Redneck in Colorado, and the Transmission...

So we got into Boulder the other day and met up with our couchsurfing hosts Becky and Caleb and their friend Ashok at the Avery Brewery where they were having a release party for their 17th Anniversary beer. So we got the first taste and it was good. This place was full of what you'd expect Boulder to be. Or really more like you'd expect a coffeshop in Amsterdam to be. Lots of dreadlocks on white people. After dropping the van off at Becky and Caleb's, we headed to the Dark Horse, a Boulder bar full of shit hanging from the ceiling (wagon wheels, weird art, sleds, basically anything that could be nailed into place) There was a solid 3 to 5 feet of junk hanging from the ceiling everywhere. Becky ordered some Oysters... Rocky Mountain Oysters which everyone partook in except Robert (probably a wise decision). He asked if that counts as meat for a vegetarian. Yes, I think is the obvious answer.

We got up at a reasonable hour the next day, like 8:00 instead of sleeping until the afternoon like we both did in Denver, and went to the Farmer's market. A really good one too with actual farmers. Then we met Kylee for brunch; lucky for us she was in town still (I thought she may have been flying back to Charlotte with the beer mile money for the bachelorette party, but it turns out that's next week) so we went and got some crepes and got the candy tour. The rest of the day we spent wandering around Boulder gathering maps and camping supplies and doing laundry. After some late night festivities with Caleb and Becky involving a recently legalized cure for his insomnia and a deerskin drum that took about 2 hours to not build, we went to bed ready to get up early and head into the Rockies on foot/snowshoe in the morning.

Waking up around 6 we drove up past the foothills and into some serious snow pretty quickly. Once we got where the road wasn't paved and was full of ice, the van started slipping pretty quickly so we had to park it and continue up the road to the 4th of July Trailhead 4 miles on foot. After about a mile, there was not visible road anymore. At the trailhead, there was probably about 5 feet of snow, so no trail was visible. We decided to drop our tent and some other stuff and go for a day hike from there. This was a serious hike in the snow. I'd like to go back in the summer and it'd probably be a piece of cake comparatively, but we basically just followed the treeline towards the ridge we wanted to head towards. Check out my Facebook pictures in a few days (I left the memory card in the van at Aamco) for more. Anyway, it was a great hike and some beautiful scenery even tho we didn't make it to the Continental Divide or any of the lakes up there. It's also weird how everything looks so close but it takes forever to get there, especially in the snow. After hiking for a good 8 hours we both crashed before sundown. As you can see, I got some wonderful sunburn on the underside of my face and neck (the top was protected by my hat) A real redneck.

So the unfortunate news as Robert said, is that coming down the hill, the van's transmission started acting up. We took the thing to Aamco and now we both have a bike and a backpack, really drifting primitive style. It's under warranty from the rebuild in January still, so it should only cost us in time (apparently needs a rebuild again, after only 7,000mi and 4 months, WTF Aamco!?) so until then we're hanging out in Arvada, CO. Also I took a "shower" in the sink at a Mexican restaurant the other day (first shower in 5 days), and I'm really thinking about getting a haircut maybe. First detour or many!

^ This is bad news.

Day 12, 2515 miles.