Wordless Wednesday

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Fingers Crossed...

The 2017 Ride the Rockies route was announced at approximately 9 p.m. Saturday. Last year we'd decided we would hotel it instead of camp because I want a real bed after a very difficult ride. And because we both prefer private showers as opposed to the shower truck, although the couple running the RtR shower trucks are awesome and do a great job keeping the trucks clean.

I told one of my co-workers, who did the 2005 RtR with us, we'd decided to hotel instead of camp because I'm getting old. He said that's not getting old; it's getting smart.

We didn't enter the lottery last year due to a family wedding. This year, we're not sure if The Lizard can get the time off.

But that didn't stop me from making as many (cancel-able) hotel reservations as I could at 9:05 p.m. Saturday night!

I tried to go as fast as I could, or I guess as fast as my internet could take me, but by the fifth host city, there were no rooms left. Typically, concessionaires book up whole blocks of rooms in advance, and it's impossible to get a room at all unless you go through the concessionaires. I got four of seven nights, though! I've tried doing that in the past just for the most difficult stages, one or two days per year, and I've never been able to get rooms before! I'm so excited that we might not have to camp except for a few nights!

On Tuesday, I checked again, and I found a cancellation in the 6th host city, and I snatched it up! It's another room with cancellations available. So if the Lizard doesn't get time off, we aren't out anything.

Except the cost of the ride, that is. We've decided we are going to move forward and throw our hats into the ring, and we'll find out on March 8 if we've been drawn. I'll keep checking the two remaining towns until then.

We LOVE the route! We really hope we get drawn and we can ride! Even though Lizard said, "Taking the year off last year and not doing any organized rides was pretty fun..."

First stop: Alamosa


Day 1: Pagosa Springs via Wolf Creek Pass


Day 2: Durango


Day 3: Durango Loop


Day 4: Ridgway via Coal Bank Pass, Molas Pass and Red Mountain Pass, the third-most difficult ride I've ever done, but in the opposite direction this time


Day 5: Montrose with an optional out-and-back


Day 6: Gunnison via Blue Mesa Reservoir and Cerro Summit


Day 7: Salida via Monarch Pass

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Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

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My Heart Belongs to Cimarron

I love the rock formations bordering the three forks of the Cimarron. Near the top of the Middle Fork is where The Lizard dropped to one knee and proposed to me in 2005.

The San Juan volcanic center would not have been a pleasant abode when fiery powers spawned these rocks about 24 million years ago. Ice ages advanced and retreated. Heat up; cool down; then do it all over again. Over tens of thousands of years, glacial and water erosion carved spectacular pinnacles, spires, sheer cliffs and unusual rock formations along the valley walls. A rock hunter's (or photographer's) paradise, the marvelous towers of conglomerate, quartzite, gneiss and mica schist cast eerie shadows each day as the sun moves across the sky.

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