without a little shut-eye.
All day we’d been biking near the river but the last hour & a half the road veered further away until we couldn’t see it anymore. Towards the end of our ride we biked through the small ghost town of Cisco,UT. It was a few blocks of abandoned buildings, falling apart, in the middle of nowhere, empty fields all around, with a teeny, tiny post office (it was so cute!). A little further up the road we found a good place, tucked behind some little hills, to camp for the night. It was very dry, desert landscape but good enough to be out of the way. We used wet wipes to clean up a little, changed out of our sweaty, smelly clothes, made curry for dinner, set up the tent, watched the sunset, & caught a vibrant, gorgeous chunk of rainbow to the east. It was so bright! Inside the tent for a little reading, then asleep by 9:30pm. It was SO windy for a while, the tent was getting whipped around, so ear plugs were helpful for sleeping.
Day 46: Up by 6:30am, packed up, attempted to make blueberry pancakes with a packet of “just add water” muffin mix……epic fail. Way too sticky, flipping was impossible so it was more like stirring scrambled eggs, just purple. It was pretty much a pan of goopy clumps. We couldn’t stop laughing. It was such a pathetic but hilarious breakfast. When you’re expecting beautiful, fluffy, warm & tasty pancakes but instead get lukewarm purple play-dough, it’s hard not to bust a gut laughing. We definitely still ate it & the flavor was good, but the presentation was horrendous. Gordon Ramsay would’ve been proud 😉
On the road by 8am. We biked a few miles to I-70 & before we got there, a nice guy stopped & asked if we needed any water. We were fine but that was so sweet of him. Thanks, stranger! We were on I-70 for a while & encountered our first bout of rain while biking on this whole trip! It felt good. When it started raining pretty hard we took shelter under an overpass. It was nice to finally have cooler temperatures – high 60s.
Once it let up a little, we got back on the road. It was only 5 more miles to the Utah/Colorado border – state number 5! Despite our luxurious, gourmet breakfast we were SO HUNGRY & had to pull over at the Colorado welcome sign on the interstate to have a snack. 3 other people stopped at the sign for pictures too, each one we talked to for a while. Another 11 miles on I-70, then 8 miles to Fruita,CO. Once we left the interstate, the road we were on didn’t have a great shoulder & there was a lot of traffic from a country music fest that was ending. Unsurprisingly, we got honked at…by a guy in a truck. Gotta love it! We weren’t even in the road at that point! We were on our side of the shoulder, what else do you want?
We rolled into Fruita with some time to kill (& the pizza place our friends back home told us to check out was closed for the day – sorry, Dave, Amanda & Beth) so we stopped at a multifunctional business (convenience store, restaurant, camping gear, & hardware) to chill for a bit. Ben got some fries & a free sundae. The ice cream was free for telling a bad dad joke on Fathers Day – a deal they had for anyone. He used my favorite one: How much does it cost a pirate to pierce their ears?…………………….A buccanear! Haha, what a good one 🙂
We hung out there a while, refilled our water, elevated our legs, Ben napped, I blogged, then off to our Warm Showers hosts – Gretchen & Larry – by 3pm. They were amazing! They have a hops farm (Fruita Hops Works), chickens, & a great piece of land & home with stunning views of Monument Valley. No matter where you looked, the view was gorgeous. I immediately felt welcomed & at home. Larry was tending to the hops when we got there so Gretchen greeted us, offered us snacks & drinks, we chatted a while, then she showed us our room & bathroom. They have this awesome, funny book in the bathroom & you can’t help but laugh when you see it. It’s basically a guest book specifically for the bathroom, to fill out while you take care of business…whatever that may be 🙂 I think it’s a hilarious idea & now I want one! There’s a place to draw a picture (“business” related or not – your choice), a list of songs to choose from that best summarizes your visit in the bathroom, a bar graph to fill out of how your time was spent, & other amusing shennanigans. It was pretty awesome. After cleaning up, Larry joined us, we talked for a while, then got a tour of their land. I’m so jealous. I want a small farm like that & really miss our chickens so it was nice to see all their girls 🙂 They showed us the hops, some of their sweet equipment, the irrigation ditches (which I was curious about because I’d never seen them before- we don’t have those back home), & we asked lots of questions about anything & everything. Next, we went into town to the Copper Club Brewery, for some tasty beer where they also happen to sell some of their hops for one (or some?) of the brews. Cool! We brought snacks & just hung out talking about their touring days & our trip for a while. It was so nice.
Back to their place for dinner. Gretchen let me help! I chopped the veggies & she made the stir fry with ramen noodles (good ones, not the college dorm life variety). Wow, it was so good. Aaahhh, I was so happy – good food, great people, lovely home. We had cookies for dessert & just sat around the table talking for a long time. I can’t say it enough – they were such nice people. Fun, easy going, generous, funny, down-to-earth. We joked about swapping lives when we’re done with our trip: we can do the farm life & they can bike tour some more 🙂 I really liked them & hope our paths cross again someday. Before calling it a night, they asked if we needed to restock any of our supplies so we filled up our salt & cooking oil. Sweet, thanks! Off to bed, but a little route planning first. What a great day 🙂
Day 47: Gretchen made us coffee & veggies with eggs – so good. We packed up, took some extra cookies & granola bites for the road, exchanged hugs & off we went.
