Miles Thursday: 67
Hours in the saddle: 2:33
Thursday we made our way from Durango to Ouray. It was a totally stellar ride thru the mountains via the Million Dollar Highway. I love the rugged red mountains peeking out behind the green pine trees.
After a hearty pancake breakfast at the KOA, we gassed up, stocked up on electrolytes and caffiene, and got going. We waited out some rain at a pit stop where we had a light lunch. They had a green chile stew which Jilie tried and was impressed with. Then we headed in to the mountains for real which included some tunnels and several 10-15 mph hairpin turns. They were more like S-hairpins…there was a sign I’ve never seen before with an S on its side. I can’t find a picture online. Sometimes we had a guardrail between us and a sheer dropoff, sometimes not. It was pretty exhilarating.
We also got to 11,100 feet today. Pretty cool!
We arrived in Ouray and went to a pizzaria for dinner and evaluated our lodging options. It was a little late to be camping, based on our new concept of putting the tent up during daylight. Jaron found an historic hotel with breakfast and a spa. Finally going to get those massages tomorrow.
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Miles Friday: 0.4, walking
Hours in the saddle: 0
Today was a chill day. We had a sauna, soak, and couples massage at the hotel. We went to get Thai food for linner, then ice cream, and then saw an outdoor gear store and picked up a few things. I’ve converted Jaron to my camping pillow, heh heh. The ice cream place also had some very cool treats, like spicy mango truffles, chocolate dipped oreos, etc. Mmm.
We went back to the hotel and mapped out our next few days. We’re heading back to NM. There is a lot more we would like to do in CO, but things are crowded and expensive near Colorado Springs.
This hotel was great. We both slept awesome last night. It’s quiet. It’s a historic building, though, and there are signs everywhere. Most of them tell you not to touch antique things, but there was also a label on the trash can at breakfast. It was the only trash can, and nothing else looked like it, so… There are literally 5 signs in our bathroom. One is the usual about re-using towels, and one is on the trash can saying that the plumbing is historic. Another tells you that these rags are for dirty work (there are also labeled makeup removal towels). Another sign explains the aerated water, and the fifth one tells you not to use these linens at the hot spring. It makes some sense given that the hotelier was thrown off by our making the reservation an hour before arriving, but man. I have never seen so many signs.
Tomorrow we had to Chaco Canyon in NM.
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