it didn’t end where we had originally planned…that was astoria, or. we didn’t make it quite to our alternate destination…that was yellowstone. but in some strange way, it just kind of seemed right that our trip ended in…lander, wy of all places.
it didn’t have the fanfare and welled up emotion type of a feel as we cycled in. instead, it just kind of happened…which i think is how some of the very best endings occurs. i know that for me personally, i can put all kinds of expectations on how something big…like an ending…is supposed to feel, and this allowed it to happened without the pressure of how it was supposed to feel. and yet, like I said, in the midst of all of that, it felt right.
it was our longest day of riding on the whole trip, 124 miles. and the transition that we experienced in the landscape over the last 40 miles or so was absolutely majestic! without a doubt a part of the trip that neither of us will ever forget!
i have also been thinking about the way the trip ended with respect to the elements of story, and i feel like there is much for me to learn there as well. here are some of the things i have been processing.
a good story does indeed take planning and initiative. very seldom does someone simply stumble into living a great story…it just doesn’t work that way. so, without a doubt, i believe that we must be intentional in the story we live and the way we are living it. however, i am realizing that even the best planned story must sometimes yield to the Great Storyteller and His ways and His plans! His timing is ultimate and supreme, and that is what matters more than anything else…and that is what makes for a great story above all else.
so…did it end the way that we had planned…absolutely not. are we glad that it ended the way that it did…absolutely. it was right and it was best…and that is what matters.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Day 43 : The Pick Up...
this morning, we made contact with my aunt and uncle and made plans for them to come and pick us up in lander at around 4 pm.
after getting that all set up, i began calling around to different dentists to see if someone would be able to squeeze me in. i called 2 or 3 with no success, and then finally, i found a very sweet sounding receptionist who seemed determined to get me in. she said, "how does 9:30 work?". which sounded absolutely great considering that it was about 8:45 at that point in time.
cailyn and i got a few things together and walked the 5 or 6 blocks down to the dentists office. after filling out a little information, they promptly took me back and put me in a chair. before long, the dentist came in and asked what was going on. i gave him a summary of what had been going on over the past number of days. he then quickly looked at my abscess and decided that he could lance it and relieve most of the pressure, which would help the pain and also allow the antibiotic to start working much better. so, he numbed it a little and then that is exactly what he did. and i will be honest, it was a fairly painful process, but i can't begin to tell you how much better i began to feel as soon as the procedure was complete. my face no longer felt like it was going to explode.
so, with that out of the way, cailyn and i headed to the main drag of the town to find the bike shop and see about the possibility of them keeping our bikes until we came back through lander with mike and jenna on our way home next week. the bike shop was super generous in telling us they would be happy to keep our bikes for the week while we were in yellowstone.
we grabbed a little lunch at a great local place and then headed back to where our bikes were at (a great little grassy patch by a river and behind a hotel, where we were able to pay them a small amount of money to be able to shower), to pack up our gear and then ride our bikes back down to the bike shop.
we got our stuff all together, cycled to the bike shop, and just about had the bikes all settled in at the bike shop, when we got a call from my aunt and uncle. they had decided that for space reasons, it would be easiest if they just rented a small uhaul trailer to put some of their gear in and we could just put the bikes in there as well, in case we were interested in riding them around yellowstone at all.
we informed the bike shop of our change in plans, and they were still gracious enough to allow us to leave the bikes there until my aunt and uncle actually arrived. so, cailyn and i headed across the street to a pretty nice little bookstore/coffee shop and got a little coffee and sat and talked and read a little in a few different books that we found interesting on the shelves of the store. i have to say, it was nice to be able to just sit and read...something we really haven't done in the last 6 weeks.
and then, before long, my aunt and uncle called again...they were coming into town and needed to know where to meet us. so, we gave them directions on where we were and a couple of minutes later...they were there, ready to load us up and be our knight's in shining armor.
it is totally awe-inspiring to me the way that God works...to be literally thousands of miles away from anyone that we know, and yet to have relatives that end up being hours away when we are in need of someone to come and pick us up and take us the final miles of our journey. God...you are cool...real cool!! i am looking forward to continuing to process the overwhelmingness of that in the weeks to come!
so from here, we are off to yellowstone, to spend through friday with my aunt and uncle, then on saturday, cailyn's friend aimee who lives in montana is coming to see us, and on sunday our great friends mike, jenna, and sammie will come to hang out for a couple of days, before they will take us back to warrensburg.
sidenote: as i mentioned in the last post, over the next couple of weeks, i hope to do a number of different reflection types of posts.
thank you: thank you to all who have followed along and all who have been such an encouragement to us. it has been both exciting and humbling to have so many people join us for this journey. so, there really aren't proper words, but thanks!
after getting that all set up, i began calling around to different dentists to see if someone would be able to squeeze me in. i called 2 or 3 with no success, and then finally, i found a very sweet sounding receptionist who seemed determined to get me in. she said, "how does 9:30 work?". which sounded absolutely great considering that it was about 8:45 at that point in time.
cailyn and i got a few things together and walked the 5 or 6 blocks down to the dentists office. after filling out a little information, they promptly took me back and put me in a chair. before long, the dentist came in and asked what was going on. i gave him a summary of what had been going on over the past number of days. he then quickly looked at my abscess and decided that he could lance it and relieve most of the pressure, which would help the pain and also allow the antibiotic to start working much better. so, he numbed it a little and then that is exactly what he did. and i will be honest, it was a fairly painful process, but i can't begin to tell you how much better i began to feel as soon as the procedure was complete. my face no longer felt like it was going to explode.
so, with that out of the way, cailyn and i headed to the main drag of the town to find the bike shop and see about the possibility of them keeping our bikes until we came back through lander with mike and jenna on our way home next week. the bike shop was super generous in telling us they would be happy to keep our bikes for the week while we were in yellowstone.
we grabbed a little lunch at a great local place and then headed back to where our bikes were at (a great little grassy patch by a river and behind a hotel, where we were able to pay them a small amount of money to be able to shower), to pack up our gear and then ride our bikes back down to the bike shop.
we got our stuff all together, cycled to the bike shop, and just about had the bikes all settled in at the bike shop, when we got a call from my aunt and uncle. they had decided that for space reasons, it would be easiest if they just rented a small uhaul trailer to put some of their gear in and we could just put the bikes in there as well, in case we were interested in riding them around yellowstone at all.
we informed the bike shop of our change in plans, and they were still gracious enough to allow us to leave the bikes there until my aunt and uncle actually arrived. so, cailyn and i headed across the street to a pretty nice little bookstore/coffee shop and got a little coffee and sat and talked and read a little in a few different books that we found interesting on the shelves of the store. i have to say, it was nice to be able to just sit and read...something we really haven't done in the last 6 weeks.
and then, before long, my aunt and uncle called again...they were coming into town and needed to know where to meet us. so, we gave them directions on where we were and a couple of minutes later...they were there, ready to load us up and be our knight's in shining armor.
it is totally awe-inspiring to me the way that God works...to be literally thousands of miles away from anyone that we know, and yet to have relatives that end up being hours away when we are in need of someone to come and pick us up and take us the final miles of our journey. God...you are cool...real cool!! i am looking forward to continuing to process the overwhelmingness of that in the weeks to come!
so from here, we are off to yellowstone, to spend through friday with my aunt and uncle, then on saturday, cailyn's friend aimee who lives in montana is coming to see us, and on sunday our great friends mike, jenna, and sammie will come to hang out for a couple of days, before they will take us back to warrensburg.
sidenote: as i mentioned in the last post, over the next couple of weeks, i hope to do a number of different reflection types of posts.
thank you: thank you to all who have followed along and all who have been such an encouragement to us. it has been both exciting and humbling to have so many people join us for this journey. so, there really aren't proper words, but thanks!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Day 42 : Our Longest Day Yet...And Our Last...
