Monday, July 27, 2009

Bonun Material from Lewis



Day # 53




I got to ride a mechanicle bull for the first time in my life! I fell off for the third time. It's hard to stay on when it's spinning around and moving up and down at the same time. Is it my turn yet? I wanted to ride for a fourth time but it was another persons turn.


Day #54


We did 57 iles today. I left my journal behind at a restauranrt. My mom had to go back 3 miles to get my journal and my pencil. I met a nice kid named Colton. I went swimming with him and he taught me that if you squish a dragonfly, well, not a dragonfly but if you squish a lightnin bug it will glow!

Just Another Sunday in Hutchinson Kansas

Sunday July 26

The day that started at the Zion Lutheran Church has now almost officially ended at the same place. We slept in until 8:00 . We wanted to make sure no one walked in on us sleeping on the stage in the basement. Didn’t happen. It was a quiet and restful night for a pleasant change. The first church goers arrived around 9:00 and by 9:30 we’d met at least a dozen different people who came down to get things ready for the after church social that was extra special today because of a couple of baptisms. The congregation is used to having strangers sleeping in the basement. Donna and I put on our best duds and Lewis just got dressed. We joined the 40 or so worshippers upstairs for a pretty traditional Lutheran service. I’m not sure what makes a Lutheran church go Zion! They didn’t dance with snakes or speak in tongues or even knock the catholics. The one thing that was just a bit different was the “Peace be with you, and also with you thing”. In the past I’ve seen this type of activity where greetings are made to those around you. But these Zion Lutherans took it one step beyond. People spent over 5 minutes shaking hands with every single person in the building, including the dirty cyclists! We didn’t even have to leave our seat and got to meet everyone!

Just before the end of the service, the pastor called all the children up to congregate and just summarize what he had been preaching for the previous 50 minutes. While lewis normally hesitates when presented the same opportunity at the regular Lutheran church in Shelton, the new cycling tourist version of Lewis jumped at the opportunity to come forward. Perhaps he too is a Zionist! There was a girl about Lewis age and then a couple of younger children maybe 3 and 5 years of age. The perfunctory questions that were asked of the children were answered satisfactorily. When the pastor asked if there were any questions, that was when it got interesting. Evidently this particular pastor has a circulatory problem and has had a leg amputated but is required to have a device which inflates then deflates around the remaining portion of his leg. At least one of the children picked up on the humming noise that was emanating from behind his frock. He explained in simplistic terms the reason his leg was humming. This is when Lewis put his two cents worth in. When he asked the elderly clergy man if his leg could lite up as well, the entire congregation was in stitches. That’s our boy!

After the service we joined in for the baptism cake eating celebration. After all, what touring cyclist would turn down free cake? LewIs made another best friend this time with Hanna (although he still intends on marrying Annie Woodbury formerly of Tenino Washington). Hanna was the young lady Lewis’ age and was extremely precocious. Lewis was up to the task though. She was also taking piano lessons but admiitted that Lewis was a bit more advanced than she. The two of them shared cake and secrets and she showed Lewis all of the hidden passageways that the old church was full of. By 1:00 or so we once again had the church to ourselves. This was more like it!l!

During the cake eating celebration someone told us about the Kosmosphere. Evidently this is the largest museum of space flight in the country aside from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. We decided that we had to check this out. Besides, we had an appointment at Walmart and would be going right by! I have to say I was impressed with what I saw. While we didn’t fork over the bucks to see the entire museum, what was free for all in the lobby was worth way more than nothing! They had a black jet fighter plane that was huge and it hung from the ceiling. Actually, they built the building around this jet once it had been obtained from NASA. There was a full scale mockup of the space shuttle as well as bits and pieces of several actual spacecraft. But since we’ll be paying the big bucks to see what the Smithsonian has to offer, we were OK at just imagining what we might have missed by holding on to our money.

Our next stop was another mile down the road where we found the Walmart. Lewis had been granted approval to get yet another Transformer figure as we had previously sent a couple back to Shelton making room for a new addition. This time he chose one that looked like a bulldozer but transformed into some kind of wicked monster. I just don’t get it. But I’m also not 9 years old. In addition we picked up some more fruit and some granola bars and another gatorade and some crackers and fritos and a tub of sour cream. We weren’t going to let this opportunity to feast just pass us by! We also bought a package of hamburger buns and some deli meat that became our lunch and eventually our dinner as well (besides finishing off the watermelon and ice cream from the day before). Are you people catching on that food has become a priority? Almost an obsession? And yet I continue to waste away. What a cruel cruel world. The difficult part for me will be when this cylcling routine comes to an end and I’ll have to scale back on the eating or else that spare tire will return, right back where it used to be. I think I can. I hope I can. I can! Or not.

We are now relaxing back at the church. Donna and Lewis are watching the final part of the Ten Comandments while I finish up the journal for today. Previously I patched a couple of inner tubes that had been punctured last week. We’ve washed all of our dirty clothes which are now drying next to a fan. The last thing I might do is start packing up a bit but maybe not. Tomorrow we have a shorter ride of just about 50 miles. Did I mention that today on the day we decided not to ride, the wind was out of the west! I had predicted this to myself and it happened. I’ll go out on a limb and predict the same for tomorrow (but It’ll never happen). It was a sticky one again as well. The mercury climbed into the low 90’s. We have a bunch of these sticky ones ahead, so might as well get used to them. We bid you all a fond farewell and have a nice week. We’ll be sweating our asses off trying to get out of Kansas before next Sunday. Looking forward to Missouri and the rest of the trip. Adieu!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

And Then There Were Four?

Thursday July 23

Scott City is now just another faded memory. We packed up and pedaled away in fine form. An earlier than normal start (8:00)under a clear blue sky with temperatures in the low 70’s would usually be a precursor for a fine day of cycling. And that almost happened. We pedaled straight to the next town of Dighton Kansas(23 miles) and located a diner on the edge of town. We very nearly left the restaurant immediately after entering as the dining area was clouded with cigarette smoke. Fortunately I noticed a non-smoking area that was acceptable. Once the fuel tanks were replenished we got back on the bikes and pedaled away. Three miles down the road Donna realizes that while she remembers getting Lewis’ Journal out for him to write in, she didn’t remember putting it back in her handlebar bag before we left. So we do a cursory search of our belongings and sure enough, the Journal is not among them. I was ready to leave the Journal behind as it has ended up being more aggravation getting him to write than what it’s worth. My sentiment was “ Let’s just get another one as that one is predominantly drawings of robots anyways”. Donna felt otherwise so she turned around and raced back to town and retrieved the book. This used up some of our time and in the process Lewis was now in the doghouse for leaving the journal behind.

We passed thru several smaller communities not bothering to stop as we had our sights set on Ness City. This would be a logical place to have lunch and then plan out the rest of our day. The winds today did not come into play as they were relatively benign and were predominantly from the South while we are now predominantly heading East. The clear skies of earlier remained throughout the day and the temperatures climbed into the low 90’s by the time we pulled into Ness City. A pizza shop (with air conditioning) was a logical stop for a late lunch.

We discussed the possibilities for the remainder of the day. We could either keep going and stop at Rush Center which would put us in place for a 20 mile ride due south tomorrow morning when we left. This would mean camping at the city park with no pool or no showers. Or we ride another 13 miles and stop at a bed and breakfast (that also allowed camping). Or we could stay in Ness City as they have a nice City Park/Swimming pool combination. The City Park/Swimming pool won out. This was actually a good compromise as we had already surpassed 54 miles and the scorching sun was not very kind. As we were finishing up our lunch Donna noticed another cyclist pedal by the restaurant and a couple minutes later Paul enters the eatery. He ended up joining us and having his own meal. He has already decided to stop for the day at Ness City so this makes our decision seem like a sensible one.

