Wednesday, September 30. Denver Creek CG to Parshall, CO. 26 miles, 726' gained, 11 Garmin Beers Earned.
A cold morning start-20', with frost and ice, and minimal wind! It also appeared to us that the wind had shifted to a more easterly direction, so we got our bikes ready and began our ride. The first 10 miles were down a beautiful canyon, and although the wind was increasing, it mostly was gusty and from the side, so the wind wasn't too much of an issue. The Canyon was beautiful-we followed Denver and Willow Creeks downstream, and the hillsides were covered with Aspen trees in various stages of color change, which contrasted nicely with the pine trees-almost all of which were gray and black-killed by bark beetles. Sad. Bigly.
Along the we way passed some horse riders-Share the Road, Colorado style!
Soon we were at the end of our downhill run, at turned west on US 40. At this point, we realized we were fooled by local terrain in the canyon and its effect on wind direction, and were rudely slapped in the face with a 25 mph headwind. We beat into the wind for 10 miles, and ran into Janet, Jo, and Bob at the Dari Delight in Hot Sulphur Springs. We ran into a local guy there, and he requested a Sprinter tour. After the tour, he gave us a hot tip about a great bar/restaurant down the road in Parshall. John and I decided to tough it out another 5 miles into the wind, and stop for a beer at the Parshall Inn, aka the Pi. We rode another great canyon section alongside the Colorado river. The road had absolutely zero shoulder, but traffic was fairly light, and what traffic was out there, gave us plenty of room.
Soon we arrived at the PI, and we hitched our bikes to the hitching rail, and went inside for a beer and a light lunch. Janet and Jo soon met up with us. We decided to come back for dinner, because Wednesday night was all you can eat fried chicken dinner! Winner winner, we had chicken dinner!
After lunch, we loaded the bikes on the van and drove the final miles to our campsite at the Red Mountain RV park in the outskirts of Kremmling. The park was very comfortable and clean. We appreciated the showers, and did laundry too. Another camper at the park had a Casita trailer, done with a wrap that made it look like a New Mexico pueblo . It was awesome!
We drove back to Parshall for the chicken dinner, but before dinner, Jo took Bob out to pee, and a couple of loose dogs came out running at Jo and Bob. Bob lunged at the dogs, pulling Jo over in the dirt street, resulting in a nasty skinned knee. She will be fine-it's just a flesh wound.
Meanwhile, back at the restaurant I had a burrito, while everyone else had fried chicken and they said it was excellent. If ever in Parshall be sure to stop at the Pi. With full bellies, we went back to camp and soon went to bed!
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J-Nut from Gmail
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