Bon Jovi time

Now this is Michael posting from Adams phone:

We are halfway there! The past few days have been super awesome. Every day the scenery is incredible and I have to remind myself not to get used to it because it just gets better and better. 

So last town we were in, we were sitting at a restaurant eating and a woman started talking to us and eventually gave us her number and said call when you want a ride back to the trail. It was awesome because the 22 mile hitch was going to be very hard considering the road had very little thru traffic. 

Adam also left out the fact that he got lost prior to Buena vista. We all planned to meet at the trailhead and hitch in together. Eventually some slower hikers showed up and when we inquired about where Adam was they said "oh he's definitely in front of us."  William and I drew straws on who had to go looking for him and I lost. So with a thunderstorm looming and us sitting exposed on the continental divide, I dropped my pack and started my first trail run up the adjacent incline where I figured Adam missed the turn. Luckily after reaching the top I could see a tall figure swaggering down a dirt road and after getting his attention all tragedies were avoided and we made it to town. 

The past few days, we have been on the "Collegiate West" alternate high route of the Colorado trail. We haven't dipped below 11000 at all I think. Also, the trail was recently re routed and our guide book didn't have the new route. So we started hiking out of town at like 7:00 hoping to hit a campsite in the guide book after 4 miles. After realizing the guide book was completely wrong, we ended up hiking a few extra hours and eventually crashed at like 11:30. Luckily the sky was clear and the stars were incredible and when we woke up we had an amazing view. 

After a few days and seeing our friend "Mr. Popular" aka Kurt we made it to Salida. Sam and Marcia (Some family of Buckwheat) picked us up from the trailhead and immediately started treating us. First was ice cream. Then we went to a restaurant that ONLY serves steak and all got 12 oz filets. Then they put us up in a hotel and told us that the next couple days they would be slack packing us! So they will take their FJ cruisers on the backcountry forest service roads and meet up with us for the next couple days and bring food and stuff in their cars. It is going to be incredible. 

We are still having a blast and trying to take full advantage of this crazy trip. Spirits are high and we are excited for the next adventures the trail throws our way. 

-dirty mike