We had locked our bikes in the office at the Hotel Eastin in Kremmling when the owner offered and she said that we could get our bikes anytime after 5 a.m. We got downstairs at 6:00 and the office was still closed/locked so I called the owner and she was there in 5 minutes to let us in. We had a nice cup of coffee and chatted with the owner Diane and her daughter Alicia who purchased the hotel 2 years ago with a couple of other owners. We discussed that we had noticed that all the rooms that were NOT rented had had their doors wide open throughout the time we were there and they told us that, indeed, the other owners wanted an open-door policy and that initially they didn't agree with it but they've only had a very small handful of problems in the two years that they've been there. I have to say it was cool being able to look into every room of a historic hotel since they're all different, and it also gave the place a more homey vibe I thought. They recommended we stop for coffee and breakfast burritos at Big Shooter Coffee 3 blocks up the road so we did, and it was awesome! We shared a coffee but each got a veggie breakfast burrito and they were super delicious; we each wrapped up half of our burritos to be eaten later and hit the road toward Hot Sulphur Springs, about 20 miles away, with the ultimate goal of reaching Walden which was another 60 miles (without known services) further on. When we got through the beautiful, steep, rocky canyon and into Hot Sulphur Springs, we were suprised to find nothing open...not the gas station mini mart, not the one restaurant in town, and there were no other choices. So, being resourceful and really wanting a cup of coffee and to fill our water bottles, we stopped at the Ute Trail Motel and I kindly asked the woman if we could top off our water bottles. She was super kind and offered us a cup of coffee, all the water we wanted, and even told us that we could go into room 9 and use the restroom if we had to go! Though we had enough water and supplies to make it to Walden, getting topped off at the motel certainly made the rest of the day more comfortable as we didn't have to ration water so much. Caffeined and watered up, we headed on into the Arapaho National Forest, one of the most beautiful rides on the Trans Am. And it was mostly burned down!! I had remembered this lush, green forest with amazing mountain views from my 2010 Trans Am, and this time it was completely different. But nature is amazing, and while there was burnt forest everywhere, there was also a lot of new, lush, green undergrowth and colorful wildflowers. The ride was just as beautiful as it was the first time, just different. Mountains, trees, old glaciers, winding rivers, rushing brooks, and almost NO traffic. I commented multiple times to V that it really felt like Yellowstone, but like a Yellowstone that we had all to ourselves (well, without the wildlife and the geothermal features, that is). The final couple miles of that part of the ride was climbing to the Continental Divide again, this time at 9,600-something feet I think. At the top, we posed for a quick picture but didn't linger as we got our first taste of mosquitos (or should I say they got their first taste of us?) and we rolled down the other side toward the town of Rand. The tiny tiny town of Rand. The descent was into a completely different land than the ascent was, and the valley below was filled with irrigated and snowmelt-fed fields growing hay. It was SO pretty. And SOOOOOOO filled with mosquitos. I had remembered Rand being mozzy hell in 2010, and 2022 was no different. I reached Rand about 5 minutes before V did, and thank GOD the Rand store was actually open so I could go inside and take cover. The Rand store is more of a Colorado knick-knack and art shop than anything, but they did have Gatorade and Cheez-Its, which is a bike tourist's dream in the middle of mosquito-filled nowhere when you expect to have no services available. The guy who runs the store also had 5 big milk jugs of water labeled "DRINK" set outside for cyclists who pass by when his store is not open; cool, eh? He let us use the bathroom...wow, it's the coolest outhouse I've ever seen. And then we sprayed ourselves with DEET and kept going, another 22 miles to Walden; as it turned out, as Walden is a bit higher in elevation, there was less hay being grown, less irrigation and snowmelt, and fewer mosquitos. It was a pretty ride, though with more challenging little hills than we expected (they're ALWAYS more challenging when you don't expect them). It's amazing how remote the land is out here. There's just mile after mile with nothing but pastures and grassland. We were super DONE by the time we got to Walden, though, tired again of those damned Colorado drivers, particularly one of them who drove by us at about 100 mph (in the other lane, yes) with the horn blaring the entire time. Because we were all alone out there, we at that point were riding side by side, and because he was going so fast, we didn't notice him until he was literally right on top of us. We were scared shitless and truly, if either of us had reacted fearfully at hearing his horn and engine suddenly and veered to the left, we'd have been dead instantly. I get that as a driver you might not want to see two bikes side by side like that, and maybe you'd like them to move over, but couldn't you just slow down a bit and give a couple toots on the horn from a ways back so we can move over for you? I'm actually still trembling at the thought of that near miss and what a completely careless asshole that driver was. So we were tired and not in the best mood when we got to Walden, and though we'd considered camping in the city park (it's allowed), there were a few mosquitos chasing Vanesa while we waited for our pizza in town so we decided to get a motel and sleep well. We chose the Chedsey because it was well-priced, but when we went in we felt a peace and a calm that just wrapped us up. The proprietor Sara had nice music going, and had...wait for it....a THERAPY BALL AND A YOGA MAT out for guests to use. A Physical Therapist's dream. I laid down and bent backwards over that ball before I even gave her my credit card for the room! And the room itself, while a bit dated and not super posh, was nice and it had cool log bedframes and nice mattresses. I crashed early, tired after our consecutive 79-mile days, and V stayed up watching something (that's a total role reversal for us...I'm the night owl and she's asleep early most of the time).