It was a nice day, not too hot, & started out with a great bike path to Grand Junction,CO for the first 10-ish miles. We had to swing through town to pick up a package at the post office: Ben’s new water bottles! Wahoo, now he doesn’t have to mooch off my awesome insulated 32oz Klean Kanteen bottles – he has his own!
We filled up water at a gas station on the edge of town, grabbed some snacks, & hit the road for Delta,CO. Holy shit, we had a healthy headwind…the…whole…30…miles…there, plus a few pretty big hills. Finally, we made it to Delta & got a tasty lunch at a great Mexican place (Fiesta Vallarta). Such good food. We still had time to kill after lunch, to avoid riding during the hottest part of the day, so we rolled down the street to Needle Rock Brewery for a beer & coffee 🙂
Back on the road for our final destination: Paonia,CO. It was a beautiful ride. Absolutely stunning. We had some pretty decent hills but still made it into town by sundown. We picked up a muffin & smoothie at a cute little cafe, groceries down the road, & finally off to our next Warm Showers hosts: IO & Tracy. They were a lovely couple, very sweet & welcoming. They also had a cute gray cat named Mouse 🙂 After showing us around & chatting shortly they went into town for pizza. They invited us to join them & offered to bring a pizza back for us but we’d already picked up food for dinner so we declined. That was really thoughtful though & we appreciated it. We showered, got things charging, did laundry, made dinner, & went to bed early. We were pooped & had a big day ahead of us.
Day 48: We slept in a little, then IO made us coffee & Ben made a veggie scrambler with facon (fake bacon). Ooohhh, it was so good! Packed & on the road by 9:45am. Today was a big biking day, lots of climbing, 71 miles, & entirely gorgeous. We’re finally heading into The Rockies! Everything was so green! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fully enjoy it because my allergies went into full blown attack mode & the right side of my face was gettin’ rocked! My eye & nose were a constant dripping faucet & stung all day from wiping them so much. I couldn’t even keep my eye open. I took all my allergy meds (pill, eye drops, nasal spray), but nothing helped 🙁 I basically biked all day with one eye & a raw face from all the wiping. It was quite uncomfortable & I was disappointed that such a beautiful ride was deflated by my stupid sinuses. Plus, it’s not easy to have to constantly take a hand off the bike while slowly climbing up a mountain to wipe my face – things get wobbly.
We finally reached the summit of McClure Pass (hallelujah!) & bombed it to the bottom. The road had just been repaved so it was awesome! So smooth, no pot holes to look out for, lots of space for us to ride safely, very little traffic – aaahhh, perfect conditions. We stopped at the bottom in the town of Redstone for water & ice cream, then a little further up the road we pulled off to dip in some natural hot springs called Penny Hot Springs. It’s not an established facility, just a local place where hot springs are coming out of the mountain & into the river. You’d never know where it was if someone didn’t tell you, but lucky for us our Warm Showers host, Tracy, had told us what to look for on the side of the road. It was a pretty neat place. People move big rocks around however they like to form pools to catch the hot water. They don’t get too deep but it’s enough to sit in & enjoy. The springs are seriously hot so you have to make sure a little of the cold river water is also mixing into the pool or you will burn. The sulphur smell is strong but that’s to be expected. Halfway through our soak I noticed my cheap $20 silver wedding ring off Etsy had turned bronze! Whoops! Oh well, I guess it’s pretty that way too.
Back on the road for our final push to Glenwood Springs,CO. We had a nice bike trail into Carbondale & thought about stopping there since my eye couldn’t take it anymore, & now both of them were only half open! I felt like I was in a haze but decided to push through & finish the 10 miles to Glenwood Springs. Luckily, the bike trail went all the way there so I didn’t have vehicle traffic to worry about. Awesome! We checked into a motel (Frontier Lodge), showered, Ben picked up Chinese take-out, which we ate in bed while watching TV. What a bunch of bums! My eye felt much better after the shower – finally! After dinner, we both passed out – we were SO TIRED!!!
Reflections
1. The car we rented in Moab was nice to see Arches & Canyonlands but I really do enjoy exploring the country by bike, at a much slower pace that allows you to notice & appreciate things you miss in a car as you zoom by so fast.
2. Interactions or experiences I never would’ve pictured before this trip: playing Yahtzee on the side of an interstate or striking up conversations with strangers on the shoulder of a freeway. Fun but unexpected 🙂
3. Despite Penny Hot Springs not being an established place, just a local spot on a river, there are Google reviews for it & I find them quite hilarious & ridiculous. The things people complain about, when it’s just a place in nature, not a business run by anyone, boggle my mind.
Well, I started this post in Pittsburgh but didn’t get around to finishing it until now…& we’re already in Buffalo,NY! I definitely won’t be caught up by the time we reach Maine but I do my best 🙂 Time to chainge things up & blog about our ride to Denver! Until next time…
Whitney