RICO FREAKO: RICO, CO

Rico Freako

I left Alta Lake once Sun was above the peaks. I woke around 5am to a chill that wouldn't go away, deep in the bones. I pass the early time reading Demille and try to curl up and get warm as possible. Regaining consciousness to a chill, I was looking forward to the hot springs down the road 30 miles in a town called Rico.

I geared up, and took the 4 mile stretch of forest road back to the main drag, 145. The ride greeted me with clear Sky view of the craggy and majestic mountains I was inside of, dotted with yellow and white flowers and the true smell of nature extremely evident. The ride was a perfect way to start the day, as always.

I made Rico fairly quick and keeping an eye out for the Delores River bridge where I was to hang a left and travel a 3rd of a mile to where the hot springs were located. Going over the bridge, it dawned on me that my left that I just overshot, I slowed quickly and made a louie and got back on course. I traversed the short distance and I found the metal building (changing shack) that was my landmark for the hot springs.

Not even 11am, I planned on taking my time. There was a large truck pulled in up to the metal building and I poked my head around the walk to the springs and saw a dude with his eyes closed kicked back, soaking in the warmth. I took my time delousing and getting ready, etiquette for hot springs is a must. If someone is back there chilling, don't barge in, flutter in, and let them acclimate to your presence. At the moment of getting ready to hit the water, the dude walks out, we greet, he hits the road. Right on, I have the place to myself. I walk fast back to the springs, find the bubbling source which is piped to the tub, intrigued by the colors the minerals have provided for natural visual aesthetics, scope the place out, notice that a small spot in the river is rocked off creating a cold pool. I glide in the hot spring which is an 8 person hot tub, also caked in minerals. I melt, totally forgetting the morning chill I previously had and soak it in. I get out a moment to check the running wrier, COLD, but I reluctantly get in, zap me awake and I jump back in the hot springs, my body screaming in pins and needles for the shock of both the hot and cold water. This is it.

I chill for a few minutes and a dude and chick stroll in, I say hi and quickly introduce myself to Mitch and Zara. Good people with good talk, Zara is a thinker and teacher, introducing new ways of teaching for young people. 'All the answers are out there, we just have to pay attention and figure out how to grasp it," Zara said, waving her arms out to Sky. "Teaching to think and comprehend as we have for the last generations creates stagnation, no new ways to think, that's what I'm about." she continued. I asked her where she was from, as she had an English accent, "Cassiopia." she told me. "Where's that?", me puzzled thinking of New Zealand or some other place. She points to the sky, "The stars." Zara confides. "Good answer." I reply. Mitch is a cat that really thinks before he answers or says something. I'd ask a question, he'd pause for a moment without breaking eye contact and then give an answer. Come to find out, he's a magician, Mysterio to be exact. I find out they're from Durango. Mitch stumbled into Telluride a good number of years previously while traveling in his van, where he decided to stay. I asked where they find themselves now, and he tells me, Durango. They were in Telluride for the music festival and are closing it off with a visit to the springs. After about 30 minutes, another couple comes in, Steve and Melissa, also coming from the music festival while we're getting out and getting dressed. Mitch and Zara wanted to exchange numbers if I find myself in Durango and I follow them back to the vehicles. Mitch fills me in on Rico, telling me there's a decent place to eat and the people are good. We say our goodbyes, pass the glad hand and looking like it's going to start raining, I put all my gear on the bike in the building and head back to the Springs.

Upon returning to the tub, Steve and Melissa are getting out and about dressed. We talk a moment and Melissa tells me she'll write her contact for me in case I make it to Tuscon, AZ. I tell her to put it in the tank bag, thank her for her generosity and get back in the tub. "Good stuff," I think to myself, "People giving contact info out freely to a person they just met."

After another 30 minutes if that, I decide it's time to move on, or least attempt to. The heavy clouds seemed to be clearing somewhat and I was kinda in a spot on whether to move or not. I drag myself out of the hot springs, creep back barefoot to the building, clouds moving in again and I decide to call Zach and see what's up.

