Day 20 recap

I need to write this ASAP before I fall asleep in my Chinese food! I started the day in Salida only 23 miles from the Monarch Pass summit at 11,300 feet. Well, two hours and forty-five huffing and puffing minutes later I reached the summit. The grade of the road wasn't an issue. It was the elevation and the lack of oxygen available for a coastal kid like me.

At the summit, I thought that I'd warm up with a cup of coffee. Little did I know that when I came out of the cafe it would be snowing. On the descent, it snowed, hailed and rained. My hands were so cold near the bottom that I couldn't feel the brake levers. This called for another cup of coffee at a gas station ten miles from the summit. I dunked my fingers in the coffee. I certainly haven't learned any etiquette on this trip.

As I've said before, Colorado is beautiful when it isn't snowing, hailing, raining, thunder and lightning or blowing on me. And that was just today!

I'm sleeping in tomorrow! And then having leftover Chinese food for breakfast.
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