Day 8 On the road

Met this 23 year old man outside Ouray. He just graduated from college in Richmond VA and has been riding this bike for the last 60 days, covering 2600 miles so far. He told me that every young person in American should have to do it before they get too old. He had learned so much about all the different cultures in the USA. He gets by on a LOT of PB and white bread. Everything he has in on the bike. He was planning the snowly climb up to 10,500 feet, but said he really, really did not like riding in the snow.

Jay Jay will take off his shoes and climb anything. I wish the lighting was better on this picture of him, but it is SO amazingly bright in Colorado, I had trouble taking good outside pictures with the snow capped mountains and cloud filled sky.



We stopped at a winery/farmers market in Hotchkiss, CO for some fresh peaches. We found the owner making some Pinot Noir wine and he gave us an education on how he pressed the grapes. He treated the kids and us to sweet pinot grapes. Tiny little things, full of seeds. Jay Jay (of course) ate them a hand full at a time before the cruch hit him and he had to spit out the seeds and all. The seeds are very, very bitter and kind of desicating. Once we figured out how to eat around the seeds or spit them out, things worked out much better.
We landed in Glenwood Springs tonight. It was dark and cold and rainy, so it was mac and cheese for the kids but I had chicken marsala lined up for Jay and I. Kids are watching the Muppets take Manhattan. I had to take my shower in the bus rather than at the on-site facilities. Let me tell you something, when you know you only have 5 gallons of hot water, it is more an exercise in friction and speed to get the essentials done than in lather and luxury before you are into the cold water shower.

Tomorrow the kids are going to have to pick between the hot springs pool (1 million gallons of warm water fun at 15.00 dollars per person) or taking the sky ride up to the top of the mountain to see the caverns at 10,000 feet and ride the roller coaster at the top. I vote for the mile hight amusement park, as we are hoping for Steamboat Springs tomorrow night. These are our last few days in Colorado before we try for Jackson Hole, Wyoming and then on to Yellowstone.