Trip Report Day 10: Steamboat Springs, CO to Salida, CO

Date:  Saturday, August 28, 2010

Start: 0900 (0730 wake-up)

Finish:  2030ish???

Travel Time: 11.5 hrs

Distance: 250 miles

Total Distance Covered:  3267 miles

Thanks to our preparations yesterday, we were up and ready for the road quicker than normal.  We enjoyed some free cereal and juice in a tiny room just outside of the front desk.  The sat phone, however, held us up again.  Mike was pretty patient with our brother-in-law Jason who lent us the phone and customer service and eventually things got worked out.  We noticed a baby Triumph parked next to Wild Bill's GS and the owner stopped over for a quick chat before we started up on the trail again.

Colorado will always have a special place in our memories for it's unbelievable vistas.  The Rockies towered around us wherever we looked.  The roads took us across green valleys and twisted around the many high lakes.  Colorado seemed to have more quad traffic than we'd encountered up to this point, with riders often flying by in the opposite direction.  We also had our first major stream crossing.  I shot across first as Yobo filmed.  It was nearly as high as the wheels and a bit rutted from the trucks and jeeps crossing through.  Once I successfully crossed, I returned the favor and filmed Yobo make it over without a hitch.

As we were descending down into one of the valley, I stayed back for some good footage of Yobo heading down a descent.  As I attempted to catch up, I washed out around one of the dirt corners and dumped the bike.  I ended up breaking my left blinker in the fall.  Yobo was out of line of sight, so the com system wasn't working and Yobo continued on.  I've gotten good at uprighting the bike and was soon back on.  I will say it is frustrating to go down, especially after having put all of these miles on.  We stopped in Kremmling for some lunch and stumbled upon comfort-food gold mine.  This diner/restaurant had the most unbelievable hot-open face turkey sandwich and we topped it all off with some homemade pies.

Back on the roads for stretch and found ourselves in the resort town of Breckenridge.  The streets were filled with people filtering in and out of the many shops on main street.  We slowly made our way through town and started a steep climb that soon turned into dirt like so many times before.  Before we knew it, we were peering over the town of Breckenridge below and across the way was the ski slope that so many people enjoy in the winter.  This particular stretch of the road was a blast and just to put in perspective the views, we even caught a wedding party taking their photos up here.   This all changed as we entered the small time of Como where time seems to have stopped in the late 1800's.

We stopped at the Hartsel Gas Station for a quick refill of food and fuel.  Three other riders on Harley's had the same thing in mind.  Jim, Adam, and Leone were super friendly folk from Colorado and told us about some cool hot springs just down the way in addition to a happening hostel and pizza joint in Salida, CO, which is where they were headed.  Yobo and I made a quick change of plans and bipassed a small section of trail and made Salida our destination with the hopes we would meet up again.  They rolled off and Leona actually dumped her bike pulling out of the gas station...shhhhh.   We folowed a few minutes later.  It was the late afternoon and like so many times before the sky looked like it was going to open up and absolutely dump on us so we geared up.  AND like so many times before it just sprinkled a bit.  Just before Salida, you descend into the town of Buena Vista and skies seemed to shine down like heaven.  Someone had to have been looking out for us to avoid the ominous skies just off in the distance.

We found the Simple Hostel and snagged a bunk room on the second floor.  It was way cheap and quiet.  Definitely a recommended place to stay for anyone traveling through here.  Just like Adam, Jim, and Leone had recommended, we headed over to Amica's Pizza for dinner and sure enough all three of them were sitting and enjoying some pies.  The joint was hopping and we each ordered our own personal pie and enjoyed some funny stories.  These peeps were a riot and invited us to join them for a few drinks at the Victoria bar.  The joint was empty when we got there but eventually filled up and turned into a happening night-spot with a similar feel to the local bar on a college campus.  Yobo and I both teamed up with our friends and enjoyed some shuffleboard.  I never quite got the hang of it, but Yobo was a natural.  We were a bit sauced up again and decided to head back home just before midnight.

Salida really captured one of the aspects of the trip that we'd grown to love.  Meeting great people and enjoying those off-the-beaten path places to stay and eat.  So we're spreading the word and recommending the Simple Hostel and Amica's if you wanna have a good time whenever in Salida, CO.

/s/ Goda