While talking to Zach on the horn, a 3 person group comes in. an older guy and 2 older women. The older guy is taking a good look at Bike and come to find out he owns a Beemer shop in Mancos, CO where I was contemplating that very shop for a possible front tire. The man introduces himself as Harry and I tell Zach to hold on a moment and give Harry the run down on the journey and Bike.

Back on the phone, Zach and I are saying goodbye when another vehicle and a bike pulls up. The dude on the bike walks by, we give each other the 'what's up' nod. A chick walks on by and a dude in a nit hat following, and tells me, "Great to see you here!" I hang up the phone, and I decide to walk on back and enjoy the company while I have it. I get back by the tub and everyone is hanging, and I grab a chair as I'm already dry. Dude in the knit cap walks up and we start talking of traveling and that he's ready to hit the road, truck packed with all his belongings for the past 4 months and living on his friends floors. When it happens it will happen." I tell him. He likes that and we introduce ourselves, him going by the moniker, Loader, and he offers me a beer which we walk to the truck and get.

We get back to the hot springs and the older group is preparing to leave. We talk for a moment and they take off. The other dude and chick are getting out also, he asks to roll a cigarette, I tell him, "Help yourself to how many ever you want." I ask his name and he tells me Craig. We get up to leave and Craig say, "Wanna come and hang at our place in Rico?" I say, "Sure, sounds great!" We get all packed and I follow them to the small town I called home for a week.

We get back to their place in no time, it being literally just a quarter of a mile or less from the hotsprings. I introduce myself to the chick, Chelsea, being from Chicago to visit Craig for a few days. We go inside, after I notice an Airhead bike sitting under a tarp, crack new beers, share a smoke on their back porch, in and looking at the Rockies, meet their neighbor Ben and we kick it. It was getting chilly on the porch as all I had on was my shorts. I go to Bike to grab my hoodie when a dude pulls up on a K100 BMW. Dude is all smiles, we shake hands and tells me his name is Brian, Craigs roommate. We talk bikes, he checks out Bike, and we go to the front patio where he takes of the tarp on a 75/6 Airhead. Motor extremely clean, I give it a good look over, Brian fires it up without any hesitation and she sounds good. He asks me some questions on some of my previous maintenance experience, I give him a quick run through and everyone else tells us to knock off the gay bike club. We laugh and get back to the bike. 

Before I knew it, it was getting evening, I asked Craig if it was cool to crash and he told me, "No problem, I don't care." Right on, evening solved lets hang out. Brain, Loader, Onka (Brian's dog) and myself decide to step out and take a walk by the Delores River. Rico is set up pretty easy, 145 is the main artery with dirt roads on both sides for residential. There's a cafe, bar, gas station/market and liquor store. Upon getting to the river, the sound totally lulls me. We sit on the bank, have a smoke and get up to walk a bit further. I get up, take a piss and decide to go back to the river bank where I fell asleep. Waking up, getting my bearings correct, I realize I'm in Rico with a place to crash with locals. I wonder back to the house, go through the back door where everyone was cool to see me. Brian and Loaded were there, I was wondering if they were still out. Told them I went back to the water where I fell asleep. They though that was great and no more questions. I like this crew. Later on, Ben decides a fire would be a great idea which we all agree and get a flame going outside in the front yard. The place is set up as such, Ben's house with the front yard, and Brian and Craig's place in the back through a gate. At the fire, I meet a few more locals, Gary, who's been there for years, Alex the firefighter, Dave and Chelsea(#2) who just moved to Rico from SC, and Karen, Ben's girl and good ol' Frank. We hang for a good bit, Brian bring out his bongos, Craig tearing it up with drum sticks on whatever is in tapping reach and have music going. This is Rico, I like it.

