Grand Mesa Day 6: A Visit With Friends

Today we rode to Paonia to see our friends Denise and her son Chris. We got a bit of a late start due to finding out that we had yet another bear break-in at home Sunday night.

This time it tore an air conditioner out of the window -- oh, and tore the brand new window, and the frame, right out of the wall. Needless to say it put a bit of a damper on the vacation. Thinking that we had everything taken care of -- the new BBQ is locked in the shed and the dog door is secure -- and the SoaB takes out the A/C. We got in touch with family and now our grandson is staying at the house. He reported a return visit by out unwanted guest Monday night. A warning shot caused it to retreat.

Consequently, we needed to make a few phone calls before heading to Paonia.

After the late-ish start, we geared up for the ride and Laura followed in the car. Two-and-a-half hours and a gorgeous ride later we landed in Paonia. It was good to see our friends, who we only really see on Facebook these days. Chris cooked a wonderful meal for us, then we headed out to his favorite fishing spot.

Remember when I said we got a late start? By the time we reached the reservoir, it was getting late and we only had time to have a drink, a chat, and fight off the mosquitoes. The day was slipping away and we still needed to ride back over the Grand Mesa to Powderhorn. Chris was having car trouble, so he stayed with his car at the lake to see how the fishing was (I think he's addicted to fishing). Denise squeezed in the back seat of the car with me (we didn't bother to schlep everything from the car to the condo, it's a bit of a hike) and we headed back to Paonia to pick up the bikes.

By the time we reached the top of the Grand Mesa, the sun was getting low in the sky. Laura managed to grab a picture of us as we rode into the sunset.

By the time we started down the north side of the Mesa, the sky was blazing.

We made it back to the condo a little after 9:00 PM, much later than we had anticipated, but we had a great day. It was good to see friends, but we realized that not one of us took a picture until we were heading back to our home away from home.

Tomorrow we are planning to go to either Ouray or the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, we'll see what the morning brings.