I was planning on sleeping in but automatically woke up at 7am cause that's what my body is used to. Was a bit hungover but nothing a hot tub and some Advil wouldn't cure. Threw all my disgusting stinky clothes in the washing machine while I relaxed in the hot tub. My clothes smelled so bad that I had to put all of them in the closet the day before so they didn't stink up my room.
While the clothes were drying I decided to go find some breakfast. I could see McDonald's and so I started walking there but along the way I found a nice sit down restaurant that had real breakfast. Ham & cheese omelet it was.DELICOUS!
Found this store right next door....hmmmmm....
Got back to the motel and started to pack up as I had to check out by 11am. I couldn't find my gloves so figured I either left them at the gas station or in the Jeep. If I did leave them in the Jeep I was hoping they would have found them and might have dropped them back off at the gas station on their way back thru. Nope. They weren't there. Bummer. Guess I'll just have to buy some new ones.
Next stop was the post office to pick up my re-supply box I had mailed myself. Was happy to see it had arrived.
Now I needed to find a bike shop to try and fix my seat post. Stopped at a camping store to buy fuel and they told me to go to Sub Culture Cyclery just around the corner and so I did.
Here I met Jason who said he could fix it. Yay! While he worked on it I re-packed my backpack with all my new dry food and snacks. I also borrowed a file and used that on my jetboil to make it fit inside itself again after my little incident I had a few days ago starting a fire with it.
An hour later the seat post was fixed! Think it took Jason a bit longer than he thought it would but he only charged me $20. I tried giving $30 but he refused. I ended up putting a few dollars in the beer fund jar they had. Thanks Jason, you're da man! I highly recommend this bike shop if anyone is ever in Salida. Sub Culture Cyclery. I know I'll be back as I wanted to buy one of their hats but didn't have the extra space nor did I want the extra weight. (And I did go back and buy it, wearing it right now actually!)
I rode down by the river to check it out and feel like a tourist. They had modified it to make it a kayak park with rapids and obstacles but just two kids on boogie boards were playing around in it.
Next came a coffee shop where I ordered a yummy cappuccino and used the wifi to do some work emails. I also set up a fundraising page with the ALS association for the muni ride I am doing on the CT. If you read my day 6 blog you will understand why I decided to help raise money for ALS.
While at the coffee shop I met some backpackers that came in. We talked a bit about the unicycle, gear that we used and how our experience was so far.
I also met a young girl that came up to me. She said that she had the exact same muni as me. She said a lady who has ridden the continental divide trail gave it to her. I knew this lady as I had followed her blog when she rode it a few years ago. She is the one that gave me the idea for doing the CT and I believe her name was Gracie.
The girl and her mom said that Gracie lives in Salida and asked if I wanted to meet her as they had her number. I would have loved to but didn't have time as I had to get back on the trail. If I had known earlier I would have defiantly tried to meet up with her.
Saw this old unicycle at a bike shop in town.
I went back to the bike shop to take a photo and to buy some new gloves. They didn't have gloves with wrist support like the KH ones I had so I had to just buy a regular pair. Guess I'll just have to be a bit more careful while riding.
While there I met the local muni rider. He was an older guy and we chatted for a bit. He asked me about the new KH zero flat seat and told him that I loved it and would recommend it for muni.
The bike shop told me I should go to the distillery that was right next door so I went to check it out. They only made gin and whiskey but they did have bloody mary's so I decided to have one. It was a cool little bar and the workers were very nice and friendly.
Next I headed to the Boathouse which was a restaurant on the river. I ordered another bloody and a big ol' BBQ bacon burger. Had a table overlooking the river and everything was perfect. Was feeling so good that I even decided to take a Irish Car Bomb in honor of my friend Prinkki.
I started talking to the lovely couple next to me. They were from Tulsa, OK and so I told them I was just there performing two months ago. I had to show them the photo I got from there with me on my 12 foot unicycle with fireworks going off in the background. Such an amazing photo.
Now it was time to try and find a ride back to the trail. I wanted to stay another night in Salida. It was such a cool town and I had a hard time leaving the restaurant but it had to be done. I ordered an Irish car bomb shot for the rode (in my friend, Prinkki's, honor) and left.
The motel I was at said they shuttled people to the trail for $20 so I headed there. When I arrived she said it was too late as she had to stay to check people in. Bummer. I called to see how much a taxi would cost and it was $40-50. Guess I'll just have to try and hitchhike.
Maybe I'll get lucky as I saw this rainbow along the way!
Started riding up the road a bit to get more out of town and passed a liquor store. Decided to buy some fireball to keep me warm once I got to the trail (and keep my buzz going). The guy working here was one of the guys that was also working at the bike shop.
I asked him if he knew any friends that would want to make 20 bucks. Sure enough he asked the guy behind me buying 4 tall Mickeys and he said sure. He lived up that ways anyways. Crazy coincidence.
This guy drove a pickup truck and was quite the character. By far the most interesting person I've met on the trip. His face looked like leather with lots of wrinkles. He was older and I knew he had stories to tell. He said he was going to take the back roads there as he didn't like driving on the main one. I'm assuming it was cause he was either high or drunk...or maybe both.
Along the way I asked him about his life. He moved to Salida in 1979 and loved it. He used to be a ski patrol and had gone thru a divorce. He was a fun guy to talk with. When we got to a dirt road he asked if it was ok to crack a beer and offered me one. I declined as I had my fireball.
Because he didn't want to drive on highway 50, he went up a dirt road and dropped me off where the CT crossed it. I recognized it as I had already ridden this section yesterday. Guess I'll be riding 2 miles of the same section again. At least it was mostly downhill.
Said goodbye to him and then checked my phone as I had a new text. It was from my aunt LuAnn saying my dad was back in the hospital, something to do with the bypass surgery he had two months ago. I tried calling my dad to see what was going on and to see if he was ok but got voicemail.
It was nearly 8pm and getting dark. I walked, as I was a bit too tipsy to ride a half mile into the trail looking for a place to pitch my tent. Passed two bikers who were setting up camp and then found a nice little spot.
Set up my tent at mile 251.6, had some fireball and went to go to bed. I decided not to hang my food as I couldn't find any good trees plus I knew the bikers were camped nearby. Don't know if it was cause of worrying about bears or my dad but I had a hard time falling asleep and even when I did I kept waking up all night. Not the greatest sleep.
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