I just posted my last chunk a few minutes ago so we’re still in Buffalo, I had some pistachio ice cream to recharge & am ready for more blogging!
Day 49: Motel breakfast: cereal, pancakes, toast & coffee…perfect 🙂 We talked to the owner for a while as we ate. She was so sweet. I really liked her. She was a good person; very grounded. We talked about people & technology, family, things to do & see in the area, & her desire to hike the Camino De Santiago trail in Spain. We’d never heard of it before so she told us all about it & I really hope she gets to do it someday – it sounds pretty spectacular.
Back to the room, took care of some logistics, packed food, & biked a few miles to a whitewater rafting place…called Whitewater Rafting LLC. We got fitted with our life jackets, went over the rules, loaded the buses & off we went to Shoshone Rapids, where we were dropped off. It was such a beautiful day. The river was also top-notch from rain a few days ago, which made for big rapids & great rafting.
Ben & I volunteered to be in the front of our boat, where all the action is! Our guide’s name was Bucky; he was really nice. There were also 4 other guys in our raft with us: 2 dads & their sons. They were only with us the first half, until they fell out & we lost them…no, I’m kidding. They switched halfway down to riding in “duckies” (2-person rafts), so the second half was just the 2 of us & Bucky. We got to know him a bit. He’s from Indiana, a young kid (only 20!), moved here to lead hunting groups on back-country camping trips, & in the off-season works as a rafting guide. Fun! In another life I would’ve loved to do that. His real name is Eric but was nicknamed Bucky at the hunting ranch since he was such a young buck 🙂
Our ride was about 2.5 hours & a great time that I could easily do again. Once off the river we biked downtown to Slope & Hatch, a taco place recommended by Bucky. Holy shnikies, the food was so good! I got veggie Thai stir fry tacos that were amazing. My mouth is watering just writing about it months later! Next we rolled over to a brewery for a couple tasting flights & played cards. Our waiter was awesome. He was hilarious & fun to talk to. Back to our motel, leftovers for dinner, charged all electronics, did laundry, showered, watched a little TV, read, & crashed for the night.
Day 50: Motel breakfast, packed & on the road by 9:30, then swung by the grocery store for a few goodies before heading out of town. We biked about 10-ish miles to Hanging Lake & hiked the 4 mile trail to the top. Wow, it was absolutely gorgeous, which is funny because while talking to a ranger at the park entrance about our trip/favorite places (Yosemite & Zion), he told us “prepare to be underwhelmed by Hanging Lake”. Well, it didn’t disappoint; it was breathtaking. The hike was a bit steep but worth it.
Back on the road for a lovely, quiet, beautiful ride along the river, on a designated paved bike path, which was awesome. It was such a nice day, mid 80s, hot-ish. After the first 20 miles the path was off & on with a frontage road that paralleled I-70 but we never had to ride on the interstate, thankfully.
We stopped for lunch at a rest stop along the trail, in the shade, & on grass. It felt so good to walk barefoot on grass again! It feels like it’s been so long! Back on the trail, we made it another 20 miles to a gas station in Gypsum for some cheese, a banana, & an ice cream sandwich. After that we only made it another 4 miles down the road before another pit-stop: Costco! We were really hungry apparently. Here we got pizza, a caesar salad, hot dog (for Ben), pop (which I rarely ever get!), & more ice cream (technically frozen yogurt: vanilla & acai berry…!!!). I also couldn’t help myself & did a little shopping, which is difficult when travelling by bike but I didn’t care. I bought a case of Aussie bites (granola pucks), a huge bag of kettle corn (I’d been craving it for weeks!), & a bag of those energy balls (usually fig or mango but this time they had a new one – banana nut!). I didn’t care what it took, I was going to make it fit on our bikes. No shame or regrets, just little-kid glee 🙂
Back on the road for a while before another break along the river. A driver passing by stopped to chat. His name was Todd; he was really nice. He wants to do his own trip someday so he had questions for us. If you’re reading this, Todd, you can do it!
Another stop in Edwards,CO at a gas station for ice & water. At this point Ben was a little cranky since we didn’t have any solid lodging plans for our final destination (Vail) so we made a sign out of a pillow case & red magic marker that we fastened to his back with safety pins. It said “We need a place to stay tonight. PLEASE :)”. We figured it couldn’t hurt. Heading out of town, now approaching sunset, we passed a bike shop with a few people standing outside when we rolled by. We stopped to talk (they happened to be the owners), & they gave us recommendations for places to camp in the area. That was nice. The places they told us about were about 6 miles shy of where we wanted to end up & I thought we could still make it.
We kept biking until just after sundown & did make it all the way to Vail. I scouted out sneaky places for camping & found a great spot behind a grocery store, just off a walking path, tucked behind trees & hidden by a fence, all in the back of strip mall land. Sweet!
We cleaned up in the Safeway grocery store bathroom, had dinner at the Vail Ale House, then back to our spot to set up stealth camping for the night. Despite a somewhat flat ride today, 65 miles in the heat zapped our energy & we were ready for bed. We were all tucked in, ready to snooze until we had a repeat of sprinkler shennanigans from Baker,CA. Sitting in our tent we heard one pop up 10 feet to our left, but just out of reach. Phew. Then another one 10 feet to our right, again, just out of reach. Phew again. But then…one popped up inches from our heads! We were up in a hurry, scrambling to move everything out of reach but it was too late – everything was soaked, worst of all our down sleeping bags 🙁 We set up again in the same vicinity just less hidden & put the rain fly on. It wasn’t exactly fun trying to sleep with everything damp but shit happens. You learn from it & move on. I couldn’t help but laugh…Ben, not so much.
Reflections
1. There were tons of pretty little yellow butterflies fluttering along the path heading out of Glenwood Springs. They made me so happy 🙂
2. I find not having solid lodging plans fun; it’s like a scavenger hunt. Ben finds it stressful.
3. It took a few days but my ring turned back to silver again. Hooray!
Wow, so much for finishing a 2nd entry in Buffalo…that was almost 3 weeks ago! Now we’re in New Hampshire, about to cross into Maine in a few hours…our last state! Let the water works begin. It’s still over a week til we dip our bikes in the ocean but I can’t believe this journey is almost over! Sniffle 🙁 Despite current time coming to an end soon I still have so much to catch up on: making it through the Rockies; time with family & friends in Denver, Illinois, Kansas City & Ohio; moped rides; winery tours; steep northeast hills; so many new friends we’ve made along the way & so much more! Stay tuned until next time!
Whitney