Today was the longest ride of the trip. Over 350 miles that would take us nearly 6 hours of riding time and if you factored into it visit to Garden of the Gods Park, lunch and other stops it would take us over 8 hours. We left at 11am mountain time and pulled into our hotel just past 8pm central time.
We would also be in the Great State of Texas this evening.
Our only detour from the actual ride to Amarillo, TX was a quick in and out visit to the Garden of the Gods. The name of the park dates back to August 1859 when two surveyors helping to set up nearby Colorado City were exploring the nearby areas. Upon discovering the site, one of the surveyors, M. S. Beach, suggested that it would be a "capital place for a beer garden." His companion, the young Rufus Cable, awestruck by the impressive rock formations, exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods." Although it would have been a great place for a beer garden, that plan never materialized, but the name stuck.
The Garden of the Gods Park is popular for hiking, technical rock climbing, road and mountain biking and horseback riding. It attracts more than two million visitors a year and is Colorado Springs' most visited park.
Because of the unusual and steep rock formations in the park, it is an attractive goal for rock climbers. Rock climbing is permitted, with annual permit obtained at the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center. The only requirements are reading the rules, proper equipment, climbing with a "buddy", and staying on established climbing routes. Due to the often unstable conditions of the sandstone—particularly after much precipitation—several fatalities have occurred over the years. This is a very popular bicycle-riding area because of the scenic views, safe one-way recently paved roads, and healthy clean air.
We also took time to visit a very big and interesting Trading Post and while Paula took pictures of some advice to pass on
I, on the other hand wrestled with Cat Woman.
We left the Park just as a dark cloud started to form on the mountains and started moving towards us. We were able to get away with only some sprinkles.
We stopped for lunch in Pueblo, CO for a always favorite Subway sandwich.
Throughout the day dark clouds threatened and a number of times we got a bit of light rain but we were able to ride without stopping to put on rain gear until we were getting to Trinidad, CO. The sky became very dark and rain started very slightly to fall. We stopped and put the rain gear on and kept it all the way to Clayton, TX. We did not get a drop of rain. Amazing ...
And just like that, two weeks after we left we entered the Great State of Texas !
We stopped at Clayton to put in gas and hydrate. I had a great Dairy Queen strawberry and banana smoothie. Paula had the DQ blizzard.
This turned out to be a good idea as temperatures after Clayton, TX which was at 90F started to increase fast and eventually got to 101F. It was past 7pm in the afternoon ...
The 385S and FM 1061 were done at fast pace so that we could get out of the heat and the extra concentration was a good distraction from the heat.
We arrived at our hotel still at daylight and there were severe warnings of strong thunderstorms for the evening. We parked the bike and enjoyed the full service Holiday Inn with its own restaurant so we did not need to leave the hotel.
For dinner Paula had a Taco Salad and I had a Soup of Camarones (shrimp) and Cheese Quesadillas. It was a good dinner made even more special by a good win by the Spurs vs the Heat for game 5 taking them to a 3-2 lead. Go Texas !
Tomorrow is the last day of this most memorable trip as we take a straight ride into the DFW area.
Click HERE for all the pics of Day 16
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