Day 316
Ice for breakfast
Well, our wild camp spot may have been in a stunning location, but boy was it chilly overnight! I was just about comfortable but poor Tom was frozen! We quickly packed up, ate a hurried breakfast and headed into Walden for a hot drink. Tom spotted a bench outside River Rock Café. It appeared to be a real old wild west building but apparently was built not so long ago!
We sat outside, basking in the sun, chatting away to Jackie and Mary, who were here to fish, and keeping an eye out for cyclist No. 1. However, we never saw him, but instead we were thrilled but stunned to see a young moose saunter along the street. Tom, the team cameraman managed not to take a single photo but we did catch it on film so stay tuned for the YouTube video. It was a real treat! We said our goodbyes to the girls and set out to ride our last few miles in Colorado before we entered Wyoming. Colorado had a few more treats in store, the fields were full of herds of antelopes, prairie dogs dashed in front of us, and then there sat on a fence post was a bald eagle. We pedalled along as quietly as possible, it was literally just a few yards away before it flew off and we were treated to the sight of this stunning bird in flight, and yes Tom caught it on film, phew! Goodbye Colorado, you have been a stunning state and for views our favourite so far!
And so, we entered Wyoming. The hills disappeared and the riding was easy. Lots of swooping downhills and easy blasts up a slight climb. The Rockies appeared to shrink and the sky dominated our view. It was full of dark black rain clouds but as yet none over us. Rain was forecast late afternoon and snow was following. We pushed on and had soon clocked up nearly 50 miles. Our proposed stop of Saratoga was just 18 miles away, but I was starting to grind to a halt. We rode in the small town of Riverside. There were two restaurants side by side. We pulled to a stop and headed into the first one, the Bear Trap cafe and bar. It opens at 11am and closes when people stop drinking or 2am, whichever arrives first. Now that’s our kind of pub. Tom was craving a pizza and yep, it’s their speciality and mighty fine it was too. Now just the small matter of 18 miles to go. The rain was coming closer and we suddenly had a headwind, and Wyoming had decided to throw in a series of seemingly endless ups and downs, so it was quite a tough last few miles but finally we were there!
We pulled up outside our proposed motel for the next two nights, so we could sit out the snow and get chance to try out the hot springs. Disaster, it was shut! We quickly opened booking.com, the other motel was fully booked. The rain was starting to fall. We decided to try at the other motel anyway and there was room at the inn, yay! I chatted away to the receptionist as she booked us in. She got a bit confused as to what day it was, an everyday occurrence for us. Now I’m not sure if that was the reason, or if it was to shut me up, but the price kept coming down! It is such good value, the weather forecast so bad, we may stay a few days and use the time to blog update, get our kit bear proof ready and relax in those hot springs!