From Rawlins, WY to Lander, WY -
Story [in numbers]:
Story [in words]:
in response to the brutal day, with respect to the wind, that was yesterday, we decided to get up with the sun and get riding. with that in mind, we were on the bikes at 5:45 riding to beat the wind. and we were riding along with our new friend, eli...a guy who ended up camping next to us at the campground last night...he started in new york and has pretty much made his own way across the country until just joining the transam yesterday.
we cycled along with eli for the first hour and a half of the morning...however, eli was talking about really wanting to push the miles and was hoping to get to lander...which we thought sounded absolutely crazy, even if the winds were good...because it would mean riding in the range of 124 miles for the day. so, after 20 miles or so, eli decided that he was going to push ahead of us in an attempt to get to lander. we wished him well and watched him ride off into the distance.
we rode another 12 miles or so, and came across this place called grandma's cafe. now what i should mention is that, shortly after we left rawlins, we entered the great basin, which is basically this huge bowl of nothingness in the middle of wyoming. but in the middle of this bowl of nothingness...literally in the middle of nowhere...was this cafe called grandma's. we cycled up, poked our heads in to make sure they were opened, and grabbed a seat to get some breakfast. the food was pretty good...although grandma seemed a little quiet and like she was maybe getting up in age a little bit.
a number of days ago, we made a tentative plan to ride to a city called jeffery city...however, we heard a couple of days ago from some eastbound cyclists that jeffery city was a pretty shady place and that we probably didn't want to stay there. so, with that information in mind, as we sat at grandma's, we studied the maps to decide where our ending point for the day would be. it was at that point that we realized that the best thing for us would be to make an attempt to push on to lander as well...so, as crazy as it seemed, we got back on the bikes, hoping to make the day total in the range of 124 miles.
we cycled and cycled, through mostly nothingness...the scenery was pretty bland, the ground fairly flat, and the winds relatively calm. until about 3:00, when we had completed about 75 total miles for the day. the winds began to pick up, as a very obvious sheet of rain began to build out in the distance. and before long, we were in the middle of the storm, with rain spitting on us and the winds gusting at what had to have been 30 mph. by about 4:15, we managed to make it through the storm to a rest area that was at about 85 miles for the day. there was camping in the area, so we were debating about whether we should just stay there for the night, or wait out the storm a little bit and then try to finish the 39 miles into lander...which we did know was mostly downhill.
when we actually got inside the rest area, we found about 7 other cyclists inside, one of whom was eli...he apparently was not able to push as hard as he had hoped and he had arrived at the rest area just about 20 minutes before we had. we talked with him for a little while and the three of us decided that we would wait the storm out a little while and if it cleared by about 5, we would push on together into lander.
the storm did clear, and by about 5 the skies were mostly blue and the winds were completely calm. so, eli, cailyn and i got back on the bikes and headed out. we had to climb about 300 feet as we left the rest area, and then as we crested the hill and began an amazingly long downhill, we found that the scenery had completely changed and that we were looking at one of the prettiest scenes of the trip. beautiful rolling hills for what seemed to be as far as the eye can see.
the ride into lander was indeed almost completely downhill and the three of us were able to make the 39 mile trek in just a little over 3 hours. and man were we glad that we pushed on to finish the day. it was really nice to be in a town of a little size and it also felt pretty cool to be able to say that we had gone 124 miles...easily 20 miles further than we had ever ridden.
however, as the day passed and the miles mounted, the abscess on my tooth and gum were continuing to grow and become more uncomfortable. since visiting the doctor on thursday, i would say that the abscess had easily doubled in size. so, when we arrived in town and i finally had cell reception again, i called my parents to get their medical perspective on things (my mom is a dental hygentist and my dad, a pharmacist).
after some discussion, it was decided that it was probably time for me to see another dentist and that it was probably also in my best interest to stop the cycling. the fear was that my body was just having too much trouble healing and doing all the cycling. we were just days away from our final destination of yellowstone...but it just didn't seem worth it to continue to push things at the risk of my bodies health.
here is where God is just absolutely amazing. as it turns out, my aunt and uncle, who were were supposed to be meeting in yellowstone in a few days, are in cody, wyoming for the night, which is just a couple of hours north of where we are right now. so, the plan is that we will try to make contact with them in the morning and see if there is any way they could come and pick us up and take us with them to yellowstone...and in the meantime, i will try to see another dentist and see what the next step in the process might be with this abscess.
it is a little hard to fathom that this is probably the end of the cycling portion of our trip. it is hard to believe that we are to that point already. we certainly would have liked to be able to cycle the final 3 days into yellowstone, but it is still pretty crazy to think that 42 days ago we were in yorktown, va, dipping our rear tires in the atlantic ocean, and now, we are in lander, wy. it really is crazy!
hopefully, over the next couple of weeks, i will write a few different posts reflecting on the ending, processing some of what we learned and what God is teaching us, and also a trip in review post where we will try to reflect back on some of the best moments and "award winning" people and places.
Story [in numbers]:
Story [in words]:
in response to the brutal day, with respect to the wind, that was yesterday, we decided to get up with the sun and get riding. with that in mind, we were on the bikes at 5:45 riding to beat the wind. and we were riding along with our new friend, eli...a guy who ended up camping next to us at the campground last night...he started in new york and has pretty much made his own way across the country until just joining the transam yesterday.
we cycled along with eli for the first hour and a half of the morning...however, eli was talking about really wanting to push the miles and was hoping to get to lander...which we thought sounded absolutely crazy, even if the winds were good...because it would mean riding in the range of 124 miles for the day. so, after 20 miles or so, eli decided that he was going to push ahead of us in an attempt to get to lander. we wished him well and watched him ride off into the distance.
we rode another 12 miles or so, and came across this place called grandma's cafe. now what i should mention is that, shortly after we left rawlins, we entered the great basin, which is basically this huge bowl of nothingness in the middle of wyoming. but in the middle of this bowl of nothingness...literally in the middle of nowhere...was this cafe called grandma's. we cycled up, poked our heads in to make sure they were opened, and grabbed a seat to get some breakfast. the food was pretty good...although grandma seemed a little quiet and like she was maybe getting up in age a little bit.
a number of days ago, we made a tentative plan to ride to a city called jeffery city...however, we heard a couple of days ago from some eastbound cyclists that jeffery city was a pretty shady place and that we probably didn't want to stay there. so, with that information in mind, as we sat at grandma's, we studied the maps to decide where our ending point for the day would be. it was at that point that we realized that the best thing for us would be to make an attempt to push on to lander as well...so, as crazy as it seemed, we got back on the bikes, hoping to make the day total in the range of 124 miles.
we cycled and cycled, through mostly nothingness...the scenery was pretty bland, the ground fairly flat, and the winds relatively calm. until about 3:00, when we had completed about 75 total miles for the day. the winds began to pick up, as a very obvious sheet of rain began to build out in the distance. and before long, we were in the middle of the storm, with rain spitting on us and the winds gusting at what had to have been 30 mph. by about 4:15, we managed to make it through the storm to a rest area that was at about 85 miles for the day. there was camping in the area, so we were debating about whether we should just stay there for the night, or wait out the storm a little bit and then try to finish the 39 miles into lander...which we did know was mostly downhill.
when we actually got inside the rest area, we found about 7 other cyclists inside, one of whom was eli...he apparently was not able to push as hard as he had hoped and he had arrived at the rest area just about 20 minutes before we had. we talked with him for a little while and the three of us decided that we would wait the storm out a little while and if it cleared by about 5, we would push on together into lander.
the storm did clear, and by about 5 the skies were mostly blue and the winds were completely calm. so, eli, cailyn and i got back on the bikes and headed out. we had to climb about 300 feet as we left the rest area, and then as we crested the hill and began an amazingly long downhill, we found that the scenery had completely changed and that we were looking at one of the prettiest scenes of the trip. beautiful rolling hills for what seemed to be as far as the eye can see.
the ride into lander was indeed almost completely downhill and the three of us were able to make the 39 mile trek in just a little over 3 hours. and man were we glad that we pushed on to finish the day. it was really nice to be in a town of a little size and it also felt pretty cool to be able to say that we had gone 124 miles...easily 20 miles further than we had ever ridden.
however, as the day passed and the miles mounted, the abscess on my tooth and gum were continuing to grow and become more uncomfortable. since visiting the doctor on thursday, i would say that the abscess had easily doubled in size. so, when we arrived in town and i finally had cell reception again, i called my parents to get their medical perspective on things (my mom is a dental hygentist and my dad, a pharmacist).
after some discussion, it was decided that it was probably time for me to see another dentist and that it was probably also in my best interest to stop the cycling. the fear was that my body was just having too much trouble healing and doing all the cycling. we were just days away from our final destination of yellowstone...but it just didn't seem worth it to continue to push things at the risk of my bodies health.
here is where God is just absolutely amazing. as it turns out, my aunt and uncle, who were were supposed to be meeting in yellowstone in a few days, are in cody, wyoming for the night, which is just a couple of hours north of where we are right now. so, the plan is that we will try to make contact with them in the morning and see if there is any way they could come and pick us up and take us with them to yellowstone...and in the meantime, i will try to see another dentist and see what the next step in the process might be with this abscess.
it is a little hard to fathom that this is probably the end of the cycling portion of our trip. it is hard to believe that we are to that point already. we certainly would have liked to be able to cycle the final 3 days into yellowstone, but it is still pretty crazy to think that 42 days ago we were in yorktown, va, dipping our rear tires in the atlantic ocean, and now, we are in lander, wy. it really is crazy!
hopefully, over the next couple of weeks, i will write a few different posts reflecting on the ending, processing some of what we learned and what God is teaching us, and also a trip in review post where we will try to reflect back on some of the best moments and "award winning" people and places.
