Instead, it captures the experience that we had going over a very high summit.
The views from the summit are quite spectacular.
The descent on the east side of the summit is very quick. In the course of 15 to 20 minutes, the temperature changed from low 50's to high 80's
It is not only a high summit, it is also the Continental Divide. Apparently, from here on out, all of the rivers run backwards.
We were only about 30 minutes over the summit when one of those rivers showed up alongside the highway. What a surprise, here in Colorado, to see that the name of the river is the Arkansas River. Sure enough, Wikipedia tells us that it truly does flow all the way to Arkansas, where it joins the Mississippi. Who knew?
A notable sight seen prior to the summit was a HUGE contingent of bicycles. Not all in one clump, but in small groups that went on for some miles. Certainly many hundreds in number, and quite plausibly over one thousand.
It seems that there is an annual week-long event known as 'The Bicycle Tour of Colorado'. Unlike the tour of California, it is not a competition. Just a big ride for ambitious fans of the two wheeler.
Less than an hour beyond the summit the landscape becomes pretty flat, much in contrast to the Rocky Mountain region of the state.
The flat landscape is expected to continue tomorrow, when we enter Kansas. The state line is only about 35 miles further down the road.
Trivia for the day: 'Rocky Mountain High' is, as we all know, a John Denver tune. As many of you know, we are good friends with Pete Huttlinger, who was JD's lead guitarist for the last 3-4 years of John's life.
Today is Pete's birthday.
PETE: If you are following the blog - Happy Birthday Buddy! We are looking forward to seeing you in Snowmass on the homeward leg of this great adventure.
Miles today = 337
Miles on US-50 today = 337. We are 42% of the way to Ocean City, MD
TO = 1414.
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