The second day of our advenure started at the tiny coffee shop in Crawford where we met Steve, a cyclist who had completed many tours in his lifetime including riding the Camino del Santiago in Spain! We talked adventure cycling for a bit before we made our way towards the towering climb over the Grand Mesa. A quick stop in Hotchkiss for ice (it was already heating up) and again we rolled on the endless false flats and climbs towards the Mesa. This is easily the hardest day of the trip. The road turns to dirt with many, many miles to go and becomes impossible to pedal up due to the lose gravel and 13%+ grades. The heat once again led to Jupiter cramping up so severely she would scream in agony while we waited for the cramps to subsite so we could continue to progress. By the time we reached the top I had begun to feel the affects of the heat as well and had started to develope mile heat stroke symptoms. The extremely long descent on a loose gravel road was not made easier by the dizziness I was experiencing but luckily I was having an out of body experience which somehow made it more manageable! At the bottom of the hill was the town of Collbran where Brandy’s Kitchen awaited us. At some point Jupiter pointed out that it was Monday so once I regained cell service I called to see if they were going to be open. “We were going to close at 5, what time will you be here?” they inquired. I told them probably not until just after 6, they said it was no problem and they would remain open for us. It’s a VERY small town. Good thing they did, we had 5 sodas between us, chips and salsa, a veggie burger (Jupiter) and what was best described as a sausage parmasean sandwich, which was perfect.