If you’re bravely and boldly following along, last time I left us with a precarious, cliff-hanger as my water filter broke while I was camping in southern Colorado. (TV Audience: *gasp*)
Good news: I found a new filter and my dysentery joke didn’t become a reality. (TV Audience: applause)
Bad news is that I had to take another alternate. (TV Audience: boo!) While it matched up in mileage, it was definitely not the winding dirt roads I’ve grown accustomed to.
Nevertheless, I did meet a mischievous Daschund, sampled beer at Oktoberfest, and maybe, slightly, broke the law… only sorta.
Day 42 - Water would be nice.
Having a limited water supply, my best option was to travel to Del Norte, a town about 50 miles out. After receiving a hot tip from my support team, my hope was there would be a sporting goods store that could sell me a replacement filter.
Del Norte has many things to offer — a water filter is not one of them.
In a sudden turn of events, I would have to detour to another town to find what I needed. Fortunately, Alamosa was just 45 miles away and had an outdoor store that did in fact sell water filters. I could then take the state highway 40 miles south and circle back to the trail just before the state line. And with my plan in place, we were off to camp.
One small victory that did come later that evening was being awoken by the sprinkler system going off near my tent — but get this — it was not hitting me at all. Learning from past experiences, I strategically placed myself on dead grass to avoid getting hit by any potential sneak attacks. Small victories.
Day 43 - Alamosa Alternate
The ride to Alamosa was not nearly as demanding as the trail. It was flat, mostly paved, and easy to navigate. For the record, I did meet a dog, but this Daschund had so much energy he wouldn’t sit still for a picture. But, picture a dog that looks like this, just slightly bulkier.
He also escaped his yard and forced me to chase him up the road, but it was all in good fun… is what I told myself after I lured him back into his yard.
Once in Alamosa, I found a replacement water filter and had an afternoon to explore what seemed to be a somewhat lively college town. I saw a flyer for an Oktoberfest celebration and headed to the park to sample some local beer.
“Oktobrufest” did not disappoint. The beers were great, the keg toss was a success, and the band’s lead singer was also the drummer — a mark of all great tribute bands.
Day 44 - Back on Track
The trip to Alamosa was a success, but now it was time to get back to business. I had 50 miles of open road ahead of me and was ready for another mind-numbing, farmland day of riding.
This ride did take me through a few small, southern Coloradan towns. Ones where there are no ski mountains, instead miles of farmland are separated by grids of county roads. This was a quick change from the touristy ski towns I bounced between the last few days.
When I got to my campground, I found this one was closed for the season. Feeling that my legs were beat and I was ready to call it a day, I decided the camping season could be extended one more day and rolled my bike underneath the guard rail. Shh, that’s a secret kept between you and me — the internet can be trusted right?
Tonight we sleep on Colorado soil but tomorrow we enter the final state in the Great Divide journey: New Mexico.
