Day: 279
Cedaredge to Blue Mesa Reservoir
Time: 3:21
Distance: 33.8 miles
Avg Speed: 10.1 mph
Terrain: Rolling
Location: 38 27' 16.26" N, 107 19' 40.25" W
We left Cedaredge early this morning. Leslie and I had been staying at my grandmother’s for a few days and had a great visit. We had very nice stay with her. She is always such an inspiration to me since she doesn’t get around very well any more. Does she let that stop her? No way, in fact she surprised Leslie and I with rice krispie treats and made us spaghetti and sauce one night. She always would get after me if I would try and help her with something while she was doing it.
I ran to the store before we left to get Leslie and I some groceries. I offered to get grandma some donuts while I was there (she loves donuts) so I grabbed some for Leslie and I as well (I love donuts too). After our donut break and few photos we rolled on down to my brother’s, a whole 5 blocks away. We loaded our bikes into his car and piled the whole family in so he could run us on the gauntlet of a highway to Hotchkiss. He actually dropped us off past Crawford which cut out a lot of boring highway riding. After a quick goodbye we pedaled off towards Blue Mesa Reservoir. I thought the road we were on would be a lot busier since it is the biggest body of water in the state of Colorado, but we had very few cars to interrupt our rubber necking of the nice scenery. After a couple of hours riding we rode past the view point for the Curecanti Needle. It is a large rock pyramid that rises up from the middle of the Black Canyon. One of my favorite pictures is of my Grandpa Jack climbing the needle while he was a student at Western State in Gunnison. After snapping a few photos we headed on to our campsite for the night near the western dam of the reservoir. We were supposed to call Leslie’s cousin to come and meet us when we got here. He and his wife live in Montrose which is nearby, and he has been a real positive force for us while we have been traveling. He regularly emails us, so we were looking forward to seeing him. I had never met him and when a red car pulled up not too long after we arrived, I asked Leslie if that was him. Sure enough he timed it perfect and we had a nice chat with him and his wife. A little bit later their son and his girlfriend showed up and our little campsite became the place to be. After an hour or so of talking I asked if it would be alright if I made some soup for Leslie and me. Why make soup when there is a cooler full of fruit, cookies and hot dogs in the car? I couldn’t argue with that so we set up our picnic table and built a fire to roast some weenies. We had a nice meal and great chat with everyone before they left to get back to the city.
I love the touring in Colorado. It has been more about riding from friend to friend and family to family rather than the actual touring. Don’t get me wrong, we love the touring, but seeing all of our people has been an added bonus that makes us feel at home on the road.
CK
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