Day 41 : Wyoming = Windy...
From Saratoga, WY to Rawlins, WY - 44.2 miles
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 5:13:59
Average speed: 8.4 mph
Max Speed: 23.8 mph
Story [in words]:
we woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise over the lake and mountains that were just off to the one side of our tent. and to our pleasant surprise, the winds were not blowing at the moment. so, we got loaded up, ate a few pop tarts, and got out on the bikes.
the beginning of the morning was nice...it seemed like we were going generally downhill, and we were able to ride next to each other quite a bit, which was really nice. (wyoming seems to generally have nice wide shoulders) before long, we found ourselves riding up to a lady with a stop sign for some apparent construction ahead. we heard her say to the car in front of us that she would have to wait about 14 minutes...but as we cycled up to her, she asked if we wanted to go or if we needed a break...we said that we would like to go ahead as we were trying to beat the wind. she radioed ahead to make sure that it was okay, and after getting the 10-4, she told us to go ahead. it was fun because there was a pilot car (truck) taking traffic back and forth, and every time the lady would drive past us, she would give us the biggest wave you have ever seen.
unfortunately, a couple of hours into our ride, the wind did pick up, and the cycling became quite difficult. as we neared walcott, we knew that we were going to be making a road change, but weren't sure what road we were getting on...we pulled out the maps, and to our surprise, it said that we were supposed to ride on i-80. in most states it is illegal to ride a bicycle on an interstate, but apparently not in wyoming. it was definitely a little scary, but there was more than adequate shoulder, and so we felt like we were safely clear of the traffic.
we continued to make very very slow headway as we worked our way into rawlins. we had had hopes of going past rawlins today, but the wind had thoroughly demoralized us, and we were confident that going further was not going to be in the plans for today. as i was cycling, i was thinking that if there is ever an alternative needed for chinese water torture, maybe they could just put people on a bicycle and tell them to ride straight into a 20-30 mph headwind for an hour or two. it was demoralizing to say the least.
after a stop for lunch at taco bell and a trip to the grocery store to stock up for tomorrow, we pedaled across town to our campsite for tonight. it is a very nice place for a fairly reasonable price...i think it gets the award for the best campsite on the route so far.
so, it is going to be early to bed tonight, and then the plan is to get up and be ready to pedal out with the sun. the forecast is for less winds tomorrow, but regardless, the winds are almost always more favorable in the early hours, so we are going to try to knock out as many miles as we can before things get hairy. hopefully it is better than today.
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 5:13:59
Average speed: 8.4 mph
Max Speed: 23.8 mph
Story [in words]:
we woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise over the lake and mountains that were just off to the one side of our tent. and to our pleasant surprise, the winds were not blowing at the moment. so, we got loaded up, ate a few pop tarts, and got out on the bikes.
the beginning of the morning was nice...it seemed like we were going generally downhill, and we were able to ride next to each other quite a bit, which was really nice. (wyoming seems to generally have nice wide shoulders) before long, we found ourselves riding up to a lady with a stop sign for some apparent construction ahead. we heard her say to the car in front of us that she would have to wait about 14 minutes...but as we cycled up to her, she asked if we wanted to go or if we needed a break...we said that we would like to go ahead as we were trying to beat the wind. she radioed ahead to make sure that it was okay, and after getting the 10-4, she told us to go ahead. it was fun because there was a pilot car (truck) taking traffic back and forth, and every time the lady would drive past us, she would give us the biggest wave you have ever seen.
unfortunately, a couple of hours into our ride, the wind did pick up, and the cycling became quite difficult. as we neared walcott, we knew that we were going to be making a road change, but weren't sure what road we were getting on...we pulled out the maps, and to our surprise, it said that we were supposed to ride on i-80. in most states it is illegal to ride a bicycle on an interstate, but apparently not in wyoming. it was definitely a little scary, but there was more than adequate shoulder, and so we felt like we were safely clear of the traffic.
we continued to make very very slow headway as we worked our way into rawlins. we had had hopes of going past rawlins today, but the wind had thoroughly demoralized us, and we were confident that going further was not going to be in the plans for today. as i was cycling, i was thinking that if there is ever an alternative needed for chinese water torture, maybe they could just put people on a bicycle and tell them to ride straight into a 20-30 mph headwind for an hour or two. it was demoralizing to say the least.
after a stop for lunch at taco bell and a trip to the grocery store to stock up for tomorrow, we pedaled across town to our campsite for tonight. it is a very nice place for a fairly reasonable price...i think it gets the award for the best campsite on the route so far.
so, it is going to be early to bed tonight, and then the plan is to get up and be ready to pedal out with the sun. the forecast is for less winds tomorrow, but regardless, the winds are almost always more favorable in the early hours, so we are going to try to knock out as many miles as we can before things get hairy. hopefully it is better than today.
Day 40 : Our 7th and Final State...
From Walden, CO to Saratoga, WY - 75 miles
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 6:20:40
Average speed: 11.8 mph
Max speed: 44.6 mph
Story [in words]:
The day had an interesting beginning. i was just about to get out of the tent, when i heard a pitter patter across the tent. we had noticed before we set up our tent that the grass seemed awfully green...which we had heard could be a bad sign when you are west of kansas...a bad sign because it means there is a good chance they have sprinklers. and sure enough...they did.
i promptly got out of the tent (between sprinkler bursts, of course) and moved the bikes so that at least they weren't getting wet. however, just about the time that i got the bikes situated out of the way of the rain (sprinklers), they shut off. so, i moved the bikes back by the tent and then removed the rain fly to put it over the fence so that it could dry a little. meanwhile, cailyn was finishing packing things up inside the tent. she just about had everything packed up, and we heard another noise...another set of sprinklers had turned on. now, not only were the bikes getting wet, but the inside of the tent was getting wet. so, i quickly tried to put the rain fly on as quickly as i could in a makeshift kind of a way. needless to say, by the time everything was said and done, the vast majority of the things we had were wet.
we finally got things loaded and headed back to the moose cafe to grab some breakfast. we enjoyed eggs, bacon, toast, and one gigantic cinnamon roll. we finally got on the road at about 9.
the cycling today was relatively easy, with just one substantial climb in the middle. we made our way to the summit of the climb and as we arrived at the top, there was a fairly dark looking cloud just off to our left. we were resting for a moment and preparing to descend when we saw a gnarly lightning bolt strike. we decided it was time to go, and fast. so we headed down the other side, and as luck (or unluck) would have it, it began to rain...big, cold drops.
thankfully, we seemed to be able to outrun both the rain and the lightning...and the cycling returned to fairly easy normal going. we stopped in a cute little town to make some peanut butter bagels...it was there that we ran into the two ladies from the netherlands that we have been playing leap frog with the last couple of days. we shared some nice conversation with them and then got back on the road to cover the last 18 miles for the day.
we made really good time finishing the day,,,maybe partially due to our excitement about the rumored hot springs. we rolled into town and headed straight for the springs. we changed into our swim suits and went down to the spring. and man was it hot...so hot that i could only put my legs in and cailyn was only able to put her feet in. so after a little while, we went down to the river that ran right alongside it and enjoyed a slightly cooler hotness (if there is such a thing).
we headed inside and took showers and hopped back on the bikes to find a place to eat. we finished the night with a good meal at a local eating establishment, a quick trip (unfortunately uphill) to the grocery store to pick some stuff up for tomorrow, and then out to a lake just outside of town that has camping. and man, it was a mosquito haven...it was a quick set up and then get into the tent as fast as we could.
oh, and by the way...we are into wyoming...our 7th and final state on the trip...
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Day 39 : A Different Kind of a Day...
