Raft Guides are cool

We head out of town through Golden on our way up the front range of the Rockies. We wanted to go farther, but we ended up in Idaho Springs the first night out, only about 35 miles away. That was pretty disheartening, but Laura was feeling some altitude sickness at the end of the day and riding any farther was just not an option. So we went to a bar in town that Iris had been to the week before (when we were in Boulder, she was hanging out in Denver) and hung out watching karaoke. We met some raft guides living there for the summer who offered to put us up for the night. The raft guide crew was a good one to run into that night, the town was really small and except for them there wasn't a whole lot going on. They were working for the Arkansas River Rafting Co., which I though was pretty cool. I also went out with some of them and did that thing we do under a shady bridge, the first real time I felt like a hobo. There would be plenty more times like that ahead...

So we kept going up the hill in the morning towards Loveland Pass, Elev 11,996 ft. We stopped and ate at a little bar in Georgetown where Terrell's mom worked in the 70's. We head on to Loveland Pass, which ended up being a bitch but very beautiful the whole way up. It got really cold, as well, as we kept hiking. We met the manager of the Loveland slopes and he let us get some water at the bottom, which was a lifesaver because we were all out. So then we rode down to Keystone, an 8 mile drop to 9300 ft and awesome the whole way, though I couldn't feel my hands at the bottom... So we had some Tuaca shots to get the juices flowing again.

We finally get in to Frisco after dark and head to Tom's place, which was extremely comforting after the day we had. Hot showers and a huge meal got us ready to continue on to Kremmling, Co, the next day. We ended up having to ditch our bikes in Keystone because the free transit wont carry bikes after dark, they obstruct the headlights, and head back there in the morning to start the day. It was a nice ride past the Dillon Reservoir and off through the scenic mountains of Colorado. We followed a river all day that day, downstream, which was a good change of pace from the last two days.

We only went about 55 miles, and it would have been less but we needed to detour through a nothing town called Heeney for water midday. I ended up going to the only place in town still open, the Master Bait Shop, for some water and got attacked by a dog... in the bait shop. It didn't bite me or anthing, but it got damn close. The thing that really pissed me off was that the owner of the shop and the dog was telling it "good boy" after it attacked me. Then she looks at me and says "That's just what she's trained to do, what are you doing in here?!?" still kind of pissed (at me) that her dog got defensive and apparently not realizing that she ran a fucking Public place of business. I told her I just needed some water because I was out, to which she promptly responded "We work on on well water and I don't have enough to spare. You can buy some though, if you want." What a Bitch! I was especially surprised because our maps led us through ths detour and the businesses that the map gives are all biker friendly.

After not buying water and getting the Fuck out of that place, I ran into a lady down the road who let me use her hose. She explained that the store she owned went out of business and it was the one that bikers used to go to all the time for water. She was lovely, and it was really too bad her place went under, but she was getting old and losing help. Anyway we left the town and met up with three other girl bikers from Europe at the crossroads... Shit I wish we were going the same direction. One of their derailers had busted and she was stuck in 3 or 4 gears for a couple of days. I did what I could to fix it but could only manage to add another 3 gears. While I was fixing that another touring biker from England came by, making 7 of us total at the same crossroads! That's pretty extrordinary, especially considering we hadn't seen any other touring bikers in weeks.

So we keep going on to Kremmling, Co., also known as Kremtucky. Apparently, many famous country music singers keep ranch houses there. I remember hearing Willie Nelson, among a few more. Anyway we go to the park in town cause there's a band from Louisiana playing that night that we wanted to catch. I posted up at the bar until they started playing, and Iris and Laura came in after a while. This place had a "beer garden" that might hav ebeen the best in Colorado... Pics coming soon.

Iris strikes up a conversation with the guy at the bar, another raft guide working for the Arkansas River Rafting Co. Ha, small world! We played some horseshoes and got to shootin the bull while watching this band from the beer garden. He was a pretty down home guy by the name of Adam, and Adam let us sleep at his little place where all the other guides lived. He cooked some for us and built us a fire and we pollished off the cherry moonshine that we got from Praderborn. That stuff was wicked, apparently the juices in the cherry completley switch with the alcohol because the actual liquid wasn't that bad but the cherries were strong as shit!

As it happens, we end up hearing from the raft guide from Idaho Springs and he met up with Adam a couple of weeks later and they traded stories about putting up some crazy cross country bikers. They both offered to float us down the river as well, but it ended up not working out for us in either place. Oh well, we still had a great time hanging out! So close to Steamboat now, and only two more passes!