Howdy all! We're coming to you from again from the town of Trinidad, Colorado. As we said yesterday, today was a break from the Trail. We needed to perform bike maintenance and rest before we assaulted the mountains of Colorado.

As far as the bikes go, we needed to clean the air filters and change the engine oil.

The air filters were very dirty. Meredith's was dirtier than mine, which makes sense since she was behind me most of the time. We're using K&N filters. They clean easily using a special cleaner and tap water. So, I was able to clean them in the motel room.

Changing the engine oil proved to be a little more difficult. There is a Checkers Auto Parts store a hundred feet from our motel. They were nice enough to let me use a drain pan to put the oil in.

The wind has been blowing incessantly while we've been here. Now, high winds and oil draining don't necessarily go together. When I pulled the drain plug on the first bike, the oil went horizontal instead of vertical. Oops.

An hour later we had finished without much incidence.

After finishing routine maintenance and making a trip to the post office to mail home our used maps, we decided to just take it easy.

We're planning on making Salida, Colorado tomorrow afternoon.

See you town the trail!

Money spent: $163.77

June 16