During the night, Natasha's condition had worsened and she had to be taken to the hospital. I had no idea when I woke up and was surprised to find one of the vans was gone. I was also surprised to find that I was not going to be allowed to pack my bags. We needed to try and get to the line of cars heading through the fire as quick as possible and would not have time to pack much of anything. I didn't know this and my tent was filled with my stuff. I merely rolled all my belongings into my tent, resulting in what looked like a cross between a cinnamon roll and a tarp.

The missing van also meant that we had to cram 22 people into a 15 passenger van. With every possible nook and cranny filled with body parts, we headed out. After a few miles, we made it to the line of cars and got out to stretch. As usual, Shilen made friends with everyone, and as such, 7 riders rode the way through the fire in an empty tour bus.

The fire had destroyed everything but the very top of the trees. All the lower branches and all the undergrowth had been stripped. We saw only a small spurt of flame and a lot of smoke. After getting through, the bus dropped me and the lucky few off, and we regrouped at a local diner. After sagging a few miles to get out of the smoke, we began to ride the rest of the day.

I had not been on my bike for three days and it felt nice. I swept with Shilen and we stopped to move stones to spell out "2010 Texas 4000," a graffiti tradition in much evidence. We found that another group had stopped as well to write "Rockies 2010."

The ride started hot and finished drizzly. We stopped at the Continental Divide RV Park. I showered and did laundry before enjoying the hospitality of Rick the proprietor. We enjoyed music from John and Jordan and watched people shave their heads for a donation.