day 32 Waldon to Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado August 15th

Have you ever had an experience where you felt like what you were hearing, seeing or smelling brought back a memory of another place in time? Like even if it is not an exact replica, it conjured up a memory of a former experience? I have had several of those moments on this trip. Anything from a rocky, fast moving creek in Wyoming reminding me of creeks back home in the Adirondacks to craggy mountain passes reminding me of my stay in Italy at Lisa and Helena's home near Tuscany, or certain sections of road that reminded me of biking in Portugal in 2019 with yet another awesome crew of friends. I guess that's the minds way (as in: re mind ing) of compartmentalizing so many different things, helping to simplify all of these experiences to help you remember them later.

As cool as it is when this kind of "deja-vu" experience happens, you can be pretty sure that the vast majority of what we've experienced on this trip will have no match. Like where will we see another Kate? Classically trained at Julliard, fly fisher woman on the Salmon River, owner of a small Cafe snuggled between the canyons and rivers of Riggins,Idaho? Or will we ever again get a visit from a herd of Elk at 6am on a chilly morning, crawling out of a wet tent in Yellowstone National Park?  Or how about the experience of the "shack out back" in Halfway, Oregon, or our lodgings at Mundo Hot Springs...I could go on but I will stop right after mentioning Jeffrey City and Byron the Potter. That was pretty unique stuff. I just had to bring it up. I doubt it will be replicated at a later date. 

Which brings me to today's ride: Waldon, Colorado to Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado. No crossing another state line just yet. But what a trip!  We were not sure the night before if we would be biking to Sulphur Hot Springs as the forecasts varied and some looked pretty bleak. Everybody's phone had a different forecast so we decided to sleep on it and see. It rained throughout the night. When morning arrived we dragged our sore and tired bodies down the road to where our bikes were neatly put away on Lesli and Sue's truck. We grabbed a thankful bite to eat. Once again Lesli and Sue Sister had put out food and had perked more coffee. The verdict was; let's ride! So off we went after pulling down and putting together our soaking wet bikes from the truck.

It was hard for me to get pumped. My saddle was soaked, and I saw those three large construction trucks take off down the road, turn left and head down the highway we were going to be riding on. Did anyone else see that? Thoughts of the last few miles of yesterday's ride popped into my head: no shoulder, lots of traffic, oncoming traffic...yuck.

                                                                                                                    note: there is no shoulder

            

But don't ever give up...and lo and behold, less than a mile later, all of the traffic veered right...and WE went straight. Oh yeah. Just us, our bikes and a quiet little mountain road. Ahhhh. So off we went! 25 miles up to the top of Willow Creek Pass. Glorious views all around. Gliding along enjoying all of the changing scenery. Wa hoo! It seemed like we reached the summit in no time. We were on the Continental Divide again. This time at 9,683 feet of elevation.  Lots of new sites...maybe to never be seen again? Or maybe some day in the future something, a sound, a sight or a smell will trigger my memory and take me right back to that place. Then Sue Sister showed me how to pose in front of a sign (like they do in Colorado). I'm a little shy, so I just pointed at the sign (like we do in New York). 

                                                                                                                      (What a crew!)

Well let me tell you. The ride down was a hoot. Curve after lovely curve...following the winding river of Willow Creek which is a tributary to the Colorado River. The rock formations that we floated by were right out of a sci-fi movie. We continued to be unmolested by traffic, the only interruption being a few construction sites that we had to stop for. No biggie. It gave us a chance to look around at the destruction of the last storm. Serious washed out sections of the river, lots of mud, a couple of closed campgrounds, and lots of rock debris. 

Continuing down the mountain, at one point the whole valley below just opened up. It was Biblical. I could almost hear the angels singing. La la la! And that was shortly before the road teed into (get ready for it) Highway 40...duh duh duh duh! Another kind of less elevating music. Darn. We ended our incredible adventure with serious traffic whizzing by us. But we did have a shoulder. So It was all good. Only 7 miles to go.

When we entered Sulphur Hot Springs, there was not a shop, cafe or store open. Not even the gas station! We were told that lack of help was the reason. We have heard that a lot on this trip. But this town was literally shut down. Once again, Lesli to the rescue! We ate a nice lunch out of the camper and just talked about the beautiful ride we had today.

                              (There are 2 motels in town. How hard can it be to find ours?)

 We chilled out for a while after checking into the Ute Motel. 

The storm that was predicted on one of our phones arrived to entertain us. The thunder literally shook our rooms. Wow. 

                                                            (  The view of the parking lot and surrounding mountains after the storm.)

Another great meal was prepared by Lesli in the evening; Ravioli, Salad, Grilled Garlic Bread...and we were getting our heads wrapped around our last day of the first half of our Incredible Adventure coming up tomorrow. I wonder how much of today's ride will flash back in my mind in the future? And I wonder how tomorrow's ride will be...a demain.