Day 14: In Steamboat Springs

I got through the Great Basin while riding with Ken from NZ. It was a tough day as it was both hot and windy. Plus hardly any water. About midway I realized I dropped a litre of water and wouldn't have enough to get through. Luckily did find a creek that was the overflow from a resevior and so I filtered emough to get out of the Basin. I'm developing an appreciation for things I normally take for granted. That water never tasted so good.
Finally got to Rawlins and ate with Ken at a pizza hut with bad service. It took half an hour to get seated and have our order taken. I thought it ironic that there was a Pizza Hut good service award on display.
South of Rawlins there was major delays due to road costruction, so a descion was made to travel south and camp so as to get through the construction zone before work started. Unfortunately that meant abandoning the parcel waiting for me in Rawlins as the post office was closed. No new clean clothes for me. That was a downer.
Waking up a 4am Ken and I struck out early and I did manage to clear the 50km of road construction while only having to wait a few minutes. After that I rode on my own. Ken was somewhere behind me. Fighting strong head winds for the 3rd day in a row drained me. Plus I was suffering from saddle sores that made it painful to pedal. After much teeth knashing I got to Brush Mt Lodge.
I had heard many good things about the lodge and I wasn't disappointed. The place had a great vibe due to the awesome proprieter Kirsten, a very supportive TDR follower. After two veggie burgers and 3 Pepsis I was back on the trail. Ken did show up before I left but was suffering from some injuries. So much suffering. I'm not sure if he even left the lodge.
Bouyed I got over the pass and into Steamboat Springs. My brakes even held on the way down which was amazing bcause the pads are ground down to almost nothing. Luckily Orange Peal bikes are in Steamboat and the have a great reputation amongst TDR riders. I even phone ahead and left a message requesting they bring in my particular brake pads which so far have been hard to find.
Eating dinner I noticed my cell texts weren't working. So instead of hearing the joyous bings of supportive texts arriving I got silence. Plus sending texts wouldn't work. Seems the cell provider covering Steamboat doesn't support my phone. What a bummer! I also tried a regular phone call and that didn't work either. Funny being in the largest city on the Tour that I'm more isolated than when I'm in dinky towns.
Next problem was finding a motel. Seems baseball touraments resulted in most motels being fully booked. I had to bike a long ways out of town before finding a room available and it wasn't cheap. I almost got hit twice trying to get there. The highway is not very bike friendly.
The TDR giveth and taketh away which is how the night ended. Hopefully Steamboat will redeem itself tomorrow.