What's Fred Up To Now?: Day 26 - Thursday June 14; Silverthorne, CO to Hot Sulphur Springs, CO (60 miles)

It was a chilly start from Silverthorne but beautiful blue skies and no wind. In fact it was cool enough that I left my jacket on until I reached Kremmling at about 10:30 AM. There was a lot of down hill today with only a few places where I had to pedal very hard. The first section of CO9 heading north out of Silverthorne was on the Ride The Rockies route that came through yesterday. There was a wide shoulder and it seemed as if maybe they ran a street sweeper over it in preparation for yesterday's event. This road follows the Blue River to the Green Mountain Reservoir. It was a very scenic and pleasant ride.

At the inlet to Green Mountain Reservoir, the map routef me on a county road on the opposite side of the reservoir from CO9. It was peaceful, but a more difficult ride with many short ups and downs at each of the inlets to the reservoir. I stopped at the dam on the north side and looked at a display and plaque. The dam was built in 1943 as part of the Big Thompson project. It appeared to me that it still generates electricity. I saw several mountain bikers along this part of the ride. At the junction where the road rejoined CO9 I met Laurel who is originally from Wisconsin but now lives just a few miles from the dam. She was getting ready for a mid-morning bicycle ride along the reservoir. We had a nice short chat while I ate a breakfast bar - the amenities the map identified in Heeney were all closed.

The ride on CO9 from the reservoir to Kremmling was a little terrifying. Traffic was fairly heavy and there was no shoulder. To make things worse, there must be some sort of Ford Mustang gathering somewhere west of Kremmling on US40. Drivers would come up on me in packs of four or five with a support truck/trailer as the last vehicle. Things were fine if no one was coming at me when they passed, but it got pretty hairy if there was oncoming traffic. They had no concern for my life! I tried a couple of times to "own the road", but that could have been fatal. It only works if they care whether they kill you or not - and these folks did not seem to care one bit. Scarrrrrrry.

I finally arrived in Kremmling, a little shaken but all in one piece. It was only 17 more miles on US40 going east to Hot Sulphur Springs, which was my planned destination for today, so I took a long break (for me anyway) at a very nice Kum and Go. It appeared that US40 had a decent shoulder, and it did to the east edge of town when it disappeared completely. Fortunately for the next five miles, traffic was not as heavy as it had been on CO9. Then all of a sudden there was an eight foot shoulder all the way to Hot Sulphur Springs except for a couple of miles through a canyon. The part of the ride before the canyon was very pleasant and along the headwaters of the Colorado River. Through the canyon I got off the road a couple of times just to make things easier for motorized traffic. No big deal - my goal was to get here in one piece.

I arrived in Hot Sulphur Springs around 12:45 PM and found a cheap motel room. It's not very large, but it will suit my needs. I ate lunch at the Glory Hole cafe and drank a milk shake at the local outdoor hamburger/ice cream place. I'm at the library now getting writing this blog post.

Tomorrow I'm off for a 60 mile ride to Walden, CO. This ride will include one last pass at 9,600' and will be my last full day on the TransAmerica route. Saturday I'll go 65 miles from Walden, CO to Laramie, WY for what will likely be my last day of riding. Someone from my daughter's family will pick me up in Laramie Saturday afternoon and we'll load the bike and gear and drive to Ft. Collins.

A few photos from today follow.