Day 21: Horca to Platoro
It rained for most of the night. When morning came both Willy and I sat lying in the tent but not talking. I think we both were dreading starting the day knowing it was rainy and that we didn’t have supplies. I certainly wasn’t looking forward to Snickers and Mounds candy bars for breakfast.

Then we heard Joe’s voice outside the tent, “Chuck. Willy. Clara’s making sausage biscuits. When you’re ready to get up come on over.” I think we were up, dressed and at the door to Joe and Clara’s RV in about three minutes. We certainly weren’t going to turn down this invitation.

The biscuits hit the spot and Clara packaged up some extras so we’d have a snack for the road. We had a leisurely breakfast enjoying more stories about Joe’s days of coaching. Willy and I had to decide if we were going to push on or hang out a day longer. Joe was going to head to Antonito in his truck later in the day and offered to take us with him so we could replenish our supplies at the grocery store.

However, the sun started to shine and the owners of the campground told us we would be in for a treat with terrific hamburgers at our next stop, Platoro. After the long day of riding yesterday only to find the grocery store was closed we decided to call ahead and make sure the general store and lodge in Platoro were open. They assured us they would be open and so it was we decided to push on.

It was after 1pm by the time we rolled out of the campground but since we only had 20, relatively flat miles to go we weren’t concerned. Especially after the long day yesterday we were happy to mosey along. The riding was relatively uneventful. We passed the usual cows and it was quite chilly so we were happy to arrive in Platoro and find the Skyline Lodge with a roaring fire.

Platoro shuts down completely in the winter. For a few short months in the summer about 150 people come to live there mainly as outfitters and guides taking tourists fishing and horseback riding.

The Skyline was indeed open and they had tasty burgers, soft beds and WiFi.  But the best part might have been sitting around the largest fireplace hearth I’ve ever seen.  It had started to drizzle during the last two miles so it was a great way to warm up.

It also seemed a perfect way to prepare for tomorrow: the ride over Indiana Pass, the highest point on the entire route.

Day 22: Platoro to Del Norte
We took off in the morning after eating a breakfast and a half to make sure we’d have enough energy for the day. We bought a few supplies at the general store and the generous staff at the Skyline Lodge sent us off with two huge ziploc bags of peach and cherry cobbler.

The road out of Platoro went up and up and up. But around each turn there were great views looking back into Platoro or across the way to a brilliant colored mountains filled with all kinds of minerals.

The people at the Skyline had warned us that they had been four-wheeling halfway up our route just a few days prior and there were still massive snowbanks. They also warned us of a Santa Claus looking character who was shoveling the snow so he could get across the pass. A couple of hours into the ride we saw there hadn’t been much change in the last few days. We talked with the old man and he watched us push through a snowbank which was about a quarter mile long. We encountered several more snow banks on our way to the top of the pass but luckily most of them were only 50 to 100 feet long and only a foot or two deep.

Odd man shoveling the pass by hand	Snow makes for slow going

We’d had to fill up with at the Skyline Lodge before leaving because all sources of water for the first half of the day were contaminated and unsafe for drinking. This was in part because the heavy metals which made the mountains shine with shades of red and orange also naturally contaminated the water. But it was also in large part because of the presence of an old mine which had operated without any sort of environmental restrictions. Today it is an EPA Superfund Site. We stopped for a quick picture and to take in the massive scarring from the mining operations.

We stopped for a quick lunch of biscuits and cobbler but pushed on to the summit. The last mile took a lot out of us but we reached the top of Indiana Pass and were just seven feet shy of 12,000 feet. We stopped for a quick summit picture and then headed down the other side for a nice 25 mile descent.

The first order of business when we arrived in Del Norte was to stop at the bike store and pick up our shipment of replacement tires and sealant from Stan’s. We pedaled through town following the GPS’s directions to the shop and couldn’t believe what we saw when it told us to stop. There indeed was the town bike store, but in the front window was a handwritten sign saying the store would be closed while the owner was on vacation until the next week. We’d hoped our luck would change in Colorado but so far it was more of the same — everything was closed.

After eating dinner we found the only place in town with WiFi. Of course by this time it was closed. We needed to get in touch with Stan’s so we sat outside on the sidewalk poaching WiFi and drinking a beer from a brown bag. We looked like complete vagrants. We saw a biker ride through town and a few minutes later a support vehicle followed. A few minutes later more bikers and support vans. It turned out RAAM (Race Across AMerica) was coming through Del Norte that night.  These guys mightbe on pavement but they ride from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast in just seven days. We stayed up cheering the racers on until we decided it was time to deal with the immediate problem at hand: In the frustration of finding the bike store closed we had put off finding a place to camp.

It just so happened a police officer pulled up to the little station across the street from where we were sitting. Our map said it was permissible to camp in the city park if you first checked in with the police. I walked across the road to talk with the officer and after a few calls we were cleared. As long as we agreed to be packed up by 9am we had our choice of places to camp along the Rio Grande in the Del Norte Riverwalk Park.

It had been a long, hard day of riding so we set up our tent in the darkest spot we could find and easily drifted off to sleep.

Days 23 and 24: Sick in Del Norte

The next morning we awoke just as easily if not more abruptly. Little did we know when we pitched the tent that the city park had an automatic sprinkler system. At 6am it went off. Luckily we had put the fly on our Big Agnes tent the night before. If we tried to get out and move the tent everything would get wet. So we sat and let the tent take a beating for 45 minutes.

When the sprinkler did finally stop we were awake so we took down the tent and started to figure out how we could get around the problem of tires. Actually, Willy put together a plan. I was feeling sicker by the minute so on the same bench on Main Street where we had sat the night before I laid and writhed as I tried to calm my stomach and wished for my headache to go away.

By lunchtime Willy had put together a plan with the guys at Stan’s, UPS and several other store owners in town and it looked like we’d be able to intercept the shipment. We flagged down every UPS truck which came through town but the answer was always that it would be on the next truck. I never saw the truck. At lunch I was so sick the owners of the little cafe where we were eating just checked us in to their “casita”.

I stumbled in and don’t remember anything which happened over the next 24 hours other than waking up in the middle of the night and thinking it was a good thing the ER was less than a quarter mile away because if I started to feel any worse I was going to admit myself.

About 4am my fever broke and the change was stupendous. I felt like I was ready to get back on the bike. When I stepped out to the family room where Willy had crashed on the futon. He didn’t look good. We waited a few hours to see if he improved but it was pretty obvious we were going to be spending another day in Del Norte while Willy recovered.

During our recovery time Willy and I each got to know Mike and Kim, the owners of La Casita Bonita where we were staying. They had a an organic grocery store, a little cafe and the casita. Mike and Kim definitely earned a shout out after helping nurse us to recovery with plenty of delicious natural food and organic ginger drinks. They took great care of us and their little apartment was the perfect place to recover. I’m sure had we been in the tent we would have needed at least another day to recover.

After hearing about our ride Kim and Mike have a special for other GDMBR riders. Stay in the La Casita Bonita and they’ll throw in a delicious breakfast at their cafe in the morning. Just tell them you’re riding the GDMBR and please be sure to tell them Hi from Chuck and Willy.