Colorado Continued

For some reason the text of my posting didn't seem to post. I will try and recreate the text that goes with the pictures.

In Grand Lake Colorado, 2796 miles into the trip.

One of the great things about the ride is meeting other cross country riders and getting to know them. Rode yesterday and part of today with a real group of characters. Two brothers, one of which is pulling his 50+ pound dog in a trailer. The dog gets out on hills and climbs and runs beside the rider. One of the brothers is doing a documentary of "first kisses" and the other is on a "virtual reality bike ride" and believes he has reached level 9. Two sisters who did no training. One has a grant from her college to do the ride as long as she is writing songs about the trip. Two teachers riding separately, one which became known as our "bike angel" as he is also a bicycle mechanic. The other is a lady that I met about 3 weeks ago and finally caught up with her after taking time off last week. Another rider was someone I met in Dillon Montana several days ago.

Camped in the City Park of Walden Colorado last night. Had frost on my tent this morning. Fortunately, I was one of the few campers who didn't have the park sprinkler system hit my tent last night or early this morning.

I went off the Adventure Cycling national route today and will be following my own route for the next 1500+ miles through Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota and Minnesota.

Plan on riding through Rocky Mountain National Park tomorrow on Trail Ridge Road that reaches elevations of over 12,000 feet and is the longest continuous paved road in the lower 48 states. I did this ride 30 years ago, much younger and not pulling a trailer with 50+ pounds of gear. It will be interesting and challenging.

All the best.