Paul is nearing 70 years and hails from Great Britain. He certainly has a lot of stories that he is more than willing to share with anyone willing to listen. He has cycled all over the world however this is his first time touring in the US. We chatted with him, or rather, listened to him prattle on about some of his many accomplishments. We managed to extricate ourselves and headed over to the city park to scope out the situation. Boy was it hot out after spending an hour in air conditioned comfort.

We found the park to our liking and the showers were free and it cost just $1 for Lewis to swim. We’re liking this aspect of Kansas. Lewis managed to hook up with a local kid within minutes of our arrival. Colton is in the same grade as Lewis and didn’t seem to mind Lewis’ weird sense of humor. The two of them were inseperable for the next 5 hours. Donna and I set up the tent and then I dashed off to the library to post an entry in the blog. I arrived to discover that I had only 25 minutes before they were closing for the day so I failed to answer any of the e-mails that I read. I’ll be taking care of that in the next day or two hopefully. After doing what I could at the library, and being chased out by the kindly librarian, I headed back to the park but not before stopping at the towns only grocery store. I also hit them at just the right time also as they were about to close as well. A half gallon of choco milk, some hickory stick and cheese and crackers and a couple bottles of gatorade was all I could manage to carry as I had Donnas bike with no panniers.

Donna and I snacked while Lewis and Colton were off playing. A little later we fed Lewis and Colton as they decided they were hungry. Some chocolate milk and a banana and some cookies took care of their empty spots. And just a little while after that I paid for the both of them to join in the evening swim that went from 7 till 9. Colton was without funds and apparently adult supervision as well. Like I said previously, he hung around and hung around right through the time a normal kid would have gone home for dinner. But he did fit in with us as we happen to be anything but normal. When the pool closed at 9:00, Lewis and Colton decided that a sleep over was the next logical extension. But their plan had a few holes in it. They decided that Colton would run home and get a sleeping bag and then return to be the 4th person in our 4 person tent. We didn’t immediately shoot down this plan. We explained to Colton that we would need to talk to his mother before any sleeping arrangements were made. I assume that he has a mother but I could be mistaken. So that let the air out of the ballon for Colton however he still hung around. It was now after 9:00 and just getting dark. I didn’t have the heart to tell him to just beat it, so Lewis and I walked him home just as it was getting dark. I can still hear him as he was saying goodbye to Lewis, “So I guess I’ll never see you again as you’re going to Washington DC. Will I ever see you again Lewis?” Lewis is used to these intense but brief friendships. As he succinctly put it” Yeah, I make friends and then POOF they’re gone.”

That should have been the end of the day but I have to report on just one more occurance. This city park is adjacent to the ball field and a late game followed by revelry from some of the participants meant that I ended up staying awake until after the last of them departed sometime after midnight. Boy I could have used those extra 2 hours of sleep.

Thats Larned, not Lander!

Friday July 24

We’re in the Midwest for sure now. It never cooled off last night as it is 7:00 and already 70 degrees. And muggy! This is our first taste of mugginess. It is similar to nothing we have in Shelton. You can keep your mugginess Kansas. We live in Washington and want none of this!

We were packed up and ready to leave by 8:00. Cloudless hazy skies and moderate winds again out of the south greeted us. I was just a little surprised that Colton wasn’t waiting for us on his bike with his sleeping bag! We stopped at the grocery store for another half gallon of chocolate milk, some donuts, some fruit and a couple more of the larger gatorades. The Donuts we polished off while the remainder was saved for later. We’re ready for you muggy Kansas! Give us your best shot.

The first 23 miles were typical as we struggled with cross winds. While team Jackson pedaled east, the wind blew from the south. We averaged 11 mph as the temperature continued to rise. When we pulled into Rush Center, it was a quarter of 12 and since we’d had no real breakfast other than donuts, it was time for us to eat. The only dining establishment in the whole town happened to be the local bar and grill. We weren’t too fussy to turn down bar food as the alternative was a quick visit to the convenience store. I had a burger and fries while Donna chose the chicken strips and Lewis of course had the mini-corn dogs. Once we had finished we realized that the place had filled up to capacity. They all must have felt the same way about the convenience store. Or maybe it was just the fact that there was air conditioning!

When we ventured outside of the bar the effects of the air conditioning hit us. We never should have gone in there! But the damage was done. With our water bottles all topped off, we set off. The next 19 miles would be a test of our determination as we would now turn 90 degrees and go due south instead of due east, right into the 20 to 25 mph wind. The wind was far from the worst we’ve ridden into but the added effect of the insane heat made it almost unbearable. We averaged just under 7 mph so with a couple of short stops to drink some of our hot water, it took us 3 hours to cover those 19 miles. Once again, the wind took its toll on the entire group but Lewis complained the most. He grew so frustrated from the slow pace and blast furnace temperatures that he actually pedaled some. This had no net positive effect but did seem to get him angry. He just couldn’t think of who to be angry with. Fortunately, he was not endangered as his role is not propulsion but rather comic relief. But he wasn’t funny today! Donna and I had to force ourselves to drink the hot water and hot gatorade but only a sip or two at a time as it was not refreshing in the least. Lewis never seems thirsty but we force him to sip from the hot water bottles when we do.

Once we had finished the 19 mile stretch into the wind it would have been nice to have a convenience store to buy some cold beverages but we weren’t that lucky. The best we could hope for was that the wind would switch back to a crosswind. Lucky us! We turned back towards the east and rode another 12 miles before encountering a National Historic Site: Fort Larned Kansas. Realizing that a visitor center meant at least a drinking fountain, we stopped to expand our knowledge of Fort Larned just a bit. Yes! A drinking fountain inside an air conditioned building went above and beyond our expectations!

There were several buildings all full of historically correct things that would have been used by the soldiers of that era. We didn’t explore these buildings but limited our exploration to the museum that was part of the visitor center. There was a video presentation that lewis had to watch, twice. I found a coke machine so was prepared to sit here for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, the place was about to close for the day so we had to leave. However, as we were preparing to depart, one of the rangers at this place invited lewis to assist in taking down the American flag. This was no easy feat as it was one of the big ones! It measured 36 feet long. (Photo)

We pedaled away from Fort Larned towards Larned Kansas, a hop skip and a jump away (7miles). Once we arrived in town I happened to spot another bank that happened to be flashing the temperature. At 5:30, it was a sultry 104 degrees. No wonder everyone was wiped out! Since Larned is a larger city, several opportunities presented themselves as far as dinner was concerned. Donna and Lewis chose to eat at a Sonic place and have Sonic burgers. I thought this was insane as it is a drive up place only. They have no inside eating. So while they ate their burgers in the shade of the building, I crossed the street and enjoyed the air conditiioned comfort of Wendy’s. I ingested massive quantities of ice water and ice cold CocaCola.

A short while later, we left to locate the city park which we were informed, had a swimming pool! Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus! And he lives in Larned Kansas. We found our park, set up the tent, and settled down for a long winters nap! Actually, we ran into our friend Paul from the day before and decided to share some really cold beer with him. He hasn’t enjoyed a decent beer since he’s been here and almost missed out again. Kansas is very limited in what I consider beer worth drinking. They have all the Budweiser and Miller products but very few of the micro-brews that I’ve come to appreciate. Paul and I first went to the grocery store where the beer cooler was stocked with Budweiser and Miller products. One of the clerks there was kind enough to give us directions to the liquor store where a wider selection of beer is the norm. This time, almost not though. The only micro-brew was Fat Tire Amber by the New Belgium Brewing Company. Bonus of the day; Paul bought the beer!

