The morning came too quickly and as I awoke I noticed that it was actually cold out. Well, it was cold in my cabin, when i finally got up and opened the door I found that the outside was much warmer. That made things easier as I packed up and headed out a little before the Schroeders and Halvorsons crew did.
I gained about 1,400ft elevation between Guffey and Fairplay but none of it was that bad. I made my way over my first pass of the trip - Current Creek Pass @ 9,404ft but there wasn't even a sign to mark the pass. I made my way to a little cafe in Hartsel for lunch and when I was almost finished with my meal the families showed up and I hung out with them while they ate, 12 people put a strain on this little cafe's ability to make food. Near the end, another west-bound cyclist, an 18 year old named Tyler, showed up and said he was trying to catch up to all of us. He joined the group but wanted to eat lunch as everyone else pressed ahead.
I reached Fairplay and grabbed some items from the gas station and hung out till the families showed up, which they did within 15 minutes and Tyler came rolling in behind them. They had been looking to stay at one of the churches in Fairplay but hadn't gotten anything back from the ones they called. We all headed into town to grab some ice cream while the adults of the families called around to see what was available.
Well, it turned out that all the hotels in the town were booked due to some event going on this weekend. The only vacancies that were found were at an RV & tent site, located in town next to a grocery store. So all of us, Tyler included, made our way down there and paid $10 / tent to camp. As we set up our tents the wind picked up and the clouds looked like rain. Trying to beat the rain, we all went to the grocery store where the moms of the families had bought food to make sandwiches and we all ate on a bench outside the grocery store as it lightly rained.
Afterwards, it was getting late and everyone made their way back down to the RV site and to their tents. I went shopping at the grocery store looking for food for tomorrow's breakfast. Remembering that my friend Ed had threatened to mail me heavy things like a marble statue to haul around, I spotted a display of watermellons and grabbed one. I headed down to the RV site where everyone except a few of the family's kids were already in their tents for the night. I asked the girls which bike trailer was their parent's and laid the nice heavy watermellon inside. It was a simple prank but I was sure they'd find it funny. I'm sure they'd love some watermellon on top of Hoosier Pass!
I then crawled into my tent and for the first time of this trip had to actually use my sleeping bag as it was intended instead of just something to sleep on because it was too hot. Fairplay was at an elevation of 9,950ft and it was to get into the 40's tonight!
Start: Guffey, CO
End: Fairplay, CO
Distance: 47.92 miles
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