Day 17 - 9/22 - OFF DAY in Del Norte, Colorado
Hello Everyone! I hope you had a great Thursday! I must say that mine was a good day!
First of all, it was wonderful to have my own room at The Mellow Moon, a unique little motel in Del Norte. After yesterday's ride in the afternoon rain, I needed a good night's rest and no mandatory breakfast time!
Once I organized my room and continued drying my tent, I headed down the street on foot to find a place to drink coffee and eat a hot breakfast. I walked into a neat little coffee shop and saw 2 fellow riders in there, and they highly recommended some of the rolls and cakes from that establishment. However, I wanted a hot breakfast, so the owner told me to go across the street to The Perks. It was a perfect place for me as I sat there for 2 plus hours using their WIFI while I had a wonderful breakfast burrito bowl and 2 cups of flavored coffee. During that time, I saw 6 more of "our guys" as they wandered in to drink or just socialize. It was kind of cool to see, because when you go to these small towns and have a day off, everyone wanders around and when you see them, you wave or chat, just like you are neighbors. It is kind of a community feeling even though I've only known these people for 2 and a half weeks! In addition, one of my fellow riders asked me more about my blog and charities and he asked that I email him the information. I am not trying to press any of these fellow riders to give, but if they want to hear more, I am certainly excited to share my story with them and then they might want to send it on to others.
I spent my afternoon calling a client, doing laundry, putting dry lube on my chain, and fixing my Wahoo bracket that holds my bike computer. The incessant bumps and rattling caused by the bad roads of the past few days had finally loosened the bracket and a rubber piece that I'd previously inserted had fallen out. Thus, the bracket was just swinging on my handlebars at the end of the ride yesterday. Therefore, I did surgery with my cuticle scissors, and for now, the bracket is tight. Those of you who know me well probably won't be surprised if I have further issues over the next 6 days of riding, but at least I tried! Unfortunately, I was not blessed with the desire, patience, or ability to fix many things!
Tonight, I was invited to dinner by Bob and his brother Jeff, who had driven down from the Denver area. We had a fantastic dinner and good conversation at the Colorado Grille and Taphouse. Our server was Carrie, who just had a great attitude. As we were paying our bill, she asked where we were from and why we were here. After we told her, I asked her the same question. Her answer was that she was from Ft. Collins, which she loved, but she moved here for affordable real estate and loves it here too. That gave me a bit of hope since I am concerned about towns like this. You ride into town and see the big D on the side of the mountain, but then you look around and see some sidewalks in disrepair and some weeds along the main street. There are some nice places but other places are rundown or out of business. My positive outlook and hope is that I want small town USA to exist and thrive, but it has to be hard in a place like this where the land has limited use and it is a long way to almost any population center. But for today, I was a big fan of Del Norte!
As I say good night and get ready for the next 6 days of biking, I wanted to do a bit of housekeeping. First of all, the picture below this paragraph is in southern Wyoming and it is called Aspen Alley. My buddy took it as we were riding through it the other day and it was recently emailed to me. Until now, I forgot I had it, but I wanted to share it with you. I only wish I could have seen it this week, because it is very possible we would have felt like we were riding through a sea of gold! The other item of note is to remind you that if you have given to one or both of the charities or plan to give, please be sure to check with your employer to see if they will consider matching your charitable contributions. One of my friends works at Salesforce and when he gave the other day, he texted me and said he had completed a form and put in for a matching contribution from his company. So, I thought that I would mention this and see if it applies to anyone else. Finally, I am excited to note that as of today, we went over $16,000 in total donations! I can't thank all of you enough for your donations, for sharing this site with others, and for your prayers for safety. To date, this has been an amazing experience, and I'm glad you've been along for the ride in some way!
