La Garita to Del Norte I slept very well in the little cabin, and was warm and cozy as opposed to the frosty morning the day before. I packed up what I could, and headed over next door to the restaurant, which opened at 7. For a while, I was the only one there, but people started to filter in and by 8:30 it was pretty busy. The coffee was surprisingly good, and the breakfast even better! I had a breakfast scramble with green chili sauce on it, and it was truly amazing! I lingered, drinking coffee and catching up on texts and finally got antsy enough to finish packing and roll out. The morning was wonderful: warm, calm and sunny. A few clouds were building in the mountains all around the valley, but I rode along in relative silence, with only the crunch of gravel and my own thoughts as company. I enjoyed the route, as it wound up and down through the high desert terrain on lightly used roads. I made a short diversion to a “natural arch” which was worth the extra 2 miles. Along I went down little dirt roads that seemed like a mini roller coaster. It was fun. My plan for the day was to stop in Del Norte—a town of maybe 1500–and have lunch, then tackle a climb of about 4000 feet before staying in a very small town called Platoro. As I neared Del Norte, I noted some significant thunder cloud buildup in the direction I was heading. I watched as I rolled into town, and sure enough—the clouds were getting darker and angrier looking by the minute. I began to think the best thing to do was stay in Del Norte and get an early start on the climb the next day rather than risk getting stuck in a thunderstorm at 11,000 feet. As I rolled into town I saw Austin—who I had ridden with a few days before—and he had the same idea. That was the clincher. I splurged and got a hotel, and we and another bike packer named Terry went to lunch. While the day didn’t go according to my plan, I’m confident in the choice, and am looking forward to the climb tomorrow morning. I really did enjoy the morning and running into some other folks along the way. Here’s to good weather tomorrow!