From Kremmling, CO to Walden, CO - 63.6 miles
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 5:20:09
Average speed: 11.9 mph
Max speed: 41.5 mph
Story [in words]:
when we woke up this morning, my tooth and gum were still not feeling all that well...so, we decided that i should try to see a dentist because we knew that there was a dentist in town and we didn't know when we might come into another town where there was one. so, cailyn called them as soon as they opened and they said they could work me in at 11:30.
we showed up at about 11:05 and they took me straight back in put me in a chair to see what was going on. to make a long story short, about 14 years ago i had a root canal done, and apparently they didn't get all of the root, and now i have managed to get a fairly large abscess above that tooth. so, when i get home, i will have to have the root canal redone...not fun! but for the time being, they gave me a prescription for an antibiotic to get the infection cleared up for the rest of the trip.
so, we cycled down to the pharmacy to get the prescription filled. the pharmacist was a really nice guy, who i shared some really good conversation with. he even gave me the prescription for much less than it was supposed to be...ahh, the beauties of a small town.
by the time that we got things all taken care of, it was about 12:30. we were just about ready to jump on the bikes when, although it was completely clear and sunny, a huge rumble of thunder rang out...loud enough to set off a car alarm in the parking lot. so, we then took another 10-15 minutes trying to decide if we needed to wait out some weather or not. in the end, we decided to just get on the bikes and see what happened.
we got maybe 5 miles down the road before it did indeed start raining on us. it is just crazy what the weather does up here in the mountains...it can be totally sunny in one place and crazy raining just a mile or two away. just insane!! fortunately, the rain didn't last very long...but not too long after the rain ended, cailyn had a nasty noise coming from her front tire. after closer inspection, it was apparent that not only the tube, but the tire was completely shot. thankfully, we have spare tires with us, and man, am i glad we brought those with us! some of the cyclists we have encountered seem surprised that we are carrying tires with us, but it sure does decrease the stress. so, without too much trouble or time spent, we patched the tube and put a new tire on cailyn's bike and then got back on the road.
a little before the middle of our ride today, we had to make about a 1500 foot climb...and as luck would have it, as we were just about ready to start the climb to the summit, it started to rain and sleet on us as we headed up. needless to say, it was cold and wet!
we made it to the summit of the climb and by that time, the rain had subsided. from the point of the summit, we had 35 miles to get to walden...and it was down hill. as we began the descent, we surveyed the horizons, and it was quite obvious that there were numerous storms continuing to hover around us. and for the most part, it seemed that the crazy stuff was behind us, and there was blue sky in the direction we were headed. this all added up to incredible motivation...especially for cailyn. for those of you who know cailyn well, you know that when she finds the right motivation, she can be quite impressive to say the least. and what was going on in the clouds was definitely the right motivation...because she seemed to absolutely fly through our last 35 miles...i found myself constantly 20-50 yards behind her. i simply could not keep up with her...man was i proud of her!! i wish that we would have had an average speed for just our last 35 miles...it had to have been 13-15 mph.
now we are sitting at a restaurant here in walden...which i guess is known as the moose viewing capital of colorado. it sure would be so cool to be able to see a moose while we are in the area! it has been a fun time here at the restaurant as well as we have been 2 other west bound cyclists, as well as 5 east bounders! sounds like there is a good chance that we will get to swim in a hot spring at the place that we are staying tomorrow night!
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 5:20:09
Average speed: 11.9 mph
Max speed: 41.5 mph
Story [in words]:
when we woke up this morning, my tooth and gum were still not feeling all that well...so, we decided that i should try to see a dentist because we knew that there was a dentist in town and we didn't know when we might come into another town where there was one. so, cailyn called them as soon as they opened and they said they could work me in at 11:30.
we showed up at about 11:05 and they took me straight back in put me in a chair to see what was going on. to make a long story short, about 14 years ago i had a root canal done, and apparently they didn't get all of the root, and now i have managed to get a fairly large abscess above that tooth. so, when i get home, i will have to have the root canal redone...not fun! but for the time being, they gave me a prescription for an antibiotic to get the infection cleared up for the rest of the trip.
so, we cycled down to the pharmacy to get the prescription filled. the pharmacist was a really nice guy, who i shared some really good conversation with. he even gave me the prescription for much less than it was supposed to be...ahh, the beauties of a small town.
by the time that we got things all taken care of, it was about 12:30. we were just about ready to jump on the bikes when, although it was completely clear and sunny, a huge rumble of thunder rang out...loud enough to set off a car alarm in the parking lot. so, we then took another 10-15 minutes trying to decide if we needed to wait out some weather or not. in the end, we decided to just get on the bikes and see what happened.
we got maybe 5 miles down the road before it did indeed start raining on us. it is just crazy what the weather does up here in the mountains...it can be totally sunny in one place and crazy raining just a mile or two away. just insane!! fortunately, the rain didn't last very long...but not too long after the rain ended, cailyn had a nasty noise coming from her front tire. after closer inspection, it was apparent that not only the tube, but the tire was completely shot. thankfully, we have spare tires with us, and man, am i glad we brought those with us! some of the cyclists we have encountered seem surprised that we are carrying tires with us, but it sure does decrease the stress. so, without too much trouble or time spent, we patched the tube and put a new tire on cailyn's bike and then got back on the road.
a little before the middle of our ride today, we had to make about a 1500 foot climb...and as luck would have it, as we were just about ready to start the climb to the summit, it started to rain and sleet on us as we headed up. needless to say, it was cold and wet!
we made it to the summit of the climb and by that time, the rain had subsided. from the point of the summit, we had 35 miles to get to walden...and it was down hill. as we began the descent, we surveyed the horizons, and it was quite obvious that there were numerous storms continuing to hover around us. and for the most part, it seemed that the crazy stuff was behind us, and there was blue sky in the direction we were headed. this all added up to incredible motivation...especially for cailyn. for those of you who know cailyn well, you know that when she finds the right motivation, she can be quite impressive to say the least. and what was going on in the clouds was definitely the right motivation...because she seemed to absolutely fly through our last 35 miles...i found myself constantly 20-50 yards behind her. i simply could not keep up with her...man was i proud of her!! i wish that we would have had an average speed for just our last 35 miles...it had to have been 13-15 mph.
now we are sitting at a restaurant here in walden...which i guess is known as the moose viewing capital of colorado. it sure would be so cool to be able to see a moose while we are in the area! it has been a fun time here at the restaurant as well as we have been 2 other west bound cyclists, as well as 5 east bounders! sounds like there is a good chance that we will get to swim in a hot spring at the place that we are staying tomorrow night!
Day 38 : A Little Bit of a Rest Day...
From Middle of Nowhere, CO to Kremmling, CO - 22.6 mph
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 2:15:37
Average speed: 10 mph
Max speed: 34.9 mph
Story [in words]:
this morning we decided that we were just going to sleep until we were ready to get up. it was definitely a nice change of pace. however, even after we got up, we were both feeling tired and worn out...and i have been dealing with some pain in a tooth and inflammation in my gum. we figured we needed to ride at least a little, so we loaded up and headed out.
unfortunately, we were in a situation where we didn't have any food on board with us. and as it turned out, the restaurant that was supposed to be 8 or so miles ahead was closed. so we ended up having to ride all the way into kremmling on just a little bit of trail mix.
fortunately, we were able to make it without too much trouble. we quickly found a great little pub type restaurant to grab some lunch...and we got inside just before it poured rain, along with some hail. it was definitely nice to be inside for that.
after we finished our lunch, we started looking at the maps to try to make a decision about what the rest of the day was going to hold, as well as the rest of the trip into yellowstone. we took a look at everything, as well as how we had been feeling so far on the day...and in the end, we decided that we would just stay in town for the night and rest up a little more. we began to look for a place to stay, and as it turned out, there was a hotel in town that had hostel style rooms for $25. which meant that it was a normal hotel room, except there is a shared shower and toilet room. turned out to be a really really nice deal!
so, we holed up in the hotel...did a little laundry in the sink, went down to the grocery store down the street to get a little food, made some phone calls to catch up with a few people, and just tried to relax a little. it was definitely a welcomed change of pace for the day. plus, as it turned out, there were 3 or 4 more significant storms that came through...glad to be inside for sure!