Lewis swam from the time we pulled in until the pool closed at 9:00. Larned has free swimming and free showers for cyclists! This was a very special treat on a very tough day. I found the cold beer to be exquisite on such a hot day. I managed to get my free shower and a dip in the pool (the largest one so far on this trip) just before they closed up for the day. We retired for the day physically exhausted but emotionally uplifted from the generosity of the town of Larned. And once again, our sleep was interrupted overnight. There were no baseball games in the adjacent ball diamond but it seems that cruising through the park and hollering out of the window is some sort of passtime that some of the citizens of Larned seemed to enjoy. But no matter, Lewis slept through and Donna woke once or twice but managed to fall back asleep. I, being the protector of the family, spent more time awake than anyone. This is going to catch up with me sooner or later.

What goes up must come down or vice versa!

Saturday July 25

The thunderstorms that had been predicted overnight, never materialized. However, the morning skies were certainly different from those we’ve experienced lately. The cloud cover was a welcome sight, but the direction of the wind was not. The winds previously from the south that had been more or less a cross wind, had swithced and were now blowing significantly from the northeast. This was not a good omen. Our riding today was to be almost entirely due east. We were able to pack up and get on the road before 8:00. Donna and lewis are beginning to understand the value in riding early verses late. We picked up 4 big bottles of gatorade and some fruit and a coffee cake for breakfast (and another quart of Chocolate milk). This was going to be the second day in a row where Donna and I opted to skip our normal ration of coffee in an attempt to shave off some wasted time.

A kindly old woman saw Donna and me standing in front of the grocery store and presented us with 2 croissants from her package of 6 that she’d just bought. She motioned me over to her car and said “This is for you and your friend”. Since Lewis was not present, as he was wandering around inside the grocery store, we missed out on a third pastry! I made quick work of one pastry. Donna donated hers to lewis as she is certain that she hasn’t lost enough weight while I verified that I am now at my lowest body weight in nearly 30 years. I’m tipping the scales at just over 160 pounds.

Next we devoured the coffee cake and the milk before pedaling away. The going was slow once again. The headwind would have been demoralizing had there been sunshine as well. The ride today was another one where services (food, water, restrooms) were non-existant for the first 58 miles. I decided to track todays ride by time instead of miles. So the first break of the day happened after an hour and a half. This consisted of fluids and some cherries. This is when the skies first began to show signs of erupting. We got back on the bikes and pedaled another 40 minutes before we saw the first lightning flashes fill the northern hemisphere. We pedaled on. Just 15 minutes later the rain started to fall as ominous gray clouds filled the horizon. A storage shed for tractors was spotted and we headed there to wait out the storm. We occupied ourselves with a bit of snacking while laughing at Lewis and his attempts to shepard a herd of toads that were thriving in this part of Kansas. Within 20 minutes the rain had stopped and the electrical activity seemed to have passed over us as well so we headed out. The inactivity lasted all of 20 minutes before more thunderstorms attacked us. This time we stopped and huddled underneath the overhang on a country church. An hour was spent here and I used the time to start getting caught up on my blog entries, being 2 days behind. Donna and Lewis also worked on their journals.

At this point in the day we had ridden a total of 21 miles and had about 50 miles remaining if we hoped to make our desired destination, Hutchinson Kansas. And it was already after noon. Dang those thunderstorms! However, with the occurrence of the rain, came a calming effect of the wind! We raced away from the church under threatening skies with no wind whatsoever in any direction. This would seem to be when the tornado should swoop down out of the sky and send us all to OZ! The rain soon returned and remained with us for most of the afternoon. On the positive side, however, the thunderstorms had all passed. Thank you kindly wizard of OZ! While I did grumble some about the constant drip drip drip, I was silently rejoicing. If the weather from yesterday had happened today (104degrees) and we had to ride 58 miles between towns, we would have been in serious trouble. As it was we rode all wet but at a comfortable temperature in the low to mid 70’s.

By 4:00 we finally pulled into the town of Nickerson Kansas. They were having some kind of celebration and a part of it involved mud volleyball! We pulled over to watch a bit of this insanity. Earlier there was a parade and later in the evening there would be a street dance. Since the day had been such a mild one, we were still well stocked in gatorade and other refreshments so we didn’t bother to even replenish. Imagine that. 58 miles and we still had cool water and gatorade to drink! Nothing like yesterday. The town of Hutchinson was another 12 miles distant so we hopped to it. This is when I began to really feel sluggish. In hindsight I can see now that having eaten next to nothing all day and having ridden nearly 60 miles, my meager reserves had been depleted. I was running on fumes. With another 6 miles to go, we stopped a final time and I finished off most of a 32 oz gatorade myself. That did the trick as I was instantly my old self again. Ready to pedal that bicycle up a wall if I had too. We flew the final 6 miles into Hutchinson, found the road where the Zion Lutheran Church was located and then found someone to pinpoint the exact location of the church.

We had expected to meet Paul here as he had agreed this would be a good place to stop for the day. He tends to ride 60 to 70 miles a day which is a zone we are now comfortable with. When we pulled up to the Church, there was no Paul. In fact the church seemed different. I had stayed at a Hostel that this church owned 13 years ago when I came through here. Now the building I thought I would remember was missing! How could that be? The map says that the church still operates a hostel so that hasn’t changed. The map also instructs cyclists to contact a local bike shop (Harleys Bike Shop) in order to get a key to the hostel. We failed to do this as I was assuming that Paul would get here hours before us and would be waiting for us. I tried to contact the bike shop but the number I dialed said that it had been disconnected or changed. What to do now? We were standing around outside of the church when one of the people living nearby approached me and asked if I was trying to get into the church. He has seen countless cyclists come and go from this very building and in fact even knew where the key was hidden for the cyclists to use. What a lucky break! Our alternative would have been to leave town and locate a campground nearby.

We let ourselves into the basement of the church and this is where we would spend most of the next 36 hours. Once inside I was able to figure out what happened to the “hostel” that I had previously stayed in. The church had expanded in the year 2000 and had added parking which meant the removal of one old, mostly underutilized house. Now the cyclists are closer to GOD! I am visualizing you right now Timothy! This being a Saturday, Donna and I mentally prepared ourselves to most probably attend services in the morning. And this Hutchinson being a larger community (40,000 strong), is also a good choice of where to spend a day off from the grueling routine that cycling has become lately. We did get away from the church long enough to do some shopping at the grocery store just a few blocks away. We went all out, splurged, and bought a whole watermelon. In addition, some tuna helper for dinner, some fish sticks, a half gallon of ice cream, a half gallon of regular milk, a half gallon of OJ and some more Gatorade. Upon returning to our new digs, we fixed up the tuna helper and fish sticks and polished off more than half of the watermelon. Boy did I feel full but also strangely contented after gorging to the point of bursting! Lewis continues to eat like a bird, while Donna occasionally binges like me. But I was the biggest glutton on this day!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

And on and on and on....


Wednesday July 22

Just when we think we’re making good progress and might actually get to DC before the time runs out, we have a couple of days like today to set us back. We had planned on riding to Dighton Kansas and could have accomplished this modest ride of just over 70 miles but we opted to take the alternative which ended up being a 45 mile ride, accompanied with some communtiy involvement.

