Another surprise to me was the amount of bikers. We encountered several cross-country riders and many day trippers that we stopped to talk with along the route. One guy who was riding our way was Mike. Mike was a first grade teacher from Wisconsin who decided to ride from Eugene, Oregon to Estes Park, Colorado where he was going to meet his wife and two kids. Roger and I invited him to ride along with us through the park and to have lunch with us at the Old Faithful Lodge. Mike's vacation was only going to last three weeks, so he was making some pretty serious miles every day to make it to Estes Park on time. After lunch, we rode for a while, but Mike was in a hurry and left Roger and I behind on the very first hill.

A few hills later, we reached the top of Craig Pass and the continental divide, once again, at an elevation of 8,391 feet. When we stopped at the top to take a rest, a van from Arizona pulled up. An old bearded guy came out of the driver's side and started talking to us as his wife went into the woods to take pictures. Astounded with our journey and impressed with our ability to climb Craig Pass, the guy opened up the back of his van, pulled out a cooler and offered us sodas. Wow! Roger says in another life, he's going to spend all of his days on top of a mountain pass and hand out cold sodas and beer to bike riders. I can't think of a more benevolent way to spend a lifetime.