Princess Corner's Final Post

After leaving Telluride, I drove on climbing up Blue Mesa - the same path as the riders. I saw Chuck so I pulled over to take a few pictures. This is when I was informed of the bee sting. Maybe the bee thought he was a flower with the loud colors of a previous year's RTR jersey? Chuck said he had another bee fly into his jersey after this but this one happened to not sting him.

Can you imagine riding on the side of these highways with all of this traffic? I know for you riders that are used to this that it can still be a sometimes scary near miss with some of the vehicles around you. I took this shot of Chuck continuing on his way with a huge, loud, logging truck passing him.

Here is the top of this particular climb (Blue Mesa) with the rest stop and gorgeous views!

Here is Hammer, Pretty Boy (Ryan), and the Coach. The boys were still all smiles at this point.

Chuck told you about how this day went for him. This was the engine failure day. I felt like the check engine light coming on after 75 miles and with the particulars of this ride hitting him, all in all that engine is pretty strong with everything that was thrown at it.

My day was spent being a Sherpa/support vehicle. When we finally arrived in Crested Butte we reveled in the cooler temperatures (finally!). This picture is the view from our Condo balcony.

On Friday morning, I finally got a nature walk in. This particular trail goes to Peanut Lake in Crested Butte.

Here is the view looking down into Crested Butte with Mount Crested Butte to the left.

Ahhh, the sound of the Aspen leaves dancing in the wind. I had to walk into this grove and enjoy the beautiful sounds and see the wild strawberries and columbines blooming.

As I was leaving, I got the hugest kick out of watching this cattle drive in front of us, stopping traffic. I had a huge grin on my face watching the 3 cowboys and one very hyper dog rustling the cattle on. Of course some of the other vehicles waiting weren't nearly as patient.

After this I drove onto our destination for the evening (San Isabel B&B) by way of Monarch Pass. Pretty uneventful except for my being robbed at the gas station I stopped at paying $4.11 for regular unleaded! I wish that I had taken pictures of our stay at the B&B. It was in a gorgeous spot with views all around and the owners, Dick and Cam were just wonderful to us. Maybe some of the other paparazzi took some pictures to share.

Chuck finally making it to the finish line! This was a tough year! I think that Chuck feels like this year was the toughest so far. He was a bit cranky the night before the last day but I reminded him that he is this way every year. RTR, once again threw everything at Chuck and he still conquered!

I really enjoyed having other female companions on this trip with Wendy (Viscountress), and Nancy (Queen Mum). It helped level out the levels of testosterone vs. estrogen. This certainly is not a vacation trip though. I drove around 450 miles on my own. Driving home today, Chuck drove 9 hours to my 3 hours. I felt that was only fair :)

Congratulations to Team Bizzo and all of the other riders at this year's RTR! You are the victors!

LOL to all!

Lisa