We got off to our best start of the trip so far. On the road before 8:00. We couldn’t find a decent diner in Tribune for coffee, let alone breakfast, so we opted to ride 20 miles to the next community and try again. This didn’t work either so we bought some junk from a convenience store and ate it while watching Lewis play at the school playground. The 20 miles took just about 2 hours as a pretty good wind was blowing from the side today. Someone is having fun at our expense. It shouldn’t be this windy so often with out being advantageous once in a while. The terrain is ideal for biking however. An occasional rolling hill breaks up the montony of the extremely flat countryside but Donna and I are just itching for an opportunity to rip off an easy 80 to 100 mile ride with the assistance of a tail wind. Are we going to be denied this?

Once the junk had been devoured, we headed off for the town of Scott City Kansas. This place was sure to have a decent restaurant as nearly 4000 people called it their home. We pulled into town just a little after 1:30 and found a Subway franchise where 3 of the $5 footlongs were devoured. We relaxed in the air conditioned comfort of the sub shop and decided while dining that it was time we hit a library. The plan was to spend a while in the library to check our e-mail and see if the wind might switch a few degrees and help us finish the day. We were also hoping to let the hottest part of the day pass by. The temperatures were very near 90 today.

The library was an oasis. It was very nearly empty but was immaculate and almost new. There were nearly 50 e-mails waiting for me once I logged on so I was busy for some time. A new post was added to the blog while Donna and Lewis both worked on their journals. We ended up spending a couple of hours there and left just before they closed the doors at 6:00, While we were taking care of our business in the library we found out that Scott City was just starting their annual fair and that tonight was the beefiesta. This is a feeding frenzy where the entire community is welcome to come eat cow for free. We debated whether or not to continue on to our original destination of Dighton Kansas or just stick around Scott City. Scott City won out.

Someone else told us about the athletic club and how they take in cyclists so that was our first stop after leaviing the library. For $20 we get to use the showers and sleep on the floor in one of the lesser locker rooms. It’s not as bad as it sounds as the room is carpeted and has a television and the lockers are the ones that the girls gymanstics team uses. Lewis would be able to swim while Donna and I chose not to and saved another $10.

We unloaded our bikes at the club and then headed out to the fairgrounds to join the festivities. There certainly were a lot of people eating a lot of barbecued beef. We joined in and didn’t spend a penny. The rest of the fair was a major disappointment with one exception. We walked around and looked at the livestock barns. Without exception, every animal or breed on display is an animal that is usually raised for the sole purpose of being eaten by humans. There were no cats or dogs or horses or guinea pigs. Just cows, chickens, pigs, meat goats, and sheep. Perhaps the sheep had a chance for a longer existence but I’m skeptical. And the amusment rides were totally missing. We weren’t the only ones to miss them as we asked about them and the responders all said ‘they used to be over there in the past’. The one saving feature of this carnivore fair happened to be the mechanical bull. Lewis got up the nerve to give it a try. It’s not easy riding a mechanical bull with cycling shorts on!

With satisfaction on the face of Lewis we left the Scott County Free Fair and returned to the Athletic Club where Lewis enjoyed himself in the privacy of his own pool. Donna and I took turns showering in order to keep an eye on him. Now they are both sleeping on the floor while I finish this posting. We rode 46 miles today but could have handled the additional 25 miles without too much difficulty. The winds never varied today but that hasn’t stopped us yet. What is in store for tomorrow? I won’t even hazard a guess. Unless we get a good tailwind!

I Think We are in Kansas now Toto!

Tuesday July 21

This day we make Kansas! Or die trying. Actually it wasn’t that hard. But it was harder than it would have been had we made our destination of Eads Colorado yesterday. Our wind shortened day on Monday meant we needed to pedal 64 miles to reach Kansas, and then another 16 miles to reach a community that had services like food and camping. So a total of 80 miles needed to be ridden.

A good start was mandatory and we nearly pulled it off. If it hadn’t been for the thunderstorms of last night we would have been on the road before 8:00. As it was, by the time we got the tent dried off and everything else packed up, it was closer to 9:00. With no services in Haswell other than an old service station that sold pop and chips and candy bars, we opted to pedal the 23 miles to Eads Colorado for breakfast. This is where we were supposed to be this morning which would have made todays ride that much shorter. Oh well!

The oppressive heat from yesterday was only a memory. So too were the headwinds. It was still early so these things could change but we started out with pretty good weather. The winds have really become our nemesis and today they were light and from the side. Not hindering us but also not aiding us. We could live with that. Our ride to Eads took most of 2 hours and the only restaurant we found was finished serving breakfast by the time we got there so lunch was the obvious alternative. Donna and I had sandwiches with fries and a plate for 1 trip to the salad bar for about $8 a piece. I outdid Donna by stacking almost 50% more salad bar on my plate than she stacked on hers. I win! Lewis had his favorite, a corn dog and chips.

According to our maps, we now had a 56 mile stretch of no services between Eads Colorado, and Tribune Kansas (although several small communities existed along the way). So we made the decision to go. And go we did. Seven hours of saddle time later, we arrived in Tribune (80 miles). There isn’t much else to say about the day other than it was a tough ride but not our toughest. The wind moderated off and on but continually came at us from the side. The temperatures topped out in the middle 80’s. we located the city park which coincidentally was across the road from the community pool. Lewis went swimming while Donna and I opted for the free shower instead. We camped next to a couple of Brits who are on a charity ride for cancer. They are doing the entire trip in just over half the days that we’re shooting for. They had ridden over 120 miles to arrive in Tribune. It only took us 80! We’re way better than them!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Bonus Material from Lewis Jackson


Day 49


We went to the zoo today. Things I saw at the zoo: lions, bears, monkeys, pandas, re;ptiles, racooms foxes, deer and zebra. I got to swim at the motel that we're staying at for only 15 minutes because the times on the TV is screwd up. Did 13 miles. We're at half way point. Yay. Just 50 more days to go!


Day 50


For some reason every time I count the train cars they end up in 124's or 125's. Two 124's and one 125. Day #50 later. We're camping at this cool water park. I got to run threw a couple times. I got mom's wash rag stuck on a water pipe.

The Weekend at Pueblo Colorado and Beyond

Saturday and Sunday July 18 and 19

It’s catchup time. We’re sitting in a small park waiting for any of the following: the wind to change direction, the wind to stop blowing, or the temperature to drop 20 degrees (unlikely). What I wouldn’t give for one of those cold rides we had on the Coast of Oregon! In the meantime I’ll fill you in on what has transpired since I last wrote.

We left the State Park at Pueblo Lake Saturday morning July 18th, and barely managed to avoid paying for the priveledge to camp there. We attempted to pay a ranger who was talking to someone at the entrance gate, but he told us to go to the self registration place and leave the money in a self pay envelope. When we located the self registration place, we discovered to our dismay that they were out of self pay envelopes! So we turned around and got out of there as fast as we could!

The ride into Pueblo was short and uneventful. We stopped for a tex –mex breakfast that Donna and I enjoyed and that Lewis found unpalatable. We’d feed him later. The first stop of the day was at the Pueblo City Park and Zoo. The entrance fee was forked over for all of us and this set me back a bit over $20. We spent the better part of 2 hours walking around before we’d seen everything.

We departed the zoo and headed for the old part of Pueblo where we had an appointment with a bike mechanic. Both wheels on Donna’s bike needed work as the front wheel had been bent when the bike tipped over while parked in a bike rack with loaded panniers on. The rear wheel had suffered a broken spoke sometime in the previous two days that needed to be replaced. The bike shop also had a couple of tires that I needed for the badly worn tires on the tandem. We spent almost 2 hours there while the guy worked on Donna’s wheels. In addition, we were able to replace a splintered fiberglass tent pole as they had an extra one that was laying around. The broken one was still able to hold up the tent, but it was only a matter of time before it failed completely. We left the bike shop a hundred dollars poorer but with a llittle more confidence in our equiipment.

