August 9 – 21
Two Wheels: Durango and Beyond.
Like any good grandparent, I could prattle on endlessly about our brilliant and adorable grandchildren. I could go on and on about camping and biking and hiking and floating and reading books and playing hot lava and being silly and celebrating a birthday and just spending quantity and quality time with two small humans and their full time tenders. Instead, I’ll simply share a few photos and call it good.
Sunday, August 15. “Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say ‘good night’ til it be morrow.” Whenever we land someplace intriguing, whenever we meet some interesting people, one of the hard parts of travel is saying good-bye. Multiply that feeling a thousand-fold when we’re saying good bye to Aaron, Vanessa and the grandchildren. After a week though, it was time to move on. Aaron and Kiri were kind enough to drive us past the busy Sunday traffic (and massive climb) between Durango and the top of Wolf Creek Pass.
After our final ‘good-byes’ we set off downhill towards South Fork. It was glorious. There is nothing like mile after mile of downhill bliss. In spite of a rain delay, we made it to a campground 10 miles beyond Creede, just as the skies opened again. Good first day back on the bikes.
Monday, August 16. Our goal this day was Lake City. On paper, 45 miles seems easily do-able. Paper doesn’t account for almost 4,000′ feet of climbing over two passes that included all the usual weather gifts. It was a challenging, beautiful day in the mountains.
Aftermath of a high altitude monsoon storm. 
Ready to enjoy the fruits of our labor – 10 miles downhill
Tuesday, August 17. On Monday we made the mistake of loafing a bit too much in the morning. We paid for it by having to ride in the heat, and then the unpleasantness of monsoon storms. We hit the road early, headed in the direction of Gunnison. After 20 miles of beautiful, generally downhill riding completed by 10am, we said, “Let’s go all the way to Gunnison.” We did not account for eight, brutal, uphill miles over two passes in sweltering heat. We also did not plan on the third flat tire of our trip. We did persevere however. We spent the evening in one of Gunnison’s stupidly overpriced hotels.
More “joy of the open road”…changing a flat with no shade and 80+ degrees.
After reaching the top of our first hostile pass today, I fist bumped Sharon. “Here’s to us being bad ass bikers!” Sharon’s response…”I’m tired of being bad ass!” That response led us to using the comfortable surroundings to have a serious conversation about our future. We’ve been cycling now for ten weeks and have covered some 1,800 miles. Many of those miles have been through tremendously challenging conditions. The prospect of more challenges to come led Sharon to question her desire to continue the trip. At what point does the enjoyment of travel and satisfaction of having completed something difficult no longer outweigh the suffering? Especially since we are here by choice and ostensibly are doing this to have ‘fun’. We had a healthy conversation about different strategies and goals, and by evening’s end, Sharon decided to continue this portion of our journey.
Wednesday, August 18. Reunion. Several weeks ago we said good-bye to our Ushaia bound traveling partner Marshall. Partly by chance, and partly by design our paths crossed in Gunnison. It was a real treat sharing another meal and libation with our compadre. All too soon we parted ways again.
Thursday, August 19. “How long have we been doing this?” Ever have one of those days? First we couldn’t find Sharon’s wallet so we unpacked and repacked everything. Then the skies opened and we decided to shelter in place for awhile. Then my saddle broke requiring a quick trip to the very excellent Tomichi Bike Shop in Gunnison. Then we rode and the skies OPENED again. So, lots of starts and stops. Ultimately we ended up having a short but beautiful day biking from Gunnison up Taylor River canyon.
Friday, August 20. This was the big ‘un. It was an all day slog up and over Cottonwood Pass. Even though it was uphill all day, it was one of my favorite days so far in Colorado. The road surface was excellent and not terribly steep. Blue bird skies. Courteous drivers. Stunning Alpine scenery all day long. Capped off with a nice wild camping spot. Yeah…this is why we ride!
Saturday, August 21. Payback is a …. beautiful thing sometimes. 18 miles into Buena Vista this morning, all downhill. After a hearty, totally unearned, breakfast we decided to loaf around Buena Vista and check out the sights for a few hours. We’ve driven through a few times before, but I’ve never really gotten off the main drag. We both very much enjoyed the ambience.
From BV we have 43 miles to a planned meet up with youngest son Kevin, Katie Jo and friends. Crazy, stupid, busy, reckless traffic led us to get off the narrow road up to Antero Pass. Thanks to trail angel #1 today. Then impending doom in the form of wicked thunderstorms all around led us to a quick pitch up and trail angel #2. Mark lost his wife in a year and a half ago. That and a very serious health scare led him to hit the road and fulfill his wife’s bucket list. He pulled off to offer us food , water and a touching story.
Trail Angel #1 
Mark, TA #2 
Being stalked by yet another storm
As summer winds down, we hope you made lots a good memories these past few months. We are now two weeks and several hundred miles into the Colorado portion of our journey. We’ve had some very high “highs” and some of the most difficult days yet. As mentioned earlier, we both have had some mental and physical struggles…to the point of questioning whether or not we should go on or fast forward to Bellingham. We continue to be open and honest with each other…and as of now, we’re choosing to continue our journey. As always, we remain open to alternatives. Until next time…STC!
Whisper Jesus. Ask for peace and guidance. You two are amazing! There comes a time when you can tame ‘er down a bit. Doesn’t mean QUIT.
Indeed. Thanks for that.
Appears we traveled the same paths just a few weeks apart. That would have been quite a coincidence running into you. AK is quite the place eh?
Make the big decisions when you are rested and not hurting. If you can’t get rested and stop hurting, you pretty much have your answer.
Yep. Our mantra is never make big decisions on bad days. We’re getting rested with our son and daughter in law in Loveland. We’re feeling good about continuing at this point.
Maybe you need a little break is what is what I was trying to say. Arrgh!
Love the blog and hearing about your adventures. Thinking it might be a good idea to take the short cut to Bellingham. Maybe you need attention break. Hugs