Off route in Gunnison due to mud and rain.

Jon and Lois scraping mud.

Day 47. 38 miles. 1844 total. Happy Birthday to my husband John! Sorry I’m not there to celebrate. From Sargents to Gunnison. We are off route. Thwarted by mud. It rained quite hard in the night and we were glad to have the tiny cabin. Drizzling in the morning but we had breakfast and packed our bikes. Chatting with the New Zealand couple next door (in their 70’s) and also riding the Great Divide, they decided to stay and extra day in the cabin and wait out the weather. About 8:30 the rain stopped and their was a brief ray of sunshine. It did illuminate the new, brilliant white snow on the 14,000 foot mountain peak we could see. We set off. First mailed some postcards and then rode 13 miles on pavement. Then we turned into a dirt road and after 2-3 miles ran into MUD. A young man in a truck had suggested we stay on the lower road to avoid the mud on the upper road that was our route. We took the lower road but quickly Ran into MUD. Tara yelled “turn back! “Go back!” as she has had enough mud scraping fora lifetime! We pulled out the maps and detoured on pavement to Gunnison. It was the nearest large town where we thought we could get out of the weather. We had all our rain gear on and it rained. Not much fun in the rain but no sense to deploy the emergency shelter as the forecast called for steady rain. We arrived in Gunnison (McD’s Parking Lot) and started looking for accommodations: tenting (ugh, wet), cabins, cheap hotel…. And Jon found a Warm Showers host who would accommodate 4 people. Warm showers is a biking resource where people offer you to stay with them in their home. Most of them are cyclists and paying back a service they used at some time or just want to support the cycling community. Jarrall said to bring wine as his wife won’t be expecting four guests…… The husband/wife both teach chemistry at the local university and have a daughter in college and a teen son at home. They are cyclists and the dad has raced this route in 21 days!!! We expect to take 70 or more days. We washed our bikes and had a delicious apple dessert that a neighbor had made with fresh apples. I’m missing apple season in Maine this year. The forecast has improved and we expect to stay on the paved road tomorrow, hoping to get in 60 miles and back on route. Our goal is a forest service campsite. Hope the weather holds off until New Mexico where we expect to be warm again! Larry and Mimi arrived back in Boston and are working on plans to pick us up in New Mexico at the finish. We hope to fly home around the 28th……. Best laid plans……..