Our next destination was the Super 8 Motel that was located on the busy outskirts of Pueblo where so many other businesses were also found. Once we located the place and checked in, we didn’t leave again except to grab a burger from Carls Junior located next door. The TV was turned on to a movie network and 5 consecutive movies were viewed by Lewis and Donna. I spent some of that time doing some of the journal from the previous couple days before joining them in front of the TV. That concludes Saturday July 18. We only rode 15 miles but managed to get a lot of things taken care of, saw a bunch of movies and saw a bunch of animals!

On Sunday morning, the 19th, we once again gorged on continental breakfast at the hotel. We packed up and headed out by 10:30. It was a promising start to an easy day. The mountains are now history and we are officially in the plains. The winds were light and variable all day and the temperature topped out in the high 80’s before afternoon cloudcover brought the temperature down just a bit. A couple of small communties were cycled through before pulling into Ordway Colorado, our stopping point. We barely managed to do some shopping for dinner before the local grocery store closed for the evening. As I was preparing to pay for some hotdogs and buns and some pork and beans, I inquired about the campground and was rewarded with a pass to camp for free in the city park. We had hoped to stay at Hotel Ordway as I was sure that we would get a great deal there being bicyclists. I had spent the night there during my journeys 13 years ago and had the pleasure of a room for $5. The same deal that all bicyclists received. The proprietor of the Hotel had been the same person who had agreed to accommodate bicyclists back in 1976 during the Bikecentennial. Unfortunately at some point in the last12 years, Hotel Ordway has changed hands. Bicyclists no longer get special priveledges. Dang!

I had left Lewis and Donna at the park. Donna was relaxing on a bench while Lewis was enjoying the community water fountain. I joined him once I returned from the grocery store and took my shower with my shorts on. This was a very refreshing way to rinse the dried perspiration from my body. Donna chose the sponge bath method of personal hygiene. The one thing we would be lacking overnight was a restroom. But with free camping, one has to make concessions. I fixed the dinner of beans and weenies which we finished just before the sun was about to set. At this point we hurriedly set up the tent and went to bed prepared to be drenched overnight with sprinklers. We’ve learned that green grass means sprinklers; and this park was green to the max. I even went to the trouble of locating the sprinkler heads in an effort to minimize the amount of the impact. Lo and behold, the sprinklers never came on!

We got up this morning with a couple objectives. The first one was to find a café which we failed at. The town of Ordway has a couple but one of them is closed on Mondays and the other just wasn’t open. We found out that there is a truck stop just outside of town so that’s where our breakfast would be. Next we needed to pick up a package at the post office compliments of Katie Doyle. This we managed to accomplish. Katie had obtained forms for Donna to replace her stolen drivers license, and had also included a few things for Lewis. A pair of robot boxer shorts and some kids flavored Cliff Bars. Bravo Katie! Finally, we had a package to send back home. This would be accumulated trinkets and gadgets and things we just didn’t really need but didn’t want to throw away.

We left the Post Office behind and made our way to the truck stop for breakfast. It wasn’t bad! And the price was right! We haven’t had a breakfast this affordable in some time. That completed, the riding began. We rode right through the first community after Ordway as it was only 5 miles distant. Subsequent communities for todays ride were few and far between.

This mornings light and variable winds became headwinds and stiff. Combined with the intense burning sun and high temps, our reserves were exhausted. All of our water was either consumed or else had been converted to near boling, rendering it unacceptable as a fluid for consumption. We had placed a couple bottles in our panniers which prevents the sun from cooking them, hence they don’t get quite as warm. But when we had consumed the first of these and had only one left, it became imperative to find replacement liquids. With 15 miles remaining to get to a town with services, we pedaled into Arlington Colorado. There are no stores, no gas stations, no nothing, except a ‘park’. There are exactly 3 houses here. We chose the sensible one and managed to obtain permission to refill our water bottles from their garden hose. That taken care of, we returned to the ‘park’. This is the same park that I mentioned at the very beginning of this entry. The park has a pit toilet, a picnic table and nothing else. The table is shaded with a few trees so that has allowed us to get out of the sun but the winds have intensified if anything during the two hours we’ve spent waiting for conditions to improve. There appears to be some thunderstorms brewing to the west but I don’t know if they will make their way here. How weird is that. We’re sitting her hoping for a thunderstorm! But anything is better than this wind! Perhaps I’ll write more later if we get a chance. Adios!

It is officially now later. We ended up spending nearly 3 hours at the ‘park’ before finally deciding to pedal away. It never cooled off, the wind was just as intense, and the rain never showed up. We just ran out of time to wait for any of these occurances to happen. With it being after 4:00 our grand plans for the day have been modified. Instead of riding another 35 miles and ending up at Eads Colorado, we headed off for Haswell. This blip on the map was only 12 miles distant but the services were limited. It took us 2 hours to pedal there and the thunderstorms never materialized while we rode. The total distance covered on this hot blustery day ended up being a modest 40 miles.

The lone establishment in Haswell had closed before we arrived so we were on our own as far as dinner was concerned. That means that it’s Ramen Noodle time! The city park that we would be staying at had a nice covered picnic area where we unpacked our belongings and went about fixing a dinner fit for a chinese emperor (or a starving college student). The remainder of our fresh fruit was devoured along with several peanut butter and jelly burritos. It doesn’t get any better than this.

Just after we finished our meal, the first thunderstorm hit. Miraculously, the tent withstood the gale force wind but it was blown almost flat before springing back up. I expected to find another broken tent pole later but didn’t. The rain that accompanied this huge blast of wind was minimal and subsided within 20 minutes. We retired to the tent at this point as the sun had set and we were tired of swatting mosquitos. The real thunderstorms came in the middle of the night and early in the morning. There were massive amounts of rain and thunder and lightning which woke me up a couple different times. But we survived.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

An Easy Friday?

Friday July 17

Does everybody feel fine and refreshed after a night at Yogi’s place? Nope, didn’t do the trick. We were all a bit sluggish today as we felt the effects of the effort from the day previous. But we had a plan that would in the end make everyone forget about the hardships that were endured late yesterday. We had a measly 50 miles to get us close to Pueblo. A token ride of 10 miles would find us in Canon City so that’s where we headed after packing up. We were going to have breakfast there and then have a relaxing 40 mile ride to get us to the State Park at Pueblo Lake. Then after spending the night at the lake, we would ride the final 12 miles into Pueblo the following day for an almost day off.

The early part of our ride into Canon City was not too bad except for the flat tire that needed to be changed on the tandem. This was only the second flat of the trip which is actually quite remarkable, considering between the two bikes, over 4000 miles have been ridden. So after a short stint on the side of highway 50 replacing the tube, we were back in the saddles. We stopped at the visitor center of Canon City and found out about the Canon Coffee Café where wifi was available, so we headed there. A hearty breakfast was had by all. I chose a tex mex breakfast burrito that was really delcious. This part of Colorado is well know for it’s Mexican food. A reservation was made at the Super 8 in Pueblo as there is no other option once you get inside the city limits. We had some business to take care while in Pueblo and the hotel room was the carrot that I dangled in front of Donna and Lewis the day before when we ended up riding the 90 miles!

While eating and relaxing and checking e-mails etc. we discovered that a Walmart was located just a few miles down the road so we headed there next. We had promised Lewis that he could purchase another one of the Transformer action figures when we hit Pueblo. In addition, he had misplaced his sunglasses a couple days earlier and was currently without. So this had to be remedied as well. But if you ask Lewis he would without a doubt tell you that the Transformer (Barricade) was the most important purchase to be made. This killed just a bit more of the early part of the day. When pulling away from Walmart there was still nearly 40 miles to be riddent before we hit the State Park. Did I mention that the light and variable winds had become once again significant (20mph) and predominantly from the southeast. Today we would be riding either south or east. Dang!