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 2:15:37
Average speed: 10 mph
Max speed: 34.9 mph
Story [in words]:
this morning we decided that we were just going to sleep until we were ready to get up. it was definitely a nice change of pace. however, even after we got up, we were both feeling tired and worn out...and i have been dealing with some pain in a tooth and inflammation in my gum. we figured we needed to ride at least a little, so we loaded up and headed out.
unfortunately, we were in a situation where we didn't have any food on board with us. and as it turned out, the restaurant that was supposed to be 8 or so miles ahead was closed. so we ended up having to ride all the way into kremmling on just a little bit of trail mix.
fortunately, we were able to make it without too much trouble. we quickly found a great little pub type restaurant to grab some lunch...and we got inside just before it poured rain, along with some hail. it was definitely nice to be inside for that.
after we finished our lunch, we started looking at the maps to try to make a decision about what the rest of the day was going to hold, as well as the rest of the trip into yellowstone. we took a look at everything, as well as how we had been feeling so far on the day...and in the end, we decided that we would just stay in town for the night and rest up a little more. we began to look for a place to stay, and as it turned out, there was a hotel in town that had hostel style rooms for $25. which meant that it was a normal hotel room, except there is a shared shower and toilet room. turned out to be a really really nice deal!
so, we holed up in the hotel...did a little laundry in the sink, went down to the grocery store down the street to get a little food, made some phone calls to catch up with a few people, and just tried to relax a little. it was definitely a welcomed change of pace for the day. plus, as it turned out, there were 3 or 4 more significant storms that came through...glad to be inside for sure!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Day 37 : A Picture Perfect Day...
From Fairplay, CO to Middle of Nowhere, CO - 62.9 miles
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 5:22:04
Average speed: 11.7 mph
Maximum speed: 37.8 mph
Story [in words]:
today was by far the best day of the trip...simply amazing!!
we awoke from our beautiful (and as it turns out, free) campsite next to the river and mountains, a little later than normal. as we would soon discover by cycling past the welcome to fairplay sign, we had camped at just slightly less than 10,000 feet above sea level, which made for a rather chilly morning.
we made our way up to a beautiful and quaint coffee shop in the heart of fairplay. turns out that fairplay has become quite famous because it is the town that the show south park has been modeled after (fairplay is in the south part of park county, co). we had some great coffee and even better conversations with the lady that was working in the shop. she was incredibly interested in our trip and was even interested in looking at our maps.
at around 9 am, with all of our warm weather gear on, we headed out towards hoosier pass (the highest point on our route). we were just 12 miles from the top of the pass with about 1500 feet to climb. i wish that i could adequately put into words the beauty that we encountered as we climbed. it was absolutely nothing like climbing in virginia...not in toughness or beauty. first of all toughness, there is simply no comparison between climbing in virginia and climbing here...it is way way tougher in virginia. and in terms of the views, in virginia the majority of the climbing is spent staring at trees, that quite frankly, all seem to look the same. the views while climbing today were completely the opposite. the area around the roads is open, so as we climbed, we spent our time looking at amazing snow-capped peaks, beautiful lush valleys with amazing homes in them, and tons of awesome mountain streams and rivers. there is just not any way to put into words what we saw and experienced as we climbed. the combination of much more gradual climbs and the amazing views, made for what i have got to imagine, was the best climbing possible.
at a little before noon, we arrived at the summit of hoosier pass! it was awesome...what a feeling! the sense of accomplishment was amazing, and the views continued to wow us. we took some pictures with the sign at the summit, ate a little trail mix, and prepared to descend.
just before hopping back on the bikes, we ran into this woman and her amazing dog frankie, who were getting ready to go hiking. the lady is a firefighter in fairplay, which was interesting because we almost stopped at the fire station last night to see if we could camp there. she told us that they host cyclists regularly...nuts, gues maybe we should have stopped. but frankie was even cooler...he was a boxer...but he was the calmest one i have ever seen. she had him right out by the busy road without a leash or anything. she said that he loves to hike, and they when they go on longer hikes, he even has a backpack that he wears so he can carry his own water. too cool!
we finished our conversation with frankie and his owner and got back on our bikes and started our descent into breckenridge. the descent was every bit as beautiful as the ascent...only lots faster. we managed to get into a nice slot with very little traffic, which made the descent all the greater. we pasted lots of beautiful ski places with more beautiful mountain streams running alongside of them. we have both absolutely fallen in love with the idea of mountain streams! they are just so mesmerizing!
we rolled easily into breckenridge, to find things more bustling than we expected. but at the same time, we were both very excited to be there. it is a little touristy and industrialized, but there is such an outdoorsy athletic feel to it and the backdrop is just breathe-taking! we could have easily spent a week just hanging out there. as it turned out, it was bike week there, and so there were tons of cyclists and tons of cycling activities going on.
we parked our bikes and locked them up and headed to find a place to grab some lunch. we found a great sports bar type of a place where we had an amazing taco pizza. from there, we wanted to hit up some sporting clothes types of stores to see if we could each get some sort of a long-sleeved hiking type shirt to keep us warm while we are camping the next couple of weeks. and without too much trouble, we were able to each find what we were looking for at what seemed to be a pretty reasonable price. lastly, we wanted to find a place to get a little blogging down. we grabbed the bikes and cycled up the way a bit, to where we found a nice picnic table outside of a miner's pie stand. we did a little writing and made a few phone calls, and then before long, the lady that owned the stand came out to see what we were up to. we told her about our trip and asked her a little about breckenridge...then, we found out that she used to live in newton county...the same county that cailyn grew up in. so, the two of them shared some great stories. after talking for a little while, she went back into her stand and then came back out with a shepherd's pie miner's pie...free just for us. we sat and enjoyed it as we finished up our tasks. before leaving, we decided that we would just buy a couple more of her pies for our dinner. so we got a couple of pies and then headed for our next destination.
we cycled on an amazingly nice and beautiful bike path that went from breckenridge to the next couple of towns up the way. it was a great path...the only problem was that it seemed to be much more windy than the road that we would have been following...and we also had a little bit of trouble figuring out where we were supposed to get off of the bike path. all in all, it was a beautiful path!
as it turned out, we kind of stayed in breckenridge a little bit longer than we should have, because we ended up in a little bit of a tight spot as far as finding a place to camp for the night. we came on one campground, but it had been closed down at some point in time. then we stopped at a place that rents cabins and asked if we might put out tent up there...they said that we couldn't, but that there was a campground just a half a mile down the road. so, we cycled up another half mile, and sure enough, we found a nice little campground right on a lake with the mountains in the backdrop. a pretty amazing ending location to an incredibly beautiful day!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Day 36 : Hills, Wind, and Beauty...
From Royal Gorge, CO to Fairplay, CO - 71.6 miles
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 9:18:19
Average speed: 7.7 mph
Max speed: 38.1 mph
Story [in words]:
in a nutshell, today was incredibly tough. we climbed a lot of feet and fought head winds pretty much all day. the saving grace of the day was absolutely the beauty of God's creation.
we started the morning with breakfast at the cafe that was connected to the cabinground that we stayed at...including some of the biggest blueberry pancakes i have ever had! the people working there were absolutely wonderful. because we had a long distance to go without any services, they were willing to make us sandwiches off of their lunch menu...and they even packaged them really nicely for us to take along with us. and on top of that, they allowed us to substitute huge brownies in place of the sodas that were supposed to come with the meal.
we left from our beautiful cabin getaway and promptly descended for 2 miles. then the climbing began. the next 5-7 miles were the most intense climbing for sure. we climbed and climbed...and as we climbed, the winds began to pick up, and they were pretty much straight into our faces. it was challenging cycling for sure...but the further we went, the prettier things got!
at about 2 in the afternoon, we were continuing to fight the winds and climb the hills...and in the middle of the beauty of the mountains...cailyn got a flat rear tire. so, we pulled into a driveway and began to get the tire changed. we had multiple spare tires for with us for cailyn's bike, and so i figured it would be a good time to go ahead and change the tire and tube. it made for a little longer stop, but probably a wise decision. while i got the tire changed, cailyn got our food out and we got some filled up with energy as we still had quite a distance to ride.
we got back on the road and continued to battle both wind and hills. we finally got into hartsell, the only town between our starting and ending points, at about 5 pm. we quickly got some trail mix and filled up water, and then got back on the road because we still had about 17 miles to cover to get into fairplay.
just before leaving hartsell, we began talking to a guy named jeremy who seemed quite interested in what we were doing and where we had come from and where we were going. we had a little conversation with him and then he asked us if we were logging the trip in any way. we told him that we were writing a blog as we went...and he was immediately interested in knowing what it was. we told him the address while he programmed it into his iphone. then he asked us if he could take our picture...and he told us that he would pass the blog on to a bunch of other people. which we thought was a little out of the ordinary...but very cool. and then, we found out that he was originally from the area, but now lived in new york and manages all of the blogs for the new york times. pretty crazy to say the least!
as we headed towards fairplay, the winds seemed to just get stronger...and it was starting to get somewhat demoralizing. it was particularly tough on cailyn. but the further we went, the more beautiful it continued to get. we cycled past amazingly beautiful mountain streams that seemed to just wind through lush green pastures...all while the snow-capped mountains grew closer and closer.
