After stopping by Café Dawn for my morning latte and then Safeway to load up on groceries, on the way out of town I started to have some shifting problems, and although it was Sunday I figured the bike shop (Absolute Bikes) was open because of the weekend races in town, so I swung by and had the mechanic take a look at my bike. Well the mechanic (Scott) was a magician – the best I’ve ever seen! – and he took care of my shifting problem and a bunch of other small issues that had been bothering me. All the bike shops I’ve visited along the Great Divide Route have been great about seeing you right way – no appointment, no waiting, it’s really nice to have them understand that you’re just passing through and can’t leave your bike and pick it up next week.
While waiting for Scott to finish with my bike, I thought about of all the mountain towns I’ve passed through in the past few weeks, I like Salida the most – large enough to have all the goodies (great bike shop, thriving main street, Safeway) but small enough to be personal (like Matt waving to me from the corner when I turned into town!). So I decide to stay another day (ended up being two more days) at the Simple Lodge & Hostel, which I had read about online – bunks for $23 a night and it’s located right on main street. The hostel was closed until 4:00pm, so I went to the public library and worked on my journal for a few hours.
At the hostel I met a bunch of backpackers – David from Durango, Colorado who was several weeks into climbing the various 14,000’ peaks in Colorado; Paul from Chicago who was hiking portions of the Continental Divide Trail, and Shawn from Louisville who was doing day hikes and climbing the local peaks. Although we just met each other I sensed there was some positive chemistry between us, so I suggested that we do some grilling on the Weber grill out back, and afterwards make a trip to Cottonwood Hot Springs (Shawn offered to drive us in his F-150 pick-up. Then the four of us set off to the outfitter for some camping gas for David and then to Safeway for the grilling goodies – Paul wanted Steak, Shawn wanted boneless chicken breasts, David wanted veggie burgers, and I got a package of drumsticks, plus fixings for a big summer salad.
After shopping I went for a dip in the Arkansas River, which flows through the edge of town (only two blocks from the hostel), then I got to starting the charcoal grill and cutting up things for the salad. The other guys brought some beer and we really had a nice time talking about backpacking and bikepacking. We were joined by a dirt bikers, Rick from Tampa and Kenny from Oaklahoma, who were passing through town on their way to a rally.
It’s interesting how a community of like-minded travelers can come together spontaneously, share some comforting time together, and then go their separate ways. I guess that’s the beauty of a hostel – I love them!