Loader and I wake on the kitchen floor when Craig gets up to go to work in Mountain Village outside Telluride. We dally around, walking out front, I pick up last nights aluminum and glass and tidy the place up for them letting me crash. Loader comes out and says he has an idea. He tells me of Engle's Cabin, and if I'm not in rush to leave Rico, we should spend the night up there. Me being a man without schedule, I say "Let's do it!". Everyone else is coming out, we tell them our plans and if they're interested, but they have to work and Chelsea is going to wait on Craig. We get ready and go to the gas station, buy dogs, buns, chips and beer for the evening. We get back to the house, get what we need and head on up the primitive rocky road towards the cabin. On the way up, Loaders truck is over heating, temp gauge shooting up, he decides to push it and carry on up the high clearance 4-wheel necessary road. I was thinking of riding Bike up but after seeing the road, I'm glad I didn't. It would have been rough no point since Loader was driving. We crack beers, listen to tunes and talk while climbing the mountain which takes us 4 miles up. Loader is totally worrying about his trucks temp, the gauge is pegged and not going down. We make it to the cabin, park and go inside to see what's inside. There's a wind up radio, Loader cranks it, we get static and then we both look towards the window where we hear a hiss like static. Thinking it was a rigged up speaker to the radio, we look out the window and see the truck breathing ALOT of steam, no radio static at all, ha. We rush outside, pop the hood and see a small coolant hose spraying coolant everywhere. We leave the hood open to cool and I chop some wood while Loader worries rightfully so as it means a 4 mile walk back to town. With wood split and the truck cooled, he tries to start it. NOTHING. Not even a click. Loader is really worrying. I tell him to let it dry out, maybe water got on an electric component and that's hindering it from starting. He's totally bummed, I go back to the fire and he takes a nap inside to forget. While hanging outside in the beautiful mountains, a meadow running downhill and flowers poking out, I wonder the grounds, rifle through the cabin provisions, write in the cabin log, find the shithouse and listen to the radio which gets about 20 stations at this elevation (Rico has one station). I notice a dude pedaling up the road on a bicycle. I go to the back of the cabin and greet the bicyclist who is Dan, also from Rico. We talk for a few minutes, tell him I'm here with Loader and he's like, "Loader is inside?" Out walks Loader and him and Dan definitely know each other, Loader thought I was on the phone with someone. We share a smoke, Dan hangs for a moment when I get the idea that the 3 of us could turn the truck around to face downhill if it doesn't start. Dan agrees and Loader gets in the truck to see what will happen. He turns the key and the engine turns over, he turns the truck around so it's facing downhill and he is all smiles. Dan decides to head out since he's not needed and I tell Loader to enjoy the evening and we'll deal with the truck in the morning.

We make dinner, dogs and beans over the fire, which I eat like 5 out of 8 dogs, we kill the chips and beans. Sun going low, temp going low, fire going strong, we notice clouds moving in and Loader calls for rain as it's monsoon season. I split wood into smaller bits and we get the stove in the cabin going as it looks like we're going to spend time inside. With the stove burning I make some popcorn which Loader got a kick out of, and we chill for a bit, the rain coming and going. When it would stop, I'd split more wood for the fun of it and for the next visiting people staying at the cabin, one less thing for them to worry about.

Being that Sun went down and it was raining, we kicked it in the cozy warm cabin with 2 beds, desk, cabinet and of course the stove. We lie there in bed, listening to stupid rock music and laugh when Brian Adams, 'Cuts Like a Knife' comes on. I mentioned he'd be the guy playing at a Rib Cook Off and would be on after the spare ribs. Loader loses it and we come up with the Spare Rib Tour. The dudes that keep playing and shouldn't. After Adams, Billy Squire comes on and Loader loses it again, opening act. After hounding the poor rockers, I get up and see what else is to be listened to and find a great college station out of Durango. I listen for a good hour or two, laying in bed, eyes closed and visualizing the tunes. They even peppered the entire 'In God We Trust', Dead Kennedy's record amongst the ramshackle playlist which all was good. Two songs stuck out, I don't know their names but one as Loader put it, "Binary", kept repeating 1s and 0s and 0s and 1s with a very sloppy guitar and another about the mountain above the black lake. I need to find both of them. Goodnight.

