As per custom, Val drove to the day's destination and rode backwards on the route. We met right at the state line and had lunch at the State Line Bar and Grill. They welcome bikers.
The Lizard Head bike shop is well-known in the area. Owner Nicholas Jones is super-helpful and loves to talk about bikes.
Edgar loves to go for a ride. (Thanks Val for photo)
Rico is at elevation.
Lodging tonight is a walk-up room above the saloon. The bathroom is down the hall.
There was a band playing adjacent to the "Hotel" and they were barbecuing outside to supplement the normal menu. Since the bar was the only place in town to eat I had the chicken BBQ. One of the sides was an interesting variation on macaroni and cheese with green chile. They plan to enter it in the big macaroni and cheese contest in Santa Fe New Mexico next Saturday.
The outdoor bar is housed in this old car.
A view of the ambiance in the bar. The pool table is to the right and dining seating is at the other end of the room.
I did add another summit to my collection.
For dinner we went to the Horse Fly Brew Pub where there was a guy with impressive side whiskers playing the guitar and singing 60s-era songs. At the campground we met the same guy. Turns out his name is Tommy Bell, 60 years old.
He was orphaned at age 13 by a drunk driver and ran away from home to become a hobo. He rode the rails for many years and had a tatoo of the Freight Train Riders of America on his arm. Nowadays he says that they throw you in jail for riding the rails so he mostly walks, 20 miles a day. He travels all over the country, singing and playing for tips. He says he is one of the last of a dying breed of hoboes. He asked us to sign his guitar case.
I did stop at a little store and bought one of those little pre-packaged half-sandwiches and a soda. But I wasn't eating enough today and ended up bonking.
The town of Sapinero is hard to spot from the road. Val found it but there was nobody home.
Between the late start and riding really slowly because of the bonk I was going to be getting in after dark. So Val was kind enough to come back just as the sun was setting and pick me up by the bridge over the lake that is just a little way after Sapinero.
Val had reserved a campsite, but we didn't relish setting up tents in the dark so we wimped out and motelled it in Gunnison.
At the campground we met another touring cyclist, Niko from Holland. We exchanged blogs and emails.
Val really wanted to do Monarch Pass, so the plan today was a little different than most. We both rode from camp to the top of the pass.
You can see the road down there.
Much of the road has narrow shoulders with steep drop-offs.
Then we both rode back to camp, loaded the bikes on the car, and drove back to the top of the pass. When we got up there we met Niko's friend, who is traveling the same route but a half-day later.
Then I rode down the other side of the pass to our destination in Salida while Val drove the car to the hotel. (Thanks Val for photo)
I almost beat her in. I did the final 20 miles in 50 minutes from the top of the pass to rolling up to the hotel.
It was very difficult to get reservations in Salida this weekend because of FIBArk, a festivval of kayak and other boat competitions on the Arkansas River, music in the park, etc. (Thanks Val for photos)
Since we had such spotty cell phone and Internet coverage, we asked our new tour member Greg to look into it and he was able to get us some reservations at the Great Western hotel in town.
Last updated June 20, 2018