we finally pedaled into fairplay at just a little before 8...with probably just 30 minutes before darkness set in. as we arrived, we really had two major concerns on our minds. first, we needed food, since we hadn't eaten in more than 5 hours...and secondly, we had no idea where we were going to camp for the night. after not having any luck on either front at pizza hut, we went to the gas station to see if we could call the fire station to see about housing. luckily, the guy working at the gas station told us that he knew of a place where cyclists usually camped. he told us that we just need to go down the road that was just across the street for about a mile, down to the reservoir and he said that there were campsites by the reservoir. we thought that would be great...so we picked up a bag of fritos and some dip, and a couple of drinks, and headed to where he directed us.
as it turned out, we were down just next to this amazing river (where apparently you could pan for gold) that was just off the reservoir. the view was amazing and we could hear the water as we set up camp. when we entered the camping area, we noticed a sign that said, "camping by permit only"...but we had no idea where or how to get a permit. so, we decided we would just give it a try and see what happened. it was getting dark and cold and had no other option to try. all in all, a pretty good situation, considering we had no idea what we were doing as we came into town.
i was thinking today...if you consider yourself an avid cyclist...your cycling life is simply not complete until you have cycled through the rocky mountains. the sights, sounds and smells are absolutely amazing! the things that we have seen, heard, and smelled that we would never have, had we been driving in a car, are just amazing!
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 9:18:19
Average speed: 7.7 mph
Max speed: 38.1 mph
Story [in words]:
in a nutshell, today was incredibly tough. we climbed a lot of feet and fought head winds pretty much all day. the saving grace of the day was absolutely the beauty of God's creation.
we started the morning with breakfast at the cafe that was connected to the cabinground that we stayed at...including some of the biggest blueberry pancakes i have ever had! the people working there were absolutely wonderful. because we had a long distance to go without any services, they were willing to make us sandwiches off of their lunch menu...and they even packaged them really nicely for us to take along with us. and on top of that, they allowed us to substitute huge brownies in place of the sodas that were supposed to come with the meal.
we left from our beautiful cabin getaway and promptly descended for 2 miles. then the climbing began. the next 5-7 miles were the most intense climbing for sure. we climbed and climbed...and as we climbed, the winds began to pick up, and they were pretty much straight into our faces. it was challenging cycling for sure...but the further we went, the prettier things got!
at about 2 in the afternoon, we were continuing to fight the winds and climb the hills...and in the middle of the beauty of the mountains...cailyn got a flat rear tire. so, we pulled into a driveway and began to get the tire changed. we had multiple spare tires for with us for cailyn's bike, and so i figured it would be a good time to go ahead and change the tire and tube. it made for a little longer stop, but probably a wise decision. while i got the tire changed, cailyn got our food out and we got some filled up with energy as we still had quite a distance to ride.
we got back on the road and continued to battle both wind and hills. we finally got into hartsell, the only town between our starting and ending points, at about 5 pm. we quickly got some trail mix and filled up water, and then got back on the road because we still had about 17 miles to cover to get into fairplay.
just before leaving hartsell, we began talking to a guy named jeremy who seemed quite interested in what we were doing and where we had come from and where we were going. we had a little conversation with him and then he asked us if we were logging the trip in any way. we told him that we were writing a blog as we went...and he was immediately interested in knowing what it was. we told him the address while he programmed it into his iphone. then he asked us if he could take our picture...and he told us that he would pass the blog on to a bunch of other people. which we thought was a little out of the ordinary...but very cool. and then, we found out that he was originally from the area, but now lived in new york and manages all of the blogs for the new york times. pretty crazy to say the least!
as we headed towards fairplay, the winds seemed to just get stronger...and it was starting to get somewhat demoralizing. it was particularly tough on cailyn. but the further we went, the more beautiful it continued to get. we cycled past amazingly beautiful mountain streams that seemed to just wind through lush green pastures...all while the snow-capped mountains grew closer and closer.
we finally pedaled into fairplay at just a little before 8...with probably just 30 minutes before darkness set in. as we arrived, we really had two major concerns on our minds. first, we needed food, since we hadn't eaten in more than 5 hours...and secondly, we had no idea where we were going to camp for the night. after not having any luck on either front at pizza hut, we went to the gas station to see if we could call the fire station to see about housing. luckily, the guy working at the gas station told us that he knew of a place where cyclists usually camped. he told us that we just need to go down the road that was just across the street for about a mile, down to the reservoir and he said that there were campsites by the reservoir. we thought that would be great...so we picked up a bag of fritos and some dip, and a couple of drinks, and headed to where he directed us.
as it turned out, we were down just next to this amazing river (where apparently you could pan for gold) that was just off the reservoir. the view was amazing and we could hear the water as we set up camp. when we entered the camping area, we noticed a sign that said, "camping by permit only"...but we had no idea where or how to get a permit. so, we decided we would just give it a try and see what happened. it was getting dark and cold and had no other option to try. all in all, a pretty good situation, considering we had no idea what we were doing as we came into town.
i was thinking today...if you consider yourself an avid cyclist...your cycling life is simply not complete until you have cycled through the rocky mountains. the sights, sounds and smells are absolutely amazing! the things that we have seen, heard, and smelled that we would never have, had we been driving in a car, are just amazing!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Day 35 : God is an Amazing Artist...
From Pueblo, CO to Royal Gorge (area), CO - 59.1 miles
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 5:58:34
Average speed: 9.9 mph
Max Speed: 36 mph
Story [in words]:
the title for today really sums things up...we spent the day cycling up to and into God's beautiful masterpiece! and it was awesome and awe inspiring!
we started the morning cycling out of pueblo on relatively flat terrain, and before too long the ground began to roll. our legs were definitely climbing (and therefore pedaling) in a way they hadn't in probably ten days or more. then a little over 20 miles into our ride, we hit what i would consider the first real climb of the rockies.
we had been gradually coming up on a ridge that seemed to be just in front of the much larger mountains. and it had finally become time to climb up, and as it turned out, onto the ridge. it was not a terribly difficult climb...just slow and steady. if that is indicative of what the next days of climbing are going to be like, i think we will be just fine...especially when the trade off is these amazing views. so, after 30 or 40 minutes of fairly slow climbing we made it to the top of the ridge. and we both thought that what we discovered was rather interesting.
it had appeared that just over this ridge were lots of much larger mountains. and there were...however, in between, there was a very large plateau. we cycled on top of this plateau for what must have been at least 10 miles...and interestingly went down for must of those miles. also interesting, was the fact that when we looked back towards where we had come from, there was no indication at all that we had just come up a substantial climb.
we continued on towards and through the mountains. by afternoon time, we were definitely surrounded by the mountains...and they were breathe taking to say the least. we cycled into a beautiful, old town with tons of little antique shops. if we were just on a leisurely vacation, it would have been a great place to just hang out. (aunt bonnie...you would have been in heaven)
we finally made it into canon city at about 2, where we stopped at a subway to grab a late lunch. after consulting the maps and trying to decide what our plan was going to be for the next couple of days (especially with hoosier pass in the near future), we decided that we would go just 10 more miles to the royal gorge area where there were about 5 different camps grounds listed. we finished our food and pedaled over to the royal gorge information center to see if we could get some info on camping. they had a sheet with phone numbers and locations for the same 5 campsites that the maps listed. we decided that before we left town, we would call all 5 and where we could find the best deal. we were able to get ahold of 4 of the 5...finding that the best price was going to be $19.95. (not the most expensive camping we have paid for on this trip, but also far from the cheapest)
so we headed out to conquer the last few miles. as we crested a fairly large hill that we had been climbing, we saw a campground on our left. i quickly pulled on the sheet from the information center to confirm that it was the one campground that we had not gotten an answer from. we figured that it would be worth just stopping in and seeing what the cost would be. and man are we glad that we did...
it appeared that they were already closed...which wasn't too surprising considering that it is a sunday and the fourth of july. as we got close to the door, however, a gentlemen came up to us and asked if he could help us. cailyn told him that we were hoping to get a campsite. to which he replied, "how about i make you a deal...what if i give you a little cabin for $20". to which we said, "sure, sounds great". knowing that the price was the same as the best camping price that we had found.
he opened up the office and got us all set up. we ended up having some great conversation with he and his wife...and in the process, they discovered that we didn't have any food with us. so, they told us that they would fix us some blt's or something. they told us to shower up and to come up to the cafe at about 6:15. we wheeled our bikes back to our cabin, settled in, got cleaned up and headed up to the outside patio of the cafe to meet sid and kim. they had a number of things they could offer to cook us, but we said that blt's and chips sounded great. they quickly cooked us up some sandwiches and we sat and ate some food and shared some great conversations. they had some amazing stories about taking their horses and herding cattle on some 35,000 acre farms in the area. sounded like an amazing time. they were just wonderful people who we thoroughly enjoyed sharing the fourth of july evening with.
oh, and i almost forgot. i am sitting, writing this post on the deck of our little cabin, and the view is amazing to say the least. mountains, mountains, and more mountains...some of them even snow covered. (it is the first of the pictures posted above) sid and kim told us that the country that we are about to go into is some of the prettiest anywhere...and i believe them.
a slight sidenote on our upcoming schedule: we have decided that we will not go up and over hoosier pass tomorrow. we plan to cycle as close to the pass as we can...probably fairplay, co...and then we will get up and go over hoosier pass first thing on tuesday morning.
