Day 17 -- Grand Junction, CO to Montrose, CO

Miles: 67.07
Total Miles: 1231.44
Time: 4:57
Average Speed: 13.5 mph
Max Speed: 28.8 mph
Flats Today: 0
Total Flats: 5
Elevation Gain: 2611 ft
Weather: Head winds all day around 90 degrees

We woke up at 4:45 and went to breakfast at Denny's around 5:30. We loaded at 6:30 and headed out right after that. We rode Northeast for about a mile, and we felt a side wind. We knew we were heading Southeast today, so we realized that the side wind would turn to a head wind. That was a depressing mile. We rode through the town of Grand Junction before we got into some rolling hills, so we couldn't feel much wind for the first 5 miles, but then it hit. We were heading straight into another head wind. Last year, when we met up with the riders in Marysville, they told us they only had 2 days of head winds. They said that those are the days you remember. Looking on the bright side, at least I'll be able to remember every day. I know that you're probably tired of hearing me complain about the wind, but that's all I seem to remember about each day.

Anyway, about 25 miles into the head wind, we saw a very cool canyon. We were just going up and down some rolling hills when I decided that I needed a rest... so we stopped for a photo. I guess I just choose good places to rest because it was beautiful. Finally, something to get my mind off of the wind. We took some pictures, but we didn't stay too long because we knew that the sag stop was only a few miles up. Once we arrived at the sag, we saw something very gorgeous. There was a whole basket of plums just waiting for us to eat them. We had 2 each in about 1 minute, then one of the staff members said we can only have 2. Oh well, there was still apples, bananas, and oranges. We ate a bunch of snacks, then we headed out.

About 15 more miles into the headwind we came upon a small town named Delta. Right when we got into the town we saw a statue of an Indian and a settler. Since we didn't have many pictures, we took a few. Based off of the picture, I think Wade misses our dog Bones. After that, we went downtown and found a nice sandwich shop to eat at. We didn't think it was open, so we asked some guy that was jogging toward us where a good sandwich shop was at. He said, "Right here," and he pointed to the shop we thought was closed. It turns out that he was the owner and he was just getting ready to open. In fact, when we went to pay, Fran paid with cash and they had no money. So, the owner had to jog to the bank next door. I paid by credit card, Joan, and I think I used the right one. We weren't sure how good it would be, but then the staff came in, so we knew it had to be good. They always eat at the best stops. Anyway, we ate our food and continued into the headwind for the last 25 miles. There wasn't much to see, so that made the wind a lot worse. When we arrived in Montrose, we were about 6 miles out from our hotel. For the first time in my life, I was begging for the light to change to red so that I could get a rest. We were with Fran and Big Jon, and we all slowed down so that we wouldn't make it through the light. This wind is brutal, but now we are at the base of the Rocky Mountains, so hopefully the wind will stop in the mountains. We did a lot of complaining about the wind today, but we still enjoyed it tremendously.

When we got to our hotel, we had a choice of going in one of the vans to see the Black Canyon National Park. We of course chose to go, and it was magnificent. We took about 5 times more pictures in the hour that we were there than the 5 hours we were on the bike. It was quite an experience. What was amazing was that it is just a little bit smaller than the Grand Canyon. Just like the arches, I could have stayed there for many days. It was a great end to a difficult day.