Westcliffe

I am standing in front of a morning view of the mountains, fabulous!

Got only half a ride in yesterday, but that turnud out to have been a great thing. Repairs kept Karina and I tied up untill after noon. We made fine time on the approach to the Mtns though not fast enough to miss the afternoon storms that cancelled the rest of the ride for Karina and me.

We made it as far as Wetmore, getting to the only store open just as the first drops fell. That was 4:45. The lightening and very heavy rain came down for the next 75 minutes and the math of pedalling to Westcliffe was sunk. I can tell you that the road in that section was narrow and winding, some big traffic and no shoulders, so though it was drop dead gorgeous, it was not a father's dream for his daughter- not at 13.

Westcliffe is very senic, though they should kill all the lights at night; they have given up a lot to develop. Not sure what the destination is today, somewhere between 24 and 55 miles (Texas Creek to Salida). Not sure there is a bad choice to be made today.

In Kansas one night we had a low temp of 78 with 90 percent humidity. Last night it was 40 degrees and even after the rain the humidity was half of what it was in Kansas. I rode around the town at 5:30 this morning and would have been happy to have had gloves on; it is warming up nicely now.

At the moment there is nothing.but blue skies, hard to imagine that less than 12 hours ago the rain was so hard you couldn't see and the lightening was everywhere and just kept on coming! There is a chance if storms again this afternoon, but the next 8 hrs are top shelf!