(Day 12) And on the 12th day, Nick rested…

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
Day 12
Trinidad, CO to Trinidad State Park, CO

I don’t know why I eat the hottest chicken wings on the menu. They make me feel like doo doo. And, the beer sampler at the brewing company last night didn’t exactly have me beating the sun up this morning either.

I finally get up around 9 or 10am and walked to a café about 3 blocks down the street and got some really good breakfast. Back at the motel, I was prepared to buy another night at this fine establishment (ignore my sarcasm though, the owners were really nice even though this was the cheapest place in town, a common theme across the country):

“I think I’d like to stay another night”
“OK, [walking towards cash register]… my girlfriend was telling me you were thinking about camping out at the park…”
“Actually, yes… I was…”
“It’s really nice [handing me paperwork], I’ve stayed there a few times myself”
“OK, well… I think that’s what I’ll do then…”
“… oh… OK [takes paperwork back]”

Check-out is at 11pm and I have about 45 minutes to get all of my junk organized. I put all the gear that I haven’t used or don’t plan to use in a big pile for shipment back home:



-Air filter oil/cleaner
-Extra spare tubes
-Platypus bottle
-Nalgene bottle
-backup camera
-earphones
-extra computer wires
-extra batteries
-a mouse
-some extra bottles
-stack of receipts

I get everything loaded and ready to go to the post office minutes before checkout time. The Orangutan is looking HAWT with the new stickers and fresh shower:



I found the post office, a perfectly sized box, paid the lady 13 bucks and bam! I just lost 10 pounds and gained a lot of luggage space… that was easy.

I took my time at the grocery store, all I purchased was water and granola bars. I stopped by every automotive parts store in town and none of them had good oil. They said Wal-Mart was my best bet and the ONLY way to get there was the interstate. The were very adamant about that. Psshh.

I go ahead and make my way to Trinidad State Park and spend about 30 minutes picking out a campsite. It turned out to be only 10 bucks cheaper than the downtown motel. I think I paid 20 or 25 dollars and ended up with a handful of paperwork. At least I got to pick out the best spot:



I set up camp and went back out to find Wal-Mart. And, amazingly, I never hit the interstate. Go figure. Anyway, I find some plush Mobil 1 15w50 and, from the looks of the local patrons, confirm my suspicion that Trinidad is a quirky town. (I suppose walking around in dirt bike boots and armor didn’t help my own case, but oh well). I stop by the Mexican restaurant on the way back and have myself a nice afternoon lunch.

Still with loads of time to kill, I decide to call Garmin again, if for nothing else, just to harass them. After taking the first 10 seconds to fully describe my exact problem, the Garmin guy finally concludes the same 15 minutes later and tells me how smart I was to update my maps 2 days before my departure date. But I guess he felt he could get his own frustrations out now because he would later apologize by saying that he could burn a CD and ship it to me overnight. My GPS routes really got screwy around the west side of Utah, so I had him ship it to Green River, UT.

The sun was about to retire for the day, so I figure now would be a good time to get some sunset pictures. I walk the nature trails around the park and lo and behold, what do I see?



…The Rockies. They were right over my shoulder the whole time. This certainly whetted my appetite for tomorrow’s ride to Salida.

Good night:



Total mileage: 2451
Daily mileage: 30
Wildlife observed: Nothing of note
Favorite Sight: The Rockies in the distance
Favorite Scent: Margarita
Favorite Sound: Local radio station
Favorite Taste: Margarita
Favorite Feel: Walking the nature trail with absolutely no timeframe to worry about.
Ailments: None