We woke to a beautiful Rocky Morning. First thing, we tackled the blown hose. Loader had tape, so I wrapped the heck out of the coolant hose, hoping it would hold at least for the trip down the mountain. We pack up, I make more popcorn and beans for breakfast, we tidy up the place, make sure it's as we found it, top off the truck with spring water out back and head down. Of course we make it back without incident and Loader can't get the truck off his mind. We get back to the house, Ben is drying cloths outside, we hang around and I get the gear off Bike that sat out under the rain last night and get all dried out under Sun. Not much going on, Ben says he has to work later, Craig isn't home yet, Chelsea is somewhere and I think Brian was at work. We make it a lazy afternoon and chill. Looks like I'll be spending another night in Rico.

Craig gets home and him and Chelsea are going to the Enterprise(bar) for grub. Loader and I tag along and Ben heads up to the liquor store next door to the bar where he works. I meet a few other locals, hang around like a local but I put off buying dinner. That would be an easy $10 or more. I take off back to the house which is a block behind the main street and get out a can of spaghetti that I eat cold. I call home, touch base with the folks and head back up towards the Enterprise to see whats going on. Craig, Chelsea and Loader are nowhere so I step into the liquor store and hang with Ben. He's getting off in 30 minutes, mentioned a fire and I tell him I'll go get the fire ready to which he agrees hands down. Grabbing cardboard from the liquor store trash, I head back, get some kindling and paper burning, Loader steps up with Craig and Chelsea and likes what he sees. Before we know it, we have a small group of people poking at the fire, Craig jamming with the drum sticks and all enjoying the moment. The night rolls up fairly early as Craig as work and we all call it a night. Loader and I claim the kitchen floor and we turn in for the night.

Wednesday is kinda bleary and bleeds into the other days. I believe we spent it chilling at Ben's for the day watching movies, napping and recovering.  Ben's a great guy, told me to make myself at home along with Loader, who he definitely knows. I charged up all my electrics thinking I just may hit the road today and Ben and Loader are like what for. Chelsea comes in, says it's her last night, so we all decide another firepit is in order. Am I remembering this correctly? Another night in Rico, I am sure of that.

Thursday morning was another chill day in Rico. Chelsea was packing, Loader was loading and I was… I don't know. I do know! I woke to Karen and Ben scraping paint off his house. I joined in, drank coffee and scraped paint. Craig was due home early as he was taking Chelsea to the airport in Durango for an early morning flight, plus he was getting tires in Delores. I did hit up the hot springs, the other one across the river and soaked for a short bit in Sun, as this spring didn't have any coverage from growth, just wide open exposure and flies with a hoe of hot water. This spring is quite a hike down a slope if you don't cross the river. Straight up and down pretty much. I think I prefer the hot tub spring.

I get back to the house, Craig gets home, him and Chelsea pack, Ben, Brian and I are hanging around watching the scene. Chelsea says her goodbyes and hugs and her and Craig are off to the south where she'll fly towards Chicago. Good meet Chelsea! I believe that evening we hung out with one of Brian's friend Paige, Karen, Ben, Loader and myself. Sat on the deck, hung inside watching Dead concerts with a Bad Brains concert for good measure and enjoying a bit of drink. That was a fairly early night, we all turned in early and see what happens tomorrow.

I woke early, real early and decided today would be a good day and take a ride to Cortez, hit a road, get provisions and treat myself to getting out. I woke Loader and asked him if he wanted me to get a hose and clamps while out which he was very elated to hear. He told me to get that and bring us back some tacos, fast food tacos, as it's rare to have such a thing in Rico and he had a hankering. I took the ride slow, it was 9am, no rush. I found a forest road on the way, pulled off to have a smoke. Heading south on 145, you see the land change, the Rockies mellow out, the temperature rises, farms appear and traffic picks up. I hit up Wally World for provisions, spend maybe $13, head to an auto parts store, get Loaders goods and then I find myself hungry. Hungry that a can of cold food can't take care of. I was thinking of huevos rancheros for a late breakfast but a brewery/pub catches my eye. I venture over, order the house stout and get fish and chips which was cubes of fish with a small order of god fries. Not satisfied as I was imagining, I found myself thinking of beens and eggs across the street at the mexican greasy spoon. Plus it would have been $5 cheaper. Oh well… You only live once and I doubt bar food and huevos rancheros make that big of an impact. I take that back, ever been in a car with fools who just ate huevos rancheros? That is an impact. Ha. One last stop, Taco Bell, where I decide to place a bigger order and get a box of 12 tacos. 

