Today has been absolutely ridiculous.

Hello friends! I'm in the town of Nederland, CO for the night. More on the awesome accomodations I've been blessed with later. I want to start at the beginning of my day.

After my lovely morning with Bob and Sherry, I finally got out of the city of Denver on relatively flat terrain. I got into some farmland west of the city and headed toward the mountains. Those distant monstrosities I saw from the airport are the same beasts in whose shadow I now stand.

After the farmland, I transitioned into truly country, mountainous terrain and, let me tell you, did it slow me down. Going uphill on a bike is usually fine, but with 40-50 pounds of gear strapped to the back, it's exhausting. I had 25-30 miles of mostly uphill work on Coal Creek Canyon Rd. and it wore me out.

This is the part where I want to send out my second sincere thanks of the day. After 15 miles of a constant uphill battle, I dismounted my bike and just started pushing it up the mountain. Around a mile later, Frank of the Coal Creek State Park shuttle service stopped to ask if I was okay. He turned his shuttle around, strapped my bike to the back, and drove me 5 miles to Wondervu Restaurant. During the ride, we got to chatting and he was truly awesome and thought that what I am doing is awesome. Frank paid for my meal at the restaurant and went on his way. Thank you so much, Frank. Your company was wonderful.

3 hours after that, I arrived in Nederland. My map told me that there was a cheap hostel in the area and I called them, but to no avail. I thought I was going to be spending another night stealthily camping somewhere. But fortune smiled in me and I met Ken and his daughter Kelley at the local park. Ken, retired chief of police in Nederland, invited me back to his home after we had chatted for a bit. They cooked a lovely meal, allowed me to shower and do my laundry, and gave me a bed to sleep in for the night. Thank you so much for your hospitality, Ken and Kelley.

So I'm sleeping here for the night and heading to Estes Park, the gate of Rocky Mountain National Park, after breakfast. Tomorrow is going to be a light day because I have a multi-thousand foot climb when I enter the park.

I know I said I'd talk about emotions in my next post, but I'm honestly just going to flake out on you guys for now and go to bed. I'll do it tomorrow. I'd also like to talk about my motivations for going on this adventure and the only reason I am actually able to do it, my best friend Mark.

See you next time!!

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