End of Day 25 and Day 26

And what a great ending it has been! I ended up fighting headwinds as I made my way towards Durango, getting into Bayfield with only about an hour of light left. I figured I'd get a bit outside of town and throw up camp, giving myself a longer ride on my "recovery day" tomorrow than I had anticipated, but still not bad. Just as I was leaving town, a biker rode up behind me and started chatting. She was a local and (given my reputable look) offered me a shower and bed for the night. Huzzah!

Cindy (my host) first needed to pick up her dog, and I followed her to the local ranger office - A park ranger! Her dog is great - a 2 year old girl named Nelly/Nellie and an incredibly calm, friendly dog. I haven't heard her bark once, she followed Cindy home as she bicycled along, ignoring other dogs and following verbal commands to keep her safe. Once home, she followed me around and is actually sitting next to me, gnawing on a chew toy while completely relaxed.

Cindy and I had a great time discussing how she got to being a ranger as well as her experiences in the service (from trail crew to fire crew to dealing with land exchanges and rights of way), while I shared stories about my trip thus far. She has mainly done backpacking with a bit of bicycling thrown in, and had some exciting stories from her travels. She's also hit a lot of the different parks and forests around the nation, from Florida to the Appalachians to all throughout the West. A great lifestyle to have!

Tomorrow will probably still be an easy day, as it will give my body more time to recover before hitting the desert. Weather has been good but I've gathered that I should expect light headwinds for most of the rest of the trip, which will slow me a bit. Cindy and her dog, Nelly/Nellie(?)


And it is now the end of Day 26. After a good night's sleep I woke up before Cindy left for work, and she made me up a combination breakfast that she often eats - a mixture of oatmeal, cereal, raisins, fruit and yogurt with cinnamon and almond milk - Delicious! She also gave me some of the best description of the road ahead that I've had for the whole trip. Soon, I was off again on the road.

From Bayfield, it is about 18 miles into Durango - miles which flew by after a good night's sleep and one of the better breakfasts of the trip. After Durango, the day got a bit harder. I had been warned of the five mile long hill after the town, and although it wasn't that bad, especially after the passes, I also found myself battling a headwind that stayed with me for most of the rest of the day. Pedaling a loaded bicycle uphill into a headwind is an experience I most connect with what I imagine running in molasses would be like...

Despite the wind, today gave me some great views as I moved along, passing the entrance to Mesa Verde and skirting some federal parkland. In many ways, I feel as though I skipped out on the mountains - I had my first major pass (Norte La Veta), then almost immediately was on the flat San Luis Valley for the day, hit the second pass (Wolf Creek) and then got fairly flat again. Today finally some a bit more of the up and down I was expecting to, but it was still several mile long ups and downs, with no really steep sections. All in all a good ride, headwind or not. There were also plenty of local bikers out and about.

I had been trying to decide whether to skip out on the cheap hotel I'd heard about in Cortez given my recent shower and good night of sleep or not, but after miles of headwind, I decided to splurge and have two days in a row of shower and bed. Getting into town around 2:30, I found a great little motel. The lady at the front counter was an outgoing 79 year old who I ended up talking to for about half an hour on religion, spirituality and politics. Absolutely hilarious and outspoken, the conversation was good.

Now I have the rest of the day to relax before I hit the desertlands tomorrow. For then next long bit, I'm back onto flat land and should soon start seeing cacti again I expect. Tomorrow will also see me at Four Corners! Onwards (after appropriate R&R)!