July 11, 2001 - Mike and Marilyn's 2001 TranAmerican Bike Tour

   

Frisco to Kremmling, Colorado. (48 mi.) Mile 2516

Back to the High Plains

Our hosts last evening, the Lewallens, got up early and served us some excellent banana bread

to help get us going. We said good-bye, once again appreciative of their hospitality, and started with pedaling the 7 miles of paved bike trail around Dillion Reservoir to Silverthorne. This was a beautiful early morning ride, and one that we had done years ago, though we could hardly recognize Frisco and Silverthorne. Now there are new Outlet Malls, high rises, heavy traffic, inflated prices, and sprawling development. Our spirits improved once we left it behind.

Dillion Reservoir early in the morning

Over the course of today's ride, we dropped 1500 ft of elevation back into sagebrush and rangeland. A strong headwind kept us from fully appreciating this downhill though. We had to pedal hard before the afternoon thunderheads caught us, but we were successfully inside the burger bar in Kremmling eating huge banana splits when the skies opened up overhead with thunder and rain.

When the sun returned, we set up our tent at the Red Mountain RV Park, a campground with a lounge and dataport, where I could work on the laptop while Mike did laundry. Later we were joined at our tent site by John and Marilyn, young college students from San Diego, seeing the country west to east on their tandem bike and a shoestring budget. We all sat around in the campground office sharing stories, wearing nothing but our wind shells and rain wear, since all of our other clothes were in the wash.

Looking back toward the mountains over Green Mountain Reservoir

Thunderheads every afternoon, with scattered rain showers

Red Mountain RV Park. The owners laid sod to make a better tent space for the bicyclists who frequent the campground.