One other factor that we haven’t really discussed until now would be the effects of dropping in elevation from over 11,000 feet to just over 5,000 feet at Pueblo. It’s a lot warmer the lower you get. Cold feet at night is a thing of the past. The last 2 nights I’ve slept on top of my sleeping bag, not in it. How does this come into play you ask? When leaving Walmart the temperature was already into the high 80’s and it was barely noon. So we had a hot headwind instead of a temperate one. It really made a difference as we couldn’t seem to put enough water into our bodies. And the water bottles that we normally rely on for rehydrating us, contained hot water. Have you ever tried drinking hot water when you’re really thirsty? It’s doesn’t really satisfy a thirst although I’m sure it kept us alive.

We had a 6 mile ride to get to the next community which would be Florence Colorado. This ride was wouldn’t you know it, mostly uphill and of course into the wind. It took us an hour to get there and when we finally hit the town the thermometer on the bank building was flashing 98 degrees! We immediately began looking for a place to get a cool drink, maybe a lemonade. My initial suggestion was maybe a bit off the wall but Donna decided to take me up on it. We went bowling! They had open bowling for a buck a game and of course there was air conditioning to boot! We big spenders from Shelton Washington orered a pitcher of ice water and spent the next hour relaxing and living in the past. Some of you already know that at different times in my life I’ve spent quite a bit of time at bowling alleys. Donna was a spectator while Lewis and I battled it out on the lanes. An hour later and most of that pitcher of ice water, we were ready to tackle the rest of our ride.

Upon exiting the bowling alley I glanced up at the bank building thermometer which now was flashing 100 degrees. So much for waiting the heat out. The next community (place to exchange some of our remaining hot water for cold water) was 11 miles distant (and it turns out almost all uphill again!). So at 3:00 we begin the push to see if we can make our allotted miles to end up at the State Park. Two hours later, we pull into Wetmore Colorado only to discover that the restaurant that we had hoped to spend some time and money in, was closed. The owners had gone on vacation. We had no choice but to knock on doors to get some water. Donna led the way and selected the first house that didn’t have a “NO TRESPASSING” sign posted. The lady who answered the door was very kind and led us into her house where we drank and drank and drank until water was coming out our noses!

It was now after 5:00 and we were still nearly 20 miles from our destination. I was questioning whether we would be physically able to make it that far before night set. The average speed we had maintained for the previous 3 hours was barely 6 mph. Donna was undaunted. So we took off. The terrain was in our favor for the remainder of the ride and the wind did abate somewhat. We managed to pull into the campground at the State Park just before the sun set behind the diminishing mountains. The campground was officially full, but we ignored this and found a vacant handicap spot and set up our camp. Some really threatening clouds developed while we were setting up which were soon followed by some really screaming angry winds. The tent was ripped from the ground and would have been blown into Lake Pueblo had I not been there to grab it. I doubled up on the tent stakes and this time it held. Too windy to cook, we had peanut butter and jelly burritos, and cherries, and fritos, and plums, and chocolate cookies and lots more water. This day was not expected but we persevered! 53 miles of mind numbing bicycling. It doesn’t get any better than this!?

A Day of Highs and Lows

Thursday July 16

This was the best of days and this was the worst of days. Lets start at the beginning. Our night at The Lodge, in Breckenridge was a treat. I have to admit that I enjoyed the place. And at less than half of what someone would pay in January. I was awake by 7:00 and immediately went to find the continental breakfast, accompanied by my trusty computer. Donna and Lewis joined me in the food celebration that lasted off and on for about 2 hours. It wasn’t that the food was that good, it was that it was already paid for. I made sure that I got my money’s worth! This would have been multiple glasses of orange, grapefruit, and tomato juice followed by multiple cups of coffee with multiples of real half and half. The little pastries were not to filling so I was required to eat almost a dozen. That only left room for a couple of bagels with peanut butter and cream cheese. Donna and Lewis ate just a bit less. We took our time leaving The lodge as I could hardly move.

Shortly before 11:00 we mounted our bikes and pedaled away from The Lodge. The first 3 miles no pedaling was required as we screamed down the mountain that we had struggled to climb the evening before. What had taken us nearly 40 minutes to ascend, took only 5 minutes to descend. The beauty of riding uphill is the payoff when you get to go down. Once we returned to Breckenridge, the real riding of the day was to begin. This would be Hoosier Pass. I’ve been anticipating and dreading this pass since the first day of this trip. We had to pedal 11 miles and gain a bit over 1500 feet elevation before we could say we had licked the beast. The beast did not live up to my expectations this time. With the aid of a good tailwind, we were able to ride the first 7 miles without having to stop. From this point on we intermittently walked and rode (especially the wicked switchbacks). Just a bit over 2 hours from when we left The Lodge, we had reached the highest elevation of our trip; 11,542 feet. (photo)

We celebrated for 15 minutes before continuing our record setting day. The downhill ride from our highest elevation made everyone extremely exuberant. The first community we hit on our screaming ride down the mountain (still had great tailwinds) was a town called Alma. We stopped for a few minutes to wipe the tears from our eyes as the 40+ mph ride had each of us crying. I was particularly touched when I noticed the General Mercantile store in Alma was called ‘AlMart’ (photo). At this point we had 17 miles in and had possibly only another 7 miles before the end of our day. So we headed off.

The next community (Fairplay) was just another 15 minutes down the hill. We had lunch at a second rate café and since the wind was still pushing us downhill, we decided (collectively) to pull out the stops and push on. The next place where we might legally camp, was another 45 miles down the road. The remainder of the afternoon was spent flying along at 15 to 20 (and occassionally 30) mph due to the combined effects of the downhill and the wind. Groceries were purchased in the town of Hartsel (Rainier Cherries, canned tuna, canned chicken, Fritos, some really good plums, our 4th jar of Peanut Butter, and a package of flour torillas). We were now set for whatever would come our way.

The small community of Guffey Colorado was where we expected to camp. The small community of Guffey Colorado is where we should have stopped to camp. We bypassed the small communtiy of Guffy Colorado because I saw the possibility of a new record for miles in one day. What I failed to tell you is that the favorable tailwinds, shifted 180 degrees just minutes before we approached the intersection that would take us to Guffey. What had previously been pushing us along, was now right in our faces. But I was certain that this was just an anomoly. Surely the wind which had been blowing from the north all day long would go right back to blowing from the the north. Didn’t happen. Too late! We set our sights on an intersection of Highway 9 and Highway 50 (just 10 miles before Canon City: pronounced canyon). This was a piddly 20 miles further down the road.

I had assured everyone involved that we would continue to ride downhill. And a fair amount of that 20 miles was downhill. But the portions that weren’t meant we struggled mightly and very slowly as the wind had strangely intensified against us. The downhills we now rode at barely 12 mph and the flats and uphills were half that or less. It’s almost like someone or something was trying to prevent us from reaching new milestones! But we would not be deterred! However, the euphoric highs that we had experienced earlier, now were replaced with doubt concerning my sanity. That’s OK though as my sanity has been questioned on multiple times and found to be lacking!

