This night I woke up just before 3 a.m. to a high-pitched, constant beeping. With my good hearing, it was unbearable. After a few minutes of listening and searching, I tracked it down to the small fridge in my room. One quick unplug, and the silence was delightful.

I fell back asleep and managed to stay in bed until 7. Breakfast just after eight was the same as yesterday: a PBJ bagel, a pancake, and some oatmeal. The oatmeal tastes surprisingly good, and I’ll try to find some to bring home for work.

Then northbound. First stop: the Denver Premium Outlets. Much better than the one yesterday. I found a jacket at Columbia for $40, but nothing else really caught my interest.

A tip sent me three exits further north to a DXL store. That was worth it. Much larger than the one I visited on my first day in Denver, with a far better selection. Long story short: I left with three Levi’s jeans and a black shirt, $250 lighter. Still, the prices were excellent compared to home, and the range of choices made it tempting to buy more. Good thing I’ll have two pieces of luggage on my way back.

Continuing north towards Fort Collins. I tried for a geocache but didn’t manage to find it – probably didn’t help that it was up to 36 degrees. The car AC became my best friend today.

Fuel stop next. Once again, I’m amazed – 64 liters for $54. A bargain.

Fort Collins has a historic tram, but it only runs on weekends. With the heat, wandering around the city wasn’t appealing, so I drove further north to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

One might expect the state capital to be lively. Not so. The city felt completely dead. Whether that was normal or just because of the heat and the ozone warnings, I can’t say. Not much to see either. Still, a cacher always finds a cache. Mine was at the regional airport – a rare webcam cache. Cheyenne only has two daily flights, both to Denver, the center of the world it seems.

After Cheyenne, I let the GPS lead me back south. A quick burger stop at McDonald’s turned out disappointing – tasteless food. On Interstate 25 towards Denver, I stopped at Walmart. An overwhelming range of brands for everything, but I did manage to find what I wanted: oatmeal and two boxes of it, plus peanut butter to take home.

Back in Denver, one more cache was waiting. I still need two more TOTT caches for a challenge, and this one was at a small library box. It was brilliantly constructed. First, I had to find a stick hidden under the books, then insert it into a hole that opened a small door with a card inside. Holding the card against a spot on the roof triggered a beep, which unlocked the cache. Incredible what people come up with – I admit I’m a little jealous.

On the way back to the hotel, I picked up two slices of New York-style pizza for dinner. Then it was time for reading and writing, making sure the blog stays up to date.

Tomorrow will be the last day with a lot of driving, this time heading south. But more on that in the next post.