Dinosaur, CO to Craig, CO

Our ride on US-40 was much better today. The shoulder was wider, cleaner, and I don’t know what happened to the traffic, but the traffic was not heavy at all. It was 55 miles from Dinosaur to the next town and that was just a four corner called Maybell. There was hardly a house between the 2 towns. We did have just a bit of rain for the first hour or so this morning, but not much. That is only the second time we have had just a bit of rain in almost 4 weeks. Maybell did offer a patch of green grass and shade for a refreshing stop, and ice and Pepsi.

Going on from there, it was again nothing but high plateaus with no inhabitants but antelope and prairie dogs. We needed to cross many hills from plateau to plateau and climbed 4,300 feet today. We are still in high plateau mountain country and the town of Craig is at about 6,000 feet. We are camped at the county high school, high up a hill overlooking the town in the valley below. Across the valley on the next plateau, there is a huge crane that appears to be loading coal that is somehow shuttled to a large coal-fired electric plant.

Tomorrow we have 5,000 feet of climb to get to Kremmling. I believe we cross the continental divide tomorrow. Kremmling is at about 7,500 feet elevation and will probably be considerably cooler.

I am thankful that my strength is good and felt really well today. I completed the 88 miles today by 2:30 and treated myself to a Macs Value Meal and about 5 Diet Pepsi refills.

Your prayers hold us up. Julie did not get in from her SAG duties today until 7:00, as some riders had a long day.

We are looking forward to the weekend in Denver. The area churches are planning a great time for us.

Love to all, P & J.