At 8:00 we pulled into Yogi Bears JellyStone Campground, got a site, missed the pool as it closed at 8:00, took a shower, set up the tent and ran out of daylight before a meal could be prepared. So we ate peanut butter and jelly burritos and fritos and fruit in the cozy comfort of our tent. Everyone was exhausted as well they should be. The day which had started out by conquering Hoosier Pass, ended with us dragging our tails between our legs when pulling into Yogi’s place. But we did ride 90 miles!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Bonus Material (Lewis)

Day #45

Do you know the worst part of the trip? Not the hills. Not the wind. Dads Farts! He never warns me except for when he says ‘plug your ears’ or ‘close your eyes’. He doesn’t say ‘hold your nose’.

We’re staying in a huge room in a huge motel for only 75 dollars. We were on a roller coaster path to get here.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

You Don't Need to be a Weatherman to Know Which Way the WInd Blows

Wednesday July 15

What a difference a day makes! This morning we hung around the Eastin Hotel until after 10:00 doing wifi and enjoying our breakfast that we purchased at the grocery store yesterday as we entered town. This consisted of chocolate muffins, bananas, plums and some mexican style pastries. The weather forecast was for temperatrures in the 70’s with increasing winds. No mention was made of which direction the wind would be from today. But we just didn’t care. That is the attitude to take because you cant control the weather.

Our destination today was Breckenridge Colorado. This was a 55 mile ride with an elevation gain of over 2000 feet from the time we left Kremmling. We were prepared for the worst and ended up getting the best. The moderate winds during the late morning were directly behind us, pushing the the bikes. We hit our first community of the day, Silverthorne, after 35 miles which took a little over 3 hours of riding time. After visiting a bike shop to look for some replacement tires (no luck) we hit the Burger King for a late lunch.

The remainder of the days ride was done on paved bike trails that connected Silverthorne to Frisco and then to Breckenridge. This was such a refreshing change of pace that we were hardly aware of the fact that we were continually gaining elevation. The winds did in fact intensify over the course of the day but they remained at our backs! Colorado has redeemed itself.

The only downside of this day occurred after we pulled into town. The Hostel that we hoped to stay at was full. It turned out that their rate of $28 a head would have cost us over $80 plus tax just to stay in a dormitory setting. There was no camping to be found in Breckenridge as we had passed the only campgrounds about 8 miles before hitting town. If it would have been just me, I would have hung out in town enjoying the microbrewery and then just before dark, set up behind a church or school. I suggested this to Donna but I knew before the words were out of my mouth that she wouldn’t go for it. While she may have the physique of a touring cyclist, she has yet to master the mindset of one. Oh well, it’s the price I have to pay to bring the family on an adventure like this. We were directed to the visitor center in town where we found a ski lodge just outside of town where we could get a room for $79 plus tax. This was the absolute lowest price for an establishment that still had vacancies. So we told the lodge to hold the room as we would be arriving by bicycle. The visitor center lady gave us a map that indicated we had about 3 miles to get to the lodge. What the map didn’t indicate was the topography. We had to climb the entire 3 miles to get here. Oh well. That’s the price we had to pay in order not to be sleeping behind the Presbyterian Church! I’ll be posting this tonite as there is wifi in the lobby and in the morning we get to enjoy the continental breakfast. Tomorrow comes Hoosier Pass (elevation 11,542 feet) and our final crossing of the continental divide. From there I’ve heard that it’ll be all downhill until we reach the Atlantic ocean!

The Wind Won Again

Tuesday July 14

You’ve already heard about the stinking sprinklers so I wont go there. I failed to mention the biting cold. Brrrrr! It must have been in the middle 30’s last night and our lightweight sleeping bags are only rated for 40 degrees. It’s easy to correct for this deficiency by wearing clothing to bed. Trouble is Lewis fights this and then pays the price. But this cold really caught us by surprise as it was so warm the night before and equally warm all day before the thunderstorms rolled thru. Must be the elevation.

So I’ve been awake since 4:00 and Donna woke at 4:00 but managed to fall back to sleep. Lewis didn’t wake up until we shook him out of his bag at about 7:00. At this point we had already taken care of our stuff and the tent was empty with the exception of Lewis curled into a fetal position inside his sleeping bag. With some grumbling on his part, he was up and dressed by 7:15. We finished packing everything except the tent and proceeded to walk back to the Moose Creek Café for a warm breakfast. The plan was to let the tent dry off from the overnight drenching that it received while we recharged our batteries with food! It was another spectacular blue sky morning with no hint of what might come. Still very chilly though.

I had the eggs and bacon and hashbrowns as did Donna. Lewis opted for the $3 cinamon roll which he ate only half of. But not to worry, this family doesn’t have enough food as it is so someone else took care of the rest of that cinamon roll! Barely an hour later we returned to our tent to find it still wet. It had been sittiing in the sun so barely one side of it dried. We rotated it and wiped some of it off with a rag and 20 minutes later we were ready to depart.

The morning ritual hasn’t changed much from the time we’ve started. Donna and I take down the camp and Lewis finds something to occupy himself until it’s time to leave. Today he met a group of elementary aged girls who happened to be rollerblading through the park. He followed them around for a while and eventually was given the opportunity to try rollerblades himself (photo). Now he’s decided that he wants rollerblades when he returns home, just not pink!

The winds from Wyoming that had followed us into Colorado had begun to blow. By the time we left the city park, they were significant 20 to 30 mph, mostly in our face. We had planned on pedaling to Hot Sulpher Springs Colorado today which was 59 miles distant. Our first decision of the day was just a half mile from town. We happened on a road sign that indicated if we took a different highway than the one shown on our cycling map, we might find ourselves in the community of Kremmling by the end of the day. This would be a ride of 61 miles. The beauty part of this is that if we followed our maps and stopped at the Sulphur Hot Springs, we would hit Kremmling the following day after a 17 mile ride. We had stumbled upon a 17 mile shortcut! Donna and I debated the pros and cons of one way versus the other and finally decided to take a chance and go for the shorter route. The route that was mapped for us had no services all day although there were several places to camp which meant we would be able to refill our water bottles at any rate. The unknow route was basically that, unknown.

Boy did we struggle with the wind today. It even took it’s toll on Lewis who is normally unfazed by anything that we have to endure. After 4 hours of pedaling we had covered about 23 miles. I remember 3 years ago when I ran my last marathon in Olympia and I completed the 26 mile course in just a bit over 4 hours. So we were riding into the wind at a speed slower than what a formerly fat 48 year old guy could run! The terrain was definitely rolling with slightly more uphills than down. But it was the wind that won today.

I was so mentally fatigued from the howling in my ears and the painstakingly slow pace we were riding that I chose to get off and walk at least a half dozen times while Donna chose to ride on. I can handle smaller hills, or I can handle wind. But when you combine the two, I just gave up. While Donna seems to be enjoying the fact that she is able to ride these hills while I prefer to walk, you have to remember that I’m pedaling a tandem that tips the scales at somewhere above 150 pounds before my weight is included. Donna is riding a bike that weighs in at less than half that. And when you think about wind resistance, the sheer size of the tandem would make it slower into the wind all other things being equal.

You probably noticed that I didn’t take into account the benefit of having a nine year on the back of your tandem. That’s because there is no significant benefit. While Lewis will pedal for a while when I ask him to help me conquer some particular hill, he eventually stops putting out effort , usually well short of reaching whatever goal I’d asked him to help me with. I can’t get angry at his lack of enthusiasm as I had expected this. But it wears me down. By dismounting and walking, I end up attacking these hills at 3.1 mph with significantly less effort involved compared to pedaling with Lewis and going all of 4.6 mph. It just isn’t worth the extra effort required to pedal. A side bonus is that Lewis ends up getting more exercise by walking than what he would from riding. He is beginning to realize this and when I ask him if he’s ready to walk, he starts to pedal!

