SUMMARY:  We had a very varied roadwalk this morning after we packed up and left the hay barn. (We asked God’s blessing on the Russells for letting us stay there!) We watched a cattle roundup and talked to workmen repairing a railing by the road—it was installed 1 1/2 years ago and has already been smashed 3 times!

Hitching into Steamboat Springs was easy—they were stopping traffic on Hwy 40 because of roadwork. We just walked along the line of cars! Steamboat is a very lively place—we are almost done now with town chores and glad of the rest (for 24 hours anyway).

DETAILS:  I was very glad to have an ant-free, nice dry place to stay in the Russell’s haybarn, but was a bit concerned about whether I’d find myself sneezing this morning from hayfever allergies.  No problem–just one or two little sniffles.  The mosquitoes hung around all night last night and were still waiting for us this morning, so we wasted no time in packing up and putting back the pallets we’d borrowed in order to set up the tent last night.  Then we asked God’s blessing on the Russells for their hospitality, and headed off along Hwy 14, to rejoin the CDT.

Awhile later we found a ranch driveway where we could stop and eat breakfast, leaning comfortably on the highway railing, but well out of the way.  While we were chewing on our very last bit of granola, the ranch folks headed out with two big trailers full of horses all saddled and bridled and ready to go…somewhere.  We exchanged waves with them.  The horses around here (we have seen a lot of them so far!) are beautiful, and it looks like a classic Colorado scene: green pasture with horses and in the background, the snowy mountain peaks.

At midmorning Snickers break time, we reached a place where the highway was closed down to one lane, because there was a whole crew there repairing the railing.  We stopped to eat our snack, and I went over to talk to one of the guys and to look carefully at how the railing was constructed.  Usually we’re driving in a car and there’s no chance to really look at details like that.  The guy told me that the reason for the railings on this stretch of road is that there’s quite an embankment on both sides, and it’s curved–the result was many cars (which were speeding) literally flying off the edge and plunging down into the little valley below.  Finally the state highway department decided, “Enough of this!” and had a railing constructed.  The result?  No more cars flying over the edge.  Instead, they slam into the new guard rail, careen across to the other side and slam into that guard rail, etc.  In the last 1 1/2 years since the railing was put up, they’ve had to do serious repair work on it 3 times.  And now they are having to repair it yet again.

A few miles farther, we had the fun of watching a sort of mini-roundup, involving 3 cowboys, a dog, and some black Angus cattle.  The cows made a brief attempt at getting away, but finally they were rounded up and herded off, mooing in…resignation?   We walked on, swatting at mosquitoes, which were pretty bad, but at around 10:30, the wind started to blow, and that took care of them.  However, we had a new concern–more and more signs along Hwy. 14 warned us of extensive highway work ahead on Hwy 40, going into Steamboat Springs.  We wondered how that might affect us.  We were very glad when we reached the junction where the CDT joined up with Hwy 14–yay, we were back on “trail”, but our water supplies were just about gone when we reached Hwy. 40, and it was so warm by then that we were awfully thirsty.  As we approached the junction, I saw a truck with a horse trailer just sitting there.  I am not one bit ashamed to beg for water, so I RAN to it (good thing I did–they were just starting to pull away when I got there) and asked if they had any water to spare.  Yes, they did, and even gave me some cold Gatorade, too!

So we sat in a little bit of shade and ate the last of our food and drank the Gatorade before beginning the walk up Hwy 40 towards Steamboat Springs.  Our plan was to follow the highway until the CDT left it and headed back into the mountains.  At that point, we would hitch into town.   As we walked along, a couple of bike riders caught up with us–a father and his young daughter.  Since there was quite a hill, they got off their bikes and walked with us to talk, which was really fun.  Finally we got to where the cars were being stopped by a flag lady; she saw us and gave us a very cheerful lecture on “how to WALK through a roadwork zone.”  The essence of it was, “Stay WAY out of the way of the guys who are working.”  We went on through with no problems, reached the CDT turnoff, and followed it to a campground.

At that point we said, “OK, time to hitch!”  and started walking leisurely along the campground road back toward Hwy 40.  We got our first ride from an older couple who were out looking at wildflowers (yes, there sure were a lot of those!)  They dropped us off at the highway, and we found a long line of cars there, waiting for another flag lady to signal them on through.  So at that point, we just walked along the line asking for a ride into town, until we ended up with another really nice couple who actually LIVE in their trailer (which they were towing).  It turns out that they spend their winters working at Zion National Park, then spend their summers travelling.  They were very happy to meet us and hear some trail tales as we rode down into Steamboat Springs.

Down in town, we got a room at Rabbit Ears Motel and tackled the usual chores: 1) Shower!!  2) Food!! (which I got from the Natural Grocery, right across the street–really great stuff we have not had in months)  3) Get the resupply box!!  4)  More food!! (at a pub which was having a halfprice special on their hamburgers!) and 5) Sleep!!