DISTANCE TRAVELED: 37.74 Miles
AVERAGE SPEED: 13.62 MPH

          Today was to be the first of two rest days in Salida, but unfortunately, because of the bad road conditions of the day before, we were 25 miles away from town. I got up at 7:00 and packed everything but my tent. It had rained during the night but I didn't know this since I had slept through it. After drying off the rain fly with a towel, I went to the Cook Shack (run by KOA) for breakfast. The pancakes filled me up so I went back and packed my now dry tent. I left the KOA and rode into Salida at 16 mph average. It was very easy and did not require one stop. Just ½ mile from the next campground, I felt a small bump, as if my wheel was not true. Since I knew my BOB wheel was not perfect, I immediately thought that I could have a flat. I stopped, looked at it, and sure enough, it was flat. There was a park across the street, so I sat in the shade on the grass and pulled out a staple from the tire. With the small size of the tire, I was soon done and riding to the campsite. I set up my tent and then rode into town to the post office. We then went to Safeway to buy a sandwich for lunch before going back to camp. Three teenagers drove very close to me and yelled just as they passed. So, since I was going fast, I caught up at the next stoplight and yelled a few words back at them. Finally, I got back to the campsite where I ate cookies and read a biking magazine. An hour later, we went to a local Mexican restaurant to celebrate Scott's 25th birthday, 1 day later. (Picture138) The enchiladas that I had were very good and because of the huge portion, filled me up. As we were about to leave, the rain began to fall so I stood under an overhang until it lessened enough that I could ride to Wal-Mart. Sam picked up his photos which were very good and included one of me crossing a deep stream. After looking through them, I rode back to camp and went to bed at 9:45.