Day 54: A slow day in Chama

June 13: I still had some work to get done online, so I woke up early in the morning and headed over to the Visitors Center with my laptop to get a wi-fi connection when things were still quiet and calm.

When I finished with that, I headed back to my room for breakfast and a nap before heading out into town again for lunch. Along the way, I ran into Evenstar and Splits and I told them about my plan to check out the Boxcar Cafe, and they thought that sounded like a great idea so we hoofed it over to there. And along the way, we ran into Skunkbear who we also invited to join us.

However, the Boxcar Cafe turned out to be closed despite their website saying it was open from 11:00am until 7:00pm and we were definitely within that time frame.

So we changed our plans and headed to the bar and restaurant next door. The service was slow--like incredibly slow. I got the feeling that they were badly understaffed, but we weren't in a rush either. Skunkbear decided to leave before ordering, but the rest of us generally chatted the whole time. Although some of us might have used the wi-fi connection for a bit while it was available.

The food was okay, but the conversation with Evenstar and Splits was the major highlight.

It was during this time that Pez texted us that he arrived in Pagosa Springs--the next trail town! He was really moving fast and it seemed increasingly unlikely that we'd ever catch up with him at this point. But he also reported that the snow wasn't too bad and that there were only a couple of "short, scary spots" along with their precise locations on the red line maps we used.

Eventually we all wandered back to the hotel where I took another hour-long nap. By the time I woke up, the motel was bustling with the largest group of thru-hikers I had seen to date! It seemed like there were at least two dozen hikers in town! And the motel was overflowing with hikers--some of which couldn't get rooms because they were all full. The number of new hikers increased so quickly, I couldn't keep track of everyone's names anymore.

I also spent part of the afternoon primarily resupplying at the grocery store across the street but also popped into the Family Dollar to look around as well.

Since the communal dinner last night went so well, we repeated the event tonight. This time the dinner was prepared by Wi-fi, and for some inexplicable reason, I failed to note in my journal what he made so it's now a distant, foggy memory for me. Perhaps he'll read this post and comment about his culinary abilities. =)

These communal dinners were so much fun, though, it gave me the idea to make everyone breakfast in the morning so I dashed across the street to the grocery store to buy the makings for French toast with bacon for in the morning.

The rest of the evening, a large group of us just hung around the motel chatting away.

All-in-all, a pleasant day without a lot to do! =)

The mural in the restaurant where we ate lunch.

Evenstar reads a historical sign about the livestock loading pens behind the sign.