I meander back to Rico, about an hour drive north, and find a trail head where I chill for a bit and have a smoke. I continue on to town and find Loader, Karen and Ben out back on the porch, I brandish the box of tacos which makes Loaders eyes big and we tear into them. I think Loader and I ate 5 each and Ben and Karen nibbled on the other 2. I am now satisfied. I get out the hose and wait for Loader to finish eating. We congregate at the truck where I start replacing the hose, of course under throttle cables which need to be removed, another hose and we have space to work. I push on the new hose, replace the pinch clamps with screw clamps, mount up the cables, replace the she, fill up with coolant and Loader wants to take a spin to see how it works. He decides to take me to the Silver Mine, east of town of course up a mountain. The place is in ruins but with yellow and orange tape the actual shafts have huge gates on them which Loader says was new along with the tape. Maybe starting back up the operation?  

Truck running good and temp gauge holding steady, he wants to venture up another road, a definite road which requires 4 wheel drive, the Silver Creek Watershed. The trail dead ended a couple miles in, Loader giddy about his truck and we loop back to the house.

The rest of the night I'm not sure. I think I took a nap in there somewhere. Anyway, Brian came home from work, we all got together, drank beer and watched more Dead concerts.Hung around the kitchen and back porch and just absolutely enjoyed the company.

The next morning which I think was Friday was another yet chill day. We spend the morning getting started, probably with a beer and that's good, enjoy my time and kick back with the locals. Craig arrived home extremely early. COme to find out he was laid off, him being a house framer and them just starting the logs which he has no experience, so they sent him home. Somewhat pissed and emotionally hopped up, we start a bit of a serious party, seeing it's friday, Craig needs to kick back, and what else would we do? Frank, their neighbor in the process of moving tells Craig to grab his drum kit and use it as Craig doesn't have his own set at the moment and drums are a good way to traverse aggression. Unknowing to Frank, a guy in his 40's, his woman pregnant and dealing with a house move, Craig sets up the kit in the front yard! Listening to Bad Religion on his headphones, he keeps up and is a fabulous tight drummer. Banging away in the front yard for a good 2 hours, people driving by giving him thumbs up for disrupting the peace. Loader and I hang around and take in the beats. Meanwhile, Ruth and a couple of her kids stop over and join us on the porch, while Craig is still at. Ruth and a couple of her kids walk over and joint us, we talk, pass the time, smoke and enjoy the beer. I see another truck drive by slowly but this time there's no thumbs up, I see Frank behind the wheel, shaking his head in disbelief to the beats. Uhoh. Frank parks and immediately comes over and says, "What the f*ck, Craig?", and starts dismantling the kit and Craig gets up and tosses the sticks, "Take your stupid drums, I don't care, if you're going to be that way…". It turns into a spat, Frank wanting to know if Craig would like the drums but to take them inside at least, Craig wasn't having any of it and walks to the porch while we watch Frank taking back the drums, Ruth trying to chill the 2 of them out while they spat back and forth. With the drums gone, Loader gets out his hackie sack, and with Ruth's kids, Craig, Loader and myself, we get an impromptu kick ring going on and taking our minds off the fiasco for about an hour. Ready for a bit of elbow space, I hear a hiss from around the corner. I look and Craig whispers just loud enough for me to hear, "Meet me at the hot springs." "Just in time my friend." I think to myself and give him the thumbs up.

We hit up the springs and there are 2 chicks hanging out and a dude and another chick soaking in the soothing water. Craig and I hop in, we all soak, telling stories and whatnot and the 2 girls want to check out the springs on the other side. Craig and I troop them over, we hang for about 20 minutes in the blazing sun when we decide it's time to leave because of the exposure. Hot Sun and hot water don't jive in my book. Reminds me of looking at the hot spring in Big Bend, off of the Rio Grande. The heat and just looking at the steaming water made me nauseous. Back to the current situation. The chicks seemed cool, so Craig invites them back to the house. While crossing the river, I ask their names which are Christen and Gillian. Christen runs her own tack shop and Gillian lives with her mother on a farm where they grow  and sell flowers. Gillian had great artwork marked on her body and I noticed blond eyelashes which happens to be from a small birthmark by her temple, she dug that I noticed, oohlala. After a beer they decided it was time to take off, all 5 of us on the porch said in unison, "Where you going?" They had to get back, said they may show up Saturday for Rico's shindig. We gave them 70/30 odds on coming back which we laughed at and waved goodbye.

