After our rest day at the fantastic Hand Hotel in Fairplay, we awoke and fueled ourselves at their great (included) breakfast before heading up toward Hoosier Pass, the highest point on our journey at 11,542 feet. The ride out of Fairplay was in lovely, cool, partly cloudy weather and the scenery was out of this world. The only thing that spoiled it was the Colorado drivers. Truly, Colorado drivers have been by FAR the worst and least courteous of any state we've travelled through thus far. I'm really surprised by that because with the amount of outdoor adventure and cycling that Colorado is known for I figured they'd be used to cyclists on the roads, and many drivers would be cyclists themselves, and therefore we'd encounter more driver KINDNESS here than elsewhere. It couldn't be further from the truth. Coloradans will leave 3 inches of space between you and them as they whiz past with oncoming traffic in the other lane. They will not typically slow at all and give you a bit of space when things get dangerous. Boo, Colorado. It's been like that consistently throughout the state and for that reason, we can't wait to cross the state line and get to Wyoming where it's hopefully better. But, back to the Hoosier Pass climb - everyone looks forward to it, but after the gradual climb from Fairplay to the tiny town of Alma, after that there is the final 4 miles to the pass and you know what? It was easy. There, I said it. The grade was easy, the altitude didn't bother us, it just was easier than many, many other climbs we've done on this tour thus far in every state. The only thing about this climb and others like it we've seen thus far in the Rockies is that they're longer. So you just put it in your lowest gear and go, without significant stress. You wanna talk stressful, hard climbs? Let's talk Ozarks and Appalachians, and we can debate which is harder. So after Hoosier Pass, we rolled down a steep 7-8% descent about 13 miles into Breckenridge, a hoity-toity Colorado ski town that is super cute and obviously RICH as hell. So polished, with lots of high-end shopping, condos, and adventure sports shops. It's a cool place, but I couldn't afford to live there and wouldn't want to. There's a bit of an affluent attitude there that I don't dig. After a quick stop to share a Coke, a high five, and a hug, we rolled further down the valley 9 miles on the most amazing bike path ever to the really cute, much less ritzy, and more (I think) authentic Western town of Frisco. We walked our bikes up Main Street until we found a cool little cafe with outdoor seating and we enjoyed a really good cold chai drink, along with a veggie wrap with a quinoa cous cous salad (Vanesa) and a sesame bagel with smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato, and capers (me). We then got back on the bike path and rode further down the valley along the gorgeous Dillon reservoir, over the Dillon Dam, and through the town of Silverthorne before meeting up with Highway 9 again (which we've been on pretty much since we left the Royal Gorge KOA a couple days ago). Honestly, that bike path between Breckenridge and Silverthorne was one of the most beautiful rides ever, with views of snowy peaks and a clean, rushing, mountain river visible along most of it, and ending with a ride around a gorgeous lake. After Silverthorne, we had 37 miles to Kremmling, which though it was an overall descent, and we did have some bits of downhill with a nice tailwind, there were more bits of uphill in there than the elevation profile will show and we were quite ready to be done when we finally reached Kremmling. We called and got a room at the 120-year-old Hotel Eastin, a room with two twin beds, two windows, a sink, and a shared bathroom (which was really clean and nice!); the nice gal on the phone gave us a cyclist discount so the $79 room was only $69. It had "mountain air conditioning", meaning open the window because it gets pretty cool at night, which worked well enough, and I slept great in my comfy bed but Vanesa didn't because she said the mattress was slanted and she kept falling into the gap between the bed and the wall. We had a really tasty Mexican dinner in town, and another encounter with a Coloradan who doesn't understand that service dogs have public access and can lay under the table while you eat in the restaurant; we convinced her, though, and we ate without a problem. The salsa was awesome, the veggie enchiladas were awesome, the huevos rancheros were awesome. I looooooove Mexican food, and reeeeeaaaallllly love GOOD Mexican food. I swear I'm half-Mexican and my parents never told me.