Hartsel to Midges Place After my semi-restful night behind the saloon, I had a good breakfast in the little restaurant attached to the saloon. The server treated us to a sing-a-long of breakfast classics such as “she thinks my tractors sexy” and “I ain’t as good as I once was”. There seemed to be a regular contingent of locals that the server knew by name, and usually what they wanted for breakfast. I haven’t seen that much flannel in one place in a long time! My breakfast was excellent. After breakfast, I called my wife and we talked for a while. Then I went over to the gas station/liquor store and got a snickers bar and some water. As I was rolling out, I saw another bike packer leaving as well, so we rode together all the way to my destination: Midges place. Midge is an old college friend of Jills who lives right on the GDMBR route about 9 miles north of Salida. She was gracious enough to host me for the night, and I was excited to meet her in person. The other bike packer was Austin from Texas—true story. Turns out he had lived in Bend for about 4 years but ended up moving to take care of the family’s 2000 acre farm. We chatted a lot and the miles passed quickly. Hartsel is in a sagebrush plain, and we quickly gained elevation into green rolling hills with timbered slopes rising from the hills. The occasional ribbon of aspens added brilliant color. We continued climbing into the timber, past some old homestead buildings and long abandoned farms. All the while angry looking thunderstorms were building ahead of us. We crested the pass without getting wet, and stopped for a couple minutes to exchange contact info and say our goodbyes—for now. Midges place was a mere 3 miles down the hill; Austin was going to roll down into Salida. I turned into Midges driveway and was blown away by the view! She has a 180 degree view of the valley that Salida is in, and all the mountains on the other side. Really spectacular. I met Midge and we talked briefly before I got changed and waited for a thunderstorm to blow over. After that, we chatted for a long time, catching up with each other’s lives and me learning about the place. My lodging was in a really cool retro Spartan trailer (like airstream) being dialed for an Airbnb. It was comfortable and cozy, and I was so happy there. About bedtime another impressive thunderstorm blew over and the sound of the rain an hail on the trailer was awesome!!! The next morning I packed up, Midge and I talked some more, then we FaceTime’d Jill so the old friends could catch up and see their places. I enjoyed hearing them catch up while I threw a stick for the dog. Too soon it was time for me to roll into Salida myself, so we said our goodbyes, took some last minute pictures and off I went. I really enjoyed the place and visiting with Jill’s old friend.