Day 46, Rocked Rockies

We are done, fini, finito with the Rockies! Our last climb was up Lizard Head, which had an elevation of a mere 10,222 feet considering we started in Telluride at about 9,000 feet. Sounds easy and short, right? Well, we probably climbed a total of 4,000 feet to get the total elevation gain of 1200 feet since we rollercoasted down and then pedaled up over and over again (I wish I could say we rollercoasted back UP but no dice). We are psyched to have climbed so well the past couple of days. However, if anyone has perchance looked at a topographical map of southern Utah recently, you will know that our climbing is far from done!

We had quite the international flair today. We met a motorcycling Danish couple, rode a bit on the bikes with a fun French couple cycling from Denver to Vegas, ca faisait du bien de parler francais un petit peu! Then we fell in love with Dolores Food Market in the town we are staying at since we found such rare items as Greek yogurt and Thai curry sauce. But we stayed local with our beer and got a 'growler' of Dolores Brewpub Pale Ale-a growler is a half-gallon take-home jug of beer which fits perfectly underneath bungee cords on bicycle trailers, incidentally.

Our last night in CO-we have both absolutely loved this state. Onto the gorgeous canyons of Utah. Luckily southern Utah is indeed beautiful which makes up for its serious dearth of culture. We have horded up reading material and NYT crosswords so as not to go brain-dead in the desert! And how we have missed 3.2% beer.