Matt rustled up feta cheese omelets made from fresh eggs (their chickens) and chard (their garden). We talked about bicycle touring, the Camino de Santiago, and I walked Ethan through my Great Divide maps, explaining the map key, elevation profiles and the average temperature + rainfall charts.
Matt then handed over the key to his Toyota truck so I could visit Cottonwood Hot Springs. The family was headed to the county fair for 4H competitions and more rodeo-watching. I spent the morning touring downtown Salida, watching the bike race that was in town for the weekend and walking through the farmer’s market.
Then I headed to the hot springs to spend the afternoon soaking in the pools. Got back to Matt’s ranch about 9:00pm and laid out my maps and did some route planning and figuring out how and where to end the trip…Eric and Shirl will meet me in Santa Fe? Silver City? Push to the border at Antelope Wells? Then how to get to El Paso for my flight to Baltimore?
