These are the sites that we looked out on upon wakening this morning: frost covering everything. Kit got a room at the Budget Host Motel in Trinidad, while Martha and Chris had an RV slot there. The heat in the RV does not seem to go on when the outside temps are below freezing, so it was 40 degrees inside the RV in the morning. Brrrr. But outside it was 20 degrees! Brrrr, brrrr! And cloudy. And damp. The forecast was for sun and 50+ by noon, but it was not warming up quickly. We had more than 80 miles to travel today if we were to reach La Junta. We donned all our layers: leg warmers and leggings, fleece socks and booties, fingered gloves and liners, hats under our helmets, and many layers on our torsos and finally left at 11:00. It was still cold, around 33 degrees, the sun had not yet appeared but we ventured forth.
We rode up Main St in Trinidad. What a beautiful old downtown. It is a shame it does not get more visitors as there are so many interesting old buildings, and a couple of wonderful museums. Then out on to the plains. Pretty non-descript scenery for a good part of the way, other than the snow-covered Sangre de Cristos to the west.
We tried to enjoy the scenery, but were concentrating on ignoring the cold. Kit's frozen fingers finally abated. Our destination was 2000feet lower than Trinidad, but the constantly rolling terrain seemed to be taking us uphill overall. Chris kept an eye on us, waiting every 15-20 miles, as we hoped to be able to shed some clothes and stash them in the RV. The sun did come out by early afternoon, it did warm up a little, but we stayed pretty bundled up. Only a few almost-abandoned towns broke up most of the ride. We did enjoy watching many red-tailed hawks, kestrals, and other birds. We entered the Comanche National Grasslands, and saw markers designating the Santa Fe Trail wagon ruts.
By about 4:00, the wind had picked up, yes, a headwind, and the temperature was dropping. We had only gone about 50 miles and were getting pretty tired. The chilly temps were draining our energy and stiffening our muscles. Dark threatening clouds were forming over the eastern sky where we were heading. We had agreed to meet Chris at Timpas, about 16 miles from La Junta. By then it looked like snow was going to start falling out of the dark clouds, and the wind had increased. We decided to call it quits for the day at 5:00, put the bikes on the rack, and got into the warmth of the RV. We thought we would start up in the morning in Timpas where we left off.
Kit got a kabin at the KOA; showers and tea revived us, and we heated up some homemade lasagna and garlic bread for dinner. We pulled out a small electric heater that we had forgotten was with us, in case the RV's heat failed again with the cold night, and all settled in for a good nights' sleep.
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