With evening coming in fast, we decide to start a fire out front. Roy, stops over and him, Loader, Craig and myself hang a bit around the fire. Craig out of nowhere asks  everyone if they would like to join him on a night hike through the woods and sit on the mountain overlooking Rico. I tell him I'm game, and Loader and Roy back out. Craig and I grab what we would need, stuffs all in his backpack and we kick off down the dirt road towards West Rico down the street and up the hill. We trudge a good mile, start climbing, Onka, Brian's dog joins us and is running wild but staying with us. We move on and Craig throws off his pack on a hillside where we kick it and take in the Blue August Moon. We hang for a good 2 or 3 hours on the slope, a handful of beers with us and Onka chilling between us. Looking at Rico from this spot at night made it look like a beehive and a model, 145 running horizontal to us dashing between the streets, the town looked enveloped on the ridiculously clear and bright night. I ask Craig about his infantry experience, as best as a civilian can ask. He told me no one has really inquired on his military history, I find it fascinating and grill him. He asks of my Journey, I tell him as best as I can off the top of my head, but days totally run together, as I'm trying to break them up now… Around 1am, we head back down to town to see what's going on. Brian's back from work and Loader's chilling on a thermarest wrapped up in blankets looking like a prophet. Not tired and still going, Craig, Loader and I stay up till the crack ass of dawn, laughing, slapping each other on the back, all the while with Odell playing on the music machine. I really dug the music actually, beautiful record and amazing voice. We pass out at some point and I wake to hear Brian coming down the stairs laughing at the sight of us, piled in a huddle on the kitchen floor wrapped in blankets. We all get up, clean up the place and start the day and what a chill long smooth day it was. Frank stopped over, asked if I was in the mood to earn $20 to help him move a cabinet which I was definitely down for. He takes me on a tour of his old house, an extremely large house that goes on and on, a lot of character and the shop was the best part of the house. We load the cabinet no problem and take it to the other end of town where I get a tour of his and Madelyn's new house, a quaint cozy house with a kick ass log/chinked building in the back. Roy stops over, we talk for a moment and we move the cabinet inside and he takes me back to the house where I help him load a couple items on the trailer. 

Being Saturday, it was Rico's posthumous 4th of July/Labor Day/Fire Department thank you party. Mike who I met the 1st day in town, his band was playing 2-5 in the park and then they were going to have their fireworks display. I really take it easy that day, Loader and Craig are off somewhere, but I kick it on the back porch, jot down notes for the journal and chill while I can hear Mikes band playing down the road. Around 3:45 during a music break, I head down to the park and join the town. The Fire Dept. had free kegs of beer, I drank a couple and went back to enjoy the music of Mike and the Rico Blues Explosion. They were playing crowd pleasers while the local women danced and there was Loader, the only dude in the middle of them. Great stuff and everyone was having a great time. With the music over, we helped the band load their gear, hung and talked for a bit and went back to the house for food and wait for the fireworks to commence. Looks like rain is moving in and looks thick.

While back at the house chilling with Craig and Loader, we start hearing booms and pops, and seeing color splashing the hillside. Craig hops on his KLR and zips off, Loader and I pack in his truck planning on the fireworks and then head over to Mikes to hang for the evening. The rain just moved in and it was thick, we watch the display from inside the truck, try a few different spots and finish off at the top of the hill where Loader used to live. The fireworks were great and last well over an hour. Upon leaving the hillside, I tell Loader I'm not up for hanging out, I'm too tired from the night before and I'm going to go curl up in my bag and see what happens. Him being cool with it, drops me off at the house where I do just that. About 30 minutes later, Loader comes back, said Mikes was dispersing and noticed I was in and out of sleep, he heads to Ben's to give me some space and solitude.

