2015 Colorado Caching – Part 4

We had a relaxed rest day and went to a place called the Family Farm to eat and celebrate Kelly’s 40^th birthday.  It was a fun and unique place complete with farm animals on premises.  We got to pet and feed the goats.  When we returned Kelly’s sister and mother were there with a birthday cake.

In late afternoon when I was inspecting my bike I noticed that my rear tire was quite worn.  I should have gotten a lot more miles out of it but I didn’t discover until I had returned home that it wasn’t the brand I thought I had on it (Continental ContiMotion) but instead a Shinko Advance.  By this time it was too late to get anything done in Denver.  The tire might have lasted the trip but I didn’t want to chance it and get caught in the middle of nowhere with a tire out.  I located a shop in Castle Rock south of Denver that we would be going through the next day that had a good tire at a reasonable price.

We got an early start the next morning trying to beat the Denver traffic because we had to get a cache in Denver County which is pretty much downtown.  The traffic wasn’t too bad, at least for Denver, and we found the cache without much trouble.  We wanted to be first in line at the bike shop so we didn’t take time to find any more caches in the county.

We found the shop a little after 8:00 and were first in line.  The service department didn’t open until 9:00 so we had a little wait.  We were another half hour actually getting in the shop after they opened and it was after 10:00 before we were back on the road.  Well, at least I would make the rest of the trip with peace of mind concerning the tire.

One of several desert caches 

After getting the new tire we set out east on Highway 86 toward Limon.  We were crossing counties we had done the previous year because we had to get to the far southeast part of the state for territory we hadn’t covered.  We stopped for an Elbert County cache before Limon just for a break and then shortly after turning south on Highway 71 at Limon we stopped for a Lincoln County cache and had a roadside lunch in the shade.

John W Rawlings Museum

As we proceeded down Hwy 71 we were soon in new counties the first of which was Crowley.  We got a couple roadside caches in that county before stopping in Rocky Ford to get one for Otero County.  At Rocky Ford we turned east on Highway 50 stopping in Las Animas bagging a cache at John W. Rawlings Heritage Center and Museum for Bent County. 

 

As the usual afternoon storm began, only this time accompanied by high wind and hail, we deviated from our planned route and headed straight into Lamar instead of making an out and back trip out to John Martin Reservoir and Kiowa County.  We stopped at the museum in Lamar and got a cache for Prowers County.  Then we found a nearby gas station with an overhang and took a break waiting out the storm at a table in the convenience store.

 

After the storm had abated we headed north on Highway to the little town of Eads.  I had chosen this little place to stay because of the reputation of a new motel there.  As improbable as it may seem, this little town of about 700 people had the grand Cobblestone Inn.  In talking to some locals later we found that some of the local farmers had all sold oil leases in one year and needed something to do with the money to avoid some taxes.  About 25 of them pooled their income and built this inn.  It wasn’t really a motel as it had no outside entrances but it was strictly first class.  They served the best breakfast there of anywhere we stayed as well.

Cobblestone Inn