61 miles, 5:20/7:00

We are lightning fast and get out of camp at 8:15 today. We have decided to ride two of the recommended days in the guide book in order to be on schedule for our October 4th ride with Susie at the end of the trail. It’s a big mileage day but we only really start to feel it near the end of the ride. The guide book has us sleeping in Hartsel, known as a tiny cowboy town. We think it might be nicer to sleep along the river that we see on the map right before it, or maybe ride past and camp along one of the creeks. But we get to the River and there are No Trespassing signs everywhere and it’s all fenced off. Then we ride into Hartsel and ask in the tiny mercantile about camping in the area and the woman says there is nothing outside of Hartsel for several miles, but we can camp out behind the town hall near the playground and use the restroom in the store (they’re open 6:30 am to 7:00 pm). We decide to stay, only because the water is a big unknown ahead of us and we’re darn tired. OK, I’m done in, and I tell Dave I need to stop. The woman tells us not to drink the water, that the town has no potable water and we must buy drinking water. That river right before town is owned by the city of Denver and they have no water in their town. I guess the well water is so heavy with minerals it makes people sick. The smell alone is pretty bad, and it turns my handkerchief washcloth a nasty orange in five seconds flat when I wash my face in the restroom. What a weird place to live. It’s dry and windy and looks like it generally is that way year round, add to that the lack of potable water and I’d be packing the wagon and heading out of town. But that’s me, and people gotta live somewhere. To each of us our own.