About an hour later, I wake to hear Craig coming in the door. We talk for a bit and he is amped, I was getting a kick out of it, he was like the proverbial bull in a china shop. He was having a great night, ready to go back out, me zoning in and out of sleep to the patter of the rain on the roof. A good bit later, the rain stops and Craig heads back out to see what's up in town, I drift back off. I wake shortly later and Craig comes back in the house, I'm totally asleep and he wakes me to see if I'm sleeping. Ha, I get the biggest kick out of that. Craig's pacing back and forth, sitting down getting up, asking me if I'm still asleep. After a bit of that, I get up and join Craig, he's nowhere near ready for sleep and I'm somewhat rejuvenated, we hunt out Loader over at Ben's and wake him up to hang out with us. We drink a couple beers, Loader has us cackling, Craig stomping his feet, I reminded both of them the 70/30 girls totally didn't show, and started the cackles again. These guys are great.

I wake to find myself crumpled up on the love seat at Ben's, one leg hanging off the couch and my head at a most uncomfortable angle. Ben's not home, he left he previous morning to fly to his mothers, he told us to make ourselves at home at his place while he was gone. I'm starving and want something filling. I decide to go to the market, buy 16 hamburger patties, buns and chips to cook outside on the firepit. We get a fire going to get the wood coals ready and I hop on Bike and get the goods. We spend awhile messing with the fire, poking and staring at the afternoon blaze, not in a rush to eat and time to thaw the burgers. Dave and Chelsea come over, tell them what's up and they go back to the house and come back over with white chili to throw in for dinner. We hang for a bit on the back porch talking and we decide it's time to cook. I get a good flame going on top of the coals, throw on the grated hood and toss the burgers on the hood, coals cooking and flame kissing, the burgers came out great, the chili was delicious and after we finish dinner, Craig says we should hit up the hot springs, which we do with Dave and Chelsea. We soak for a short bit and Craig wants to know if we're up for watching Full Metal Jacket which we all decide isn't a bad idea. We meet back at his and Brian's place, throw on the movie and I think I fell sleep before bootcamp was over. Go figure the movie keeps on playing and I think I heard bootcamp 5 more times before I got up, turned it off and went over to Ben's to see what Loader was doing and grab another movie. I head back to Craig's, we wakes with me playing Old School and we hang and watch the rest before falling back asleep.

Sunday, this is departure day. This marks a full week where I played resident of Rico, CO. A great town, I should say village. Full of great people where they decide to reside and be. I can't blame them. There's a groove in Rico and it's totally evident. Knowing that Zach and I went through here about 15 years ago in the old Malibu, it's cool to come back and spend time with the great locals who host great times. i'm really in no rush. I take my time, get all packed. Craig was having problems with bike starting, sounding like the battery was kicked. We pull out the battery and notice all the cells are bone dry. He hunts down distilled water and we fill it back up. No charger, he just tosses it back in the bike which fires right up. Bill stops over, cool guy I met a few days earlier. He had a /7 BMW that caught on fire and was still bumming, total loss. Brian got back home but has to go back in for work. Brian taking off, we say our goodbyes and my appreciation for them letting me crash for a week, we shake hands and hug and he's off. It gave me a bit of lift to go ahead and leave also. Craig decides he's going to join me and ride the way to Telluride. Loader and I say our goodbyes with a good hugs and much love and Craig and I hit the road to Telluride.

The ride up was uneventful as we took our time and made a straight shot with no stops. I follow him into town, we meet up with Brian at the restaurant, say goodbyes again, promising to keep in touch. Craig and I do the same with a hand shake and hug. These guys went out of their way to put me up and show me a good time while in a comfortable kicked back setting. I'll remember these guys and Rico till my last days. 

Dave says I'm doing this travel right with good karma, apparent from the people and places I stumble upon. Looking back, these days are already bleeding into the previous days and the ones yet to happen. It's good out here, living the way I want to live, going out of my way cos I can, where I can. People are good, Earth is good, Bike is good and I want to evoke how great of a world we live in and that it deserves to be seen and experienced first hand.

Love, H