Day 34 : A Doggie Kind of a Day...
From Ordway, CO to Pueblo, CO - 57.9 miles
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 5:10:14
Average speed: 11.2 mph
Max Speed: 23.5 mph
Story [in words]:
we had a record start time this morning. the guys that we were hanging out with at gillian's were interested in getting up early and trying to beat the heat and winds of kansas...and we thought getting an early start sounded like a good plan as well. so, the alarm went off at 4am and we were loaded and on the bikes riding by 5:15. it was really beautiful because as we started cycling the sun was just coming up behind us (don't worry, there was enough light to be safe).
we cycled about 18 miles to the town of fowler, co where we found a little diner called phat willie's. as we pulled up, there was a beautiful husky puppy on a leash outside of the restaurant...it was a sweet lovable thing for sure.
we both ordered cheese omelets, hashbrowns and toast. i was proud of myself because i discovered that we could get two eggs, hashbrowns and toast for $4.99...or we could get a cheese omelet (made with 3 eggs), hashbrowns and toast also for $4.99. so we each got a "free" egg and some "free" cheese. really, i'm just a math nerd...but whatever, i enjoy it!
we finished our food and headed out to get back on the road. the best part was that we had ridden 18 miles and had breakfast and it was only 7:30. we got all ready to go, however, as i began to wheel my bike away from the building, i discovered that i had a flat tire. so, we put the bike back and took off our helmets to begin changing the tire. as i started to change the tire, we noticed a dog walking over from the house next door. it walked right up to cailyn and just wanted her to love all over her. this dog was something else...it was super round, and i am pretty sure that it's belly dragged on the ground. after a few minutes of petting the dog, we heard a voice from the house next door saying, "waddles"...and we just laughed, because there was absolutely no better name for this dog...because that is exactly what happened any time it walked.
we got things all changed and got back on the road without too much of a delay. the rest of our cycling today was fairly enjoyable...basically flat, and not much wind at all. and as we went, the mountains just kept getting slightly closer and slightly bigger. we even got close enough to be able to see one snow-capped peak. (it is pretty crazy to think that on july 5th we will likely be able to touch snow...just crazy) as we approached pueblo, cailyn finally got to see something that she has been wanting to see for a number of days. off to the right side of the road, there were many little mounds of dirt...and then we saw them...little animals, prairie dogs, scurrying for their holes as we came up to them. i am pretty sure that if it was up to cailyn, we would be going home with one as a pet. i do have to admit, they were pretty cute...especially the little ones!
we cycled into pueblo (which is a pretty large city) and headed right for the great divide bike shop (it sits right on the route), where we dropped our bikes off to get a few things tuned up. we then headed 4 blocks down the street to a motel that an eastbound cyclist that we were with last night told us about. we were able to get a really pretty nice room for $50. we cleaned up, and headed out to find a coffee shop that another one of the cyclists told us about. now we are sitting outside the coffee shop just relaxing, enjoying a half-day off of sorts.
before long, we will go back and pick up the bikes and head back to the motel to just relax and get ready to head up into the mountains tomorrow!
as another sidenote: for those of you who have been to el paso, tx...pueblo really reminds me of el paso. with the mountains in the distance, and just the general feel of the town.
a couple of hours after writing what is above...
we have now gone back and picked up our bikes from the great divide bike shop...and man are the amazing. we had heard absolutely great things about them, but they were even better than advertised! it turns out that cailyn right clipless pedal was about to break off of the bike. they seemed to think that she was incredibly lucky that it had not already slipped off of the bike.
basically, the only option was new pedals. to get new pedals like the ones that she had was going to cost us $110...which was, needless to say, not in our budget. i began to ask them if there was any cheaper option that we could put on there. at first it didn't sound promising...but then, before long, they had dug some pedals up that they "just had laying around" from something else...and they said they would just give them to us and all we would have to do was to buy the clips for them. so, all in all, we ended up with new pedals and clips for cailyn and it only cost us $27...it was pretty amazing to say the least!
there is just something about the cycling community that is really unlike any other that i have been a part of. i am still figuring it all out...but i know this for sure...it is pretty awesome!
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 5:10:14
Average speed: 11.2 mph
Max Speed: 23.5 mph
Story [in words]:
we had a record start time this morning. the guys that we were hanging out with at gillian's were interested in getting up early and trying to beat the heat and winds of kansas...and we thought getting an early start sounded like a good plan as well. so, the alarm went off at 4am and we were loaded and on the bikes riding by 5:15. it was really beautiful because as we started cycling the sun was just coming up behind us (don't worry, there was enough light to be safe).
we cycled about 18 miles to the town of fowler, co where we found a little diner called phat willie's. as we pulled up, there was a beautiful husky puppy on a leash outside of the restaurant...it was a sweet lovable thing for sure.
we both ordered cheese omelets, hashbrowns and toast. i was proud of myself because i discovered that we could get two eggs, hashbrowns and toast for $4.99...or we could get a cheese omelet (made with 3 eggs), hashbrowns and toast also for $4.99. so we each got a "free" egg and some "free" cheese. really, i'm just a math nerd...but whatever, i enjoy it!
we finished our food and headed out to get back on the road. the best part was that we had ridden 18 miles and had breakfast and it was only 7:30. we got all ready to go, however, as i began to wheel my bike away from the building, i discovered that i had a flat tire. so, we put the bike back and took off our helmets to begin changing the tire. as i started to change the tire, we noticed a dog walking over from the house next door. it walked right up to cailyn and just wanted her to love all over her. this dog was something else...it was super round, and i am pretty sure that it's belly dragged on the ground. after a few minutes of petting the dog, we heard a voice from the house next door saying, "waddles"...and we just laughed, because there was absolutely no better name for this dog...because that is exactly what happened any time it walked.
we got things all changed and got back on the road without too much of a delay. the rest of our cycling today was fairly enjoyable...basically flat, and not much wind at all. and as we went, the mountains just kept getting slightly closer and slightly bigger. we even got close enough to be able to see one snow-capped peak. (it is pretty crazy to think that on july 5th we will likely be able to touch snow...just crazy) as we approached pueblo, cailyn finally got to see something that she has been wanting to see for a number of days. off to the right side of the road, there were many little mounds of dirt...and then we saw them...little animals, prairie dogs, scurrying for their holes as we came up to them. i am pretty sure that if it was up to cailyn, we would be going home with one as a pet. i do have to admit, they were pretty cute...especially the little ones!
we cycled into pueblo (which is a pretty large city) and headed right for the great divide bike shop (it sits right on the route), where we dropped our bikes off to get a few things tuned up. we then headed 4 blocks down the street to a motel that an eastbound cyclist that we were with last night told us about. we were able to get a really pretty nice room for $50. we cleaned up, and headed out to find a coffee shop that another one of the cyclists told us about. now we are sitting outside the coffee shop just relaxing, enjoying a half-day off of sorts.
before long, we will go back and pick up the bikes and head back to the motel to just relax and get ready to head up into the mountains tomorrow!
as another sidenote: for those of you who have been to el paso, tx...pueblo really reminds me of el paso. with the mountains in the distance, and just the general feel of the town.
a couple of hours after writing what is above...
we have now gone back and picked up our bikes from the great divide bike shop...and man are the amazing. we had heard absolutely great things about them, but they were even better than advertised! it turns out that cailyn right clipless pedal was about to break off of the bike. they seemed to think that she was incredibly lucky that it had not already slipped off of the bike.
basically, the only option was new pedals. to get new pedals like the ones that she had was going to cost us $110...which was, needless to say, not in our budget. i began to ask them if there was any cheaper option that we could put on there. at first it didn't sound promising...but then, before long, they had dug some pedals up that they "just had laying around" from something else...and they said they would just give them to us and all we would have to do was to buy the clips for them. so, all in all, we ended up with new pedals and clips for cailyn and it only cost us $27...it was pretty amazing to say the least!
there is just something about the cycling community that is really unlike any other that i have been a part of. i am still figuring it all out...but i know this for sure...it is pretty awesome!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Day 33 : Mountains!!!
