by the time i left camp it was about 7am. nothing but up hill. it was ok today, however, i think i needed the rest.
everything is so pretty in the early morning.
it looked like it had rained a little last night… i didn’t notice, must of been while i was sleeping. the road was a little wet, and it smelled like rain. i even saw one of these things:
it was a really nice morning. i was somewhat concerned about my water supply, so i stopped at this campground to fill up. i had about a quarter of a camel bak full of water left, so i filled the rest with camping water. just as i topped it all off some nearby camper yells at me, “that water is a little brown”… i yelled back “oh well… nothing i can do now”. then i asked him if it was ok to drink, he said “i think so” i thanked him for the heads up, even though it didn’t look brown to me.
a few more miles down the road i came up to raymond
i found a “general” store in raymond. i walked in and couldn’t tell it i was walking into someone’s kitchen or a store. i kind of peeped my head in and said “good morning”. the guy from the store answered back. i found some frappuccino, some gator-aid, and some salt vinegar chips.
as i’m paying the guy notices the news paper under my stuff that i just placed on the counter. he removes my stuff from his paper, then points out to me the headlines: “e85 comes to longmont”. then he started telling me about how e85 is going to bring down the economy. he told me that it takes one gallon of diesel fuel to make one gallon of e85. to tell you the truth i didn’t have time to read about e85, nor did i have the time to research what this guy was telling me but that’s what he said. i welcome anyone to inform me on this subject. he started telling me how stupid “boy george” went down to brazil and asked what are they were using, they told him sugar cane… so “boy george” came back and started making corn based fuel. i was kind of slow, and thought he was talking about the 80s sensation “boy george”. then i was thinking, why would that send a transvestite down to solve our country’s energy problems?? he’s not even american. then i realized that he was in fact talking about our beloved president george bush. thought my association was quite humorous, and i laughed internally for a while. so then this guys tells me that corn is not the way to go… we have a much better crop that is “everywhere” … “hemp”! just then everything this guy was about became clear to me. the way he acted, the way he dressed, and even the way he wrote down all my merchandise and tried to add everything up, then gave up and just said “about 5 bucks” i should of asked him “everywhere huh?”
as i was leaving he invited me to fill up my water bottle with his water cooler, fresh from arapaho springs. i filled up my bottle while he told me of how he got the water. he drives up every now and then and fills it up himself right from the spring. he claimed that his water was far better than anything you can find in the stores. just then a story popped into my head:
a few years ago, my friend paul rode his bike up to ward after work. he underestimated the ride and was out of water by the time he got to the top. he saw some guy filling up a bottle from a “spring”. paul asked him if the water was ok to drink. the guy didn’t just say yes, he said this is the best water you’ll ever drink. it is far superior to anything you can find in the stores. paul took some of the water…. and the next day found he had giardia.
i thanked him for everything, and hung out outside and ate my food. it was a nice morning.
summary:
e85 is bad, hemp is good. beware of “pure” water.
don’t be in a hurry.