Today was the day I have been looking forward to.  We had absolutely nothing planned.  We have 2 days left at the Horse Head Mountain Lodge and I just wanted to kick back and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere.  First things first – find a spot for breakfast.

It is Sunday so a lot of places were closed.  We had tried just about all the restaurants in Monticello.  A discussion was held about heading back to Twin Rocks near Bluff.  That really was a good option.  The laptop was fired up.  A search yielded a small town down the road about 25 miles in a direction we hadn’t been.  There appears to be two diners in Dove Creek.  Both had menus available online.  Who could resist a place that offered a “plate of crap” for breakfast.  (I didn’t make that up – see menu below.)  That meant a trip to the Dinner Bell in Dove Creek, Colorado which is about 25 miles away.  The trike was ready to go.

This turned out to be a great choice.  We had a long conversation with the owner / waitress / cashier / every thing else in the restaurant.  Her name is Charlotte Daves.  She is quite a woman.  She was attending a family reunion in Arkansas about a year ago and got the worst possible news via phone call.  Her husband of 16 years had been killed when his tractor was struck and rolled over on him.  She relayed the story of how the community came together and supported her through the worst days of her life.  She is a strong woman and it was easy to see that she is still struggling with her grief.  She is pictured below with Spencer who was trying to help round up her wayward puppy named Looney.

Spencer was brave enough to order their signature breakfast – the Plate of Crap.  The rest of us stayed with more traditional fare.  The food was really good.  The only issue I had was the large 49’ers flag on the wall and the matching sweatshirt that Charlotte was wearing.  That will be remedied as soon as I get home.  A Colts flag will be sent to her to replace the current one.

The trike fired right up and we headed a little further southeast to Cortez, Colorado.  We stopped to gas up before cruising through town.  There didn’t appear to be much that was open in downtown Cortez.  Jana and I decided to head back to Monticello while Spencer and Laura continued on to Mesa Verde National Park.  They put about 200 miles on the bike by the time they rejoined us at the cabin.

The relaxing down time this afternoon was just what I was looking for.  We made a quick trip into town for Subway – the only food available.  This was followed by ice cream on the deck while the daily afternoon thunderstorm started its build up ritual.  Fortunately the rain chose to swerve around us today.  We got to enjoy the beginnings of a new rainbow.  Here’s to new beginnings.