From Eads, CO to Ordway, CO - 64.5 miles
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 7:04:51
Average speed: 9.1 mph
Max speed: 18.6 mph
Story [in words]:
well, the good news is that when we got up this morning the wind wasn't as bad as we had thought it might be. the bad news is, it was still windy (from the south).
we got our stuff all loaded up and headed into the little restaurant in town to grab some breakfast before cycling out of town. we had our food and were out on the road by about 7:15. the first 12 or so miles actually went by quite easily...then the wind began to pick up a fair amount more. we rode about 23 miles into the only major town between our starting point and our ending point for the day. the towns out here are just so spread apart...it seems like things just get more and more desolate as we move west. one guy we talked to the other day said that he thought that the towns were spread out about the distance that a wagon could go in a day. i don't know if it is true, but it sounds like a decent proposal.
we got a little bit of food to take on the road at our stop and filled our waters up and quickly got back on the road. we figured that the wind wasn't going to get any more favorable and the word on the street was that where we were going we would be able to stay at a house where we could shower and do laundry, so we were pretty motivated.
the afternoon continued with more of the same...with the exception that a little while into our afternoon, the mountains finally began to appear in the distance. man was that exciting!! we both seemed to cycle a little bit faster knowing that they were in the distance. we are both super excited to be able to get into the mountains. we also saw more scenery today than i think we have seen on any other day. we saw a number of deer and we think that we also saw an antelope. those things are the things that really make this trip amazing.
one other pretty wild sight from today was that for probably the last 13 miles or so into ordway, there were empty railroad cars sitting on the railroad track that we have been cycling along for the last 3 days. it seemed like they went on and on...just a weird thing.
we had heard that when we got to ordway, we were simply supposed to ask for gillian and someone would be able to direct us to her house. we stopped at the grocery store to get a little food and asked someone if they could point us to gillian...and sure enough, the lady said, "go down main street and turn left on 9th and you will dead end into her house". while we were at the grocery, we ran into three other cyclists and we told them about gillian as well, so we all headed down to see what it was all about. and man, what we found is amazing. i won't be able to do it justice...but here is a little bit of it.
gillian is a woman originally from new zealand...she has a farm of sorts here. horses, goats, all kinds of different birds, etc. she also has an old 5th wheel on the property that has been gutted and she uses to house cyclists. she also allows cyclists to take a shower, do laundry, use the kitchen, and sit in the living room to watch tv or to use the internet. she is a really amazing woman...a very european sense of humor for sure. as it turns out, there are also two college age guys that are here working for gillian for three weeks on a work exchange program...and they have been an absolute blast to share conversation with as well. this has definitely been one of the most memorable stays on our trip for sure. the people are really just amazing...i wish i could fully and accurately put it into words.
i have been thinking over the last couple of days about the comparison between cycling here and back in virginia. when we were in virginia, the highest point that we reached was roughly 4200 feet...and the views were absolutely marvelous. and over the last couple of days, we have also been cycling at roughly 4200 feet...however, the views are much different. it has made me realize that what makes the mountain top amazing are the valleys that surround it. it certainly doesn't feel like we are on a mountain top right now...but it absolutely did when we were at the exact same height in virginia...and it was the valleys...the downs that made that reality.
along with that, i have been thinking about how in life, we would much rather just live on the mountain top, so to speak, all the time. we don't like the valleys...we despise the tough times...with would rather not face conflict and challenge. but the reality is...if we don't have those valleys and tough times and conflicts...the highs simply seize to be highs.
just something that i have been pondering on every now and again as i have cycled along for the last couple of days.
so, tomorrow morning it will be up and on the road early early...hopefully we will be into pueblo by a little after noon. we will plan to get some minor tune-ups done on our bikes, probably get a hotel for the night, and then we will be ready to make the push up into the mountains. i think we are both ready and excited to start climbing again. not necessarily for the cycling part, but for the scenery and the wildlife that we are excited to encounter.
sidenote: don - cailyn wanted me to point out that at one point this afternoon there was this massive open field out to our left, and out in the middle of it, all by himself, was a lone bull...all by himself. i guess she thought that would have significance.
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 7:04:51
Average speed: 9.1 mph
Max speed: 18.6 mph
Story [in words]:
well, the good news is that when we got up this morning the wind wasn't as bad as we had thought it might be. the bad news is, it was still windy (from the south).
we got our stuff all loaded up and headed into the little restaurant in town to grab some breakfast before cycling out of town. we had our food and were out on the road by about 7:15. the first 12 or so miles actually went by quite easily...then the wind began to pick up a fair amount more. we rode about 23 miles into the only major town between our starting point and our ending point for the day. the towns out here are just so spread apart...it seems like things just get more and more desolate as we move west. one guy we talked to the other day said that he thought that the towns were spread out about the distance that a wagon could go in a day. i don't know if it is true, but it sounds like a decent proposal.
we got a little bit of food to take on the road at our stop and filled our waters up and quickly got back on the road. we figured that the wind wasn't going to get any more favorable and the word on the street was that where we were going we would be able to stay at a house where we could shower and do laundry, so we were pretty motivated.
the afternoon continued with more of the same...with the exception that a little while into our afternoon, the mountains finally began to appear in the distance. man was that exciting!! we both seemed to cycle a little bit faster knowing that they were in the distance. we are both super excited to be able to get into the mountains. we also saw more scenery today than i think we have seen on any other day. we saw a number of deer and we think that we also saw an antelope. those things are the things that really make this trip amazing.
one other pretty wild sight from today was that for probably the last 13 miles or so into ordway, there were empty railroad cars sitting on the railroad track that we have been cycling along for the last 3 days. it seemed like they went on and on...just a weird thing.
we had heard that when we got to ordway, we were simply supposed to ask for gillian and someone would be able to direct us to her house. we stopped at the grocery store to get a little food and asked someone if they could point us to gillian...and sure enough, the lady said, "go down main street and turn left on 9th and you will dead end into her house". while we were at the grocery, we ran into three other cyclists and we told them about gillian as well, so we all headed down to see what it was all about. and man, what we found is amazing. i won't be able to do it justice...but here is a little bit of it.
gillian is a woman originally from new zealand...she has a farm of sorts here. horses, goats, all kinds of different birds, etc. she also has an old 5th wheel on the property that has been gutted and she uses to house cyclists. she also allows cyclists to take a shower, do laundry, use the kitchen, and sit in the living room to watch tv or to use the internet. she is a really amazing woman...a very european sense of humor for sure. as it turns out, there are also two college age guys that are here working for gillian for three weeks on a work exchange program...and they have been an absolute blast to share conversation with as well. this has definitely been one of the most memorable stays on our trip for sure. the people are really just amazing...i wish i could fully and accurately put it into words.
i have been thinking over the last couple of days about the comparison between cycling here and back in virginia. when we were in virginia, the highest point that we reached was roughly 4200 feet...and the views were absolutely marvelous. and over the last couple of days, we have also been cycling at roughly 4200 feet...however, the views are much different. it has made me realize that what makes the mountain top amazing are the valleys that surround it. it certainly doesn't feel like we are on a mountain top right now...but it absolutely did when we were at the exact same height in virginia...and it was the valleys...the downs that made that reality.
along with that, i have been thinking about how in life, we would much rather just live on the mountain top, so to speak, all the time. we don't like the valleys...we despise the tough times...with would rather not face conflict and challenge. but the reality is...if we don't have those valleys and tough times and conflicts...the highs simply seize to be highs.
just something that i have been pondering on every now and again as i have cycled along for the last couple of days.
so, tomorrow morning it will be up and on the road early early...hopefully we will be into pueblo by a little after noon. we will plan to get some minor tune-ups done on our bikes, probably get a hotel for the night, and then we will be ready to make the push up into the mountains. i think we are both ready and excited to start climbing again. not necessarily for the cycling part, but for the scenery and the wildlife that we are excited to encounter.
sidenote: don - cailyn wanted me to point out that at one point this afternoon there was this massive open field out to our left, and out in the middle of it, all by himself, was a lone bull...all by himself. i guess she thought that would have significance.
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