Had a hard hitch to Salida after Rims and I made it to the "Food & Gift Shop" at Monarch Pass where the plan was to hitch east to the Town of Salida for resupply. It took us about an hour and a half to finally coax a

driver off of highway 50 to cram us and our bags into a VW wagon that stopped for us. The couple was from the town of Crested Butte, CO where they owned ran a jerky company. Longest hitch yet, 23 miles.

We split, and I ended up staying at the Simple Hostel in town. On arrival I was greeted with no vacancy, but was able to pay $10 to sleep on the floor, initially. After Rims and I had some tasty Hawaiian pizza at the Moonlight pizzeria/brewery I was greeted with a note on my belonging from the hostels host named Mel saying that a bunk opened up downstairs. I slept the best I have in awhile.