At dawn, I woke up, rolled over, and went back to sleep. About an hour later, at 6 am, I finally packed up camp. Stephanie was just getting up, herself, across the street. After we had packed up, she asked what I had planned to do for breakfast. Remembering her budget, I said I would probably just eat some of the bread in my pack. She said that she was going to try the local diner. So, we had breakfast together. We filled our water bottles there, as it was a long way until the next water stop.

Steph had mentioned that she didn’t feel comfortable riding with people, so I pedaled at my normal pace. Although we had started out together that morning, we were separated within ten minutes. I looked back for her at the top of the first summit, but she was nowhere to be seen.

The road was clean, the air cool, and there wasn’t much traffic. No steep climbs. But I was still riding solo. I reached Kremmling at 1:30 in the afternoon. A full hour later, I saw Steph pull into town. I didn’t even go back to say hello. I don’t know why. Altitude affecting my judgment? I hit the road again, aiming for a campground a few miles down the road.

I then climbed what seemed an endless extra thousand feet up to the campground. Somehow, I had thought that it would be closer. There was no charge for staying at Cow Creek Campground. Of course, there wasn’t any running water, either.

There was a reservoir there, but the water didn’t look too potable. Spaghetti was out. My only water was in my bottles. For dinner, I had a can of peaches, and drank the syrup. I also had some bread and cookies. No one else was at the campground. There were no tables, either. I found an old car mat that someone had thrown away, and sat on that while eating.