By the time we were on the road to Salida, evening was coming on and were running pretty slow knowing that deer were everywhere—sure enough, only a few minutes later we rode through a heard of elk browsing on both sides of the road. Even down in the flats of the valley, I felt great to be back in Colorado. I moved there when I was about 22 and it has always felt like home. The air is different and the place feels clean and new and clear. Out of LaVeta, we headed up the Wet-Mountain Valley toward Westcliff. We rode into town in the dusk of late evening. A quick look around town and we were off to Texas Creek where we picked up the road to Salida. Total darkness overtook us while running along the Arkansas River near town. I remember wishing for daylight because the road runs right down next to the river, the fast water tumbling by in an inspiring show of force.

We went to my old-stand-by budget hotel in Salida (not the one we will use for the tours) run by a high energy Polish guy who has a great way of making you feel welcome. We debouched from the bikes and proceeded to spread our stuff out like we had been there a week. I wasn’t long before the tequila bottle found its way around to all of us—nothing serious just a relaxing tipple before dinner. Showers all around gave everyone that “hell, I could ride another 500 miles” for a few minutes and Kev felt so good he went out and mounted the RT in his bath towel—we declared unanimously that no matter how bad he wanted to get noticed by some local gals, he would have to get dressed before we would take him out in public. A dinner spot was easy. Amica’s is hands down my favorite place to eat in Salida. Its not expensive but it feels like is must be; it’s fresh, it’s cool but not over hip. Without a doubt, we will be taking dinner there on the tours. This night we came in close to closing and they treated us like we were the first customers of the night—did I mention genuinely friendly yet professional service? The beer and conversation were equally pleasant. We took it pretty easy on the craft brew knowing we would have to ride the bikes back to the barn and head out “early” the next day.

We crashed into the sack as soon as we returned from dinner. Bill said he felt like sleeping in a bed for a change instead of his usual hammock so I tied it between two trees in the parking lot behind the pool house and spent a fine night under the night sky.