We continue plodding along as our destination for the day seems impossibly far away. We are extremely fortunate that the temperatures remain pleasant in the lower 70’s as anything hotter would have exhausted our supply of liquids. The carrot that I hold out to both Donna and Lewis is the fact that at mile 28 there is a different road that we take. We’ll be turning 90degrees and by doing so, should be able to convert the head winds into side winds with possibly even a chance of them coming from behind. It was nearly 5 hours in the saddle when we finally change direction and sure enough, the winds are definitely not in our faces now. In addition, we’ve reached the high point in elevation for the day as we cross the continental divide, ascending to 9400 feet. We met a couple of guys from Texas going in the opposite direction; they are relaxing after having ridden up the pass that we are now preparing to fly down. They expected we would have an easier ride for a while as they had been struggling with head winds coming up the pass.

We flew down the pass, and continued to ride mostly downhill to reach our destination of the day, Kremmling. The final 33 miles took just over 2 hours while the first 28 miles I already told you about. What a change. But it wasn’t enough of a change to make this an enjoyable day. It was just fortunate that it happened as I was beginning to think that we would be camping on the side of the road after reaching the point of exhaustion.

We grabbed some groceries and headed towards the Hotel Eastin. This is a European style hotel similar to a hostel. For about $40 we get a room with 2 beds but no private bath or no TV. Doesn’t matter to Lewis as a TV is in the lobby and he’s watching Sponge Bob while I finish up this posting. Donna had a rough night as she reported a bout of diarrhea and woke with a headache. Might be the altitude or might be a delayed reaction to what we endured yesterday. We’ve got a llittle while to get things taken care of here including a breakfast of muffins and coffee and yogurt. And then it’s on to Breckenridge.

Wyoming Winds

Monday July 13

This was a tiring day. Exhausting. You would think that with a day off everything would be rosy, fresh and vibrant. Didn’t happen. We woke up OK at the Saratoga Lake campground despite my paranoid fears that someone would intentionally drive over top of our tent. This is due primarily to the fact that we were required to set up directly behind the “office”. This also happened to be right next to the driveway and there were at least 4 vehicles that drove by our tent overnight. The headlights would light up the inside of our tent and then I’d listen to the engine as the vehicle drove by; not once did they decide to drive over our tent! That was a big relief but I still woke up each time someone drove by.

We crawled out of our bags in the morn and managed to get everything packed up and were actually pedaling away around 8:00. This is a pretty good start for us. Breakfast was next on the bill. We had purchased some cinamon rolls the day before. These were enjoyed outside of the café Lollipop and were washed down with some of their coffee and a hot chocolate for Lewis. There was still no reason to be exhausted. Next we went to the community center to use their wifi. Unfortunately, the battery was exhausted on the computer so we couldn’t update our blog or check e-mails. Still no reason to need a rest. So we began our ride.

Our intent was to get an early start in order to beat the winds of Wyoming. Our 9:00 start barely qualifies as early and our plan was faulty. Almost immediately we were pedaling into a head wind. Wyoming is really starting to annoy us. Our first and only stop of the day to purchase refreshments happened at 8 miles. We were aware of the fact that the next place to buy a soda or a gatorade or a candybar was nearly 62 miles further. So we stocked up on liquids and headed out.

The skies that had been cloudless when we awoke began adding clouds as we rode. The temperature which had been a pleasant 62 degrees when we departed, rose into the 80’s. The wind remained the one constant. And we rode on. Team Jackson crossed into Colorado at mile 28 of this day and were surprised to discover that it was windy there too! Now we don’t like Colorado either.

And we rode on and on. For most of an hour we had been running away from lightning strikes in the hills behind us. After 6 and a half hours of riding time (not including any stops) we were forced to stop and take cover as a series of severe thunderstorms cornered us just 8 miles from our final destination. Fortuanately an RV park happened to be within sight as the first raindrops fell. We parked our bikes under a covered picnic table area and ran to the bathrooms to stay out of the wind and weather. We huddled just outside the bathroom door under cover of the rain and watched the display of lightning and listened to the thunder. Lewis has had limited experience with thunderstorms so he was enraptured. I was just hoping it would hurry up and blow over so we could get the final 8 miles in and have a chance to eat and check out the community pool.

After three quarters of an hour, we were finally able to leave with confidence that the thunderstorms had left the area. Less than an hour later, we pulled into Walden Wyoming; elevation 8011 feet above sea level. Having pedaled a total of 7 and a half hours to cover the 72 miles ridden, is what I believe zapped all of my reserves (or it could have been the altitude?). It was nearly 7:00 when we arrived so we immediately started looking for the city park where we would be setting up. We found one behind the courthouse but couldn’t identify where the community pool might be, where a shower could be had. It was supposed to be a block away but we were clueless. So we changed gears and found a place to have dinner. We located the Moose Creek Café on main street and temporarily filled the voids that were in our stomachs. A guy at the restauarant let us use his cell phone to call the Sheriff to let them know we were going to be staying in the park. This is how we found out we had the wrong park.

With directions in hand we left the café and located the right park and then located the pool. Intially only Lewis was going to swim ($2) while Donna and I were going to be bathing in the bathroom at the park. The pool charged $3 for adults to use the showers which seemed a bit steep. But the same $3 would also get admittance into the pool. While Lewis swam and Donna watched, I returned to the park and set up the tent. While setting up our camp I came to the decision to bite the bullet and pay for Donna and me to swim. I ended up swimming with Lewis for the better part of and hour while Donna opted to use her $3 for an extra long shower with no swimming. She spent quite a bit more time on the computer “tweaking” her initial posting on the blog. It ended up that Lewis and I were the only people in the pool so it was our private pool party (photo). The pool closed at 10:00 and at 5 till we left the premises.

That should have been the end of the story as we returned to the tent and everything was as it should be. We retired to our sleeping bags and that should have been the end of the story. If only those stinking sprinklers didn’t come on at 4:00 in the morning, everything would have been peachy. Or not!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Saturday July 11

What a difference a soft bed makes to a 51 year old body. Thanks again gang from the lab! We took our time leaving the comfortable beds behind. The strategy was to visit the bike shop on the way out of town as we didn’t get around to doing it yesterday. At 10:00 we pulled away from the Quality Inn and within 10 minutes we’d found the bike shop. That’s pretty good for us as we usually go around in circles when trying to locate something in a larger town. The bike shop was a little disappointing as they didn’t have the tire I was hoping to purchase. The rear tire on the tandem is showing significant wear as it is now pretty much bald. The front tire still has some miles remaining so I’ve decided to rotate the tires to get just a few more miles before tossing them. They were purchased this spring and now have just over 2000 miles on them. I wasn’t expecting to have to replace them in the middle of the trip. Oh well! We’ll see if we can find a better bike shop in Pueblo Colorado when we get there in just over a week.

We left the bike shop and within 5 minutes were pedaling our bikes East down I-80. This is by far the biggest road we’ve ridden as it is a divided interstate with 2 lanes in each direction. We’ve ridden plenty of roads that have carried more traffic though. I-80 was mostly truck traffic. We’ve noticed that the drivers in Wyoming are more courteous to bicyclists than in any other state. This includes the the semi-truck drivers who almost always moved over to the far lane when passing us even though we had an 8 foot shoulder of our own and we usually rode as far to the right as possible. Montana has had the most aggressive drivers to date. Another interesting side note is the number of people in Montana who drive pickups. It seemed like 3 out of every 4 vehicles that passed us was a pickup. Now back to today. We rode 20 miles on I-80 before leavi ng the interstate behind. While riding I-80 we were headed due East. When we left the interstate we immediately changed direction to due South. While pedaling east, we had a light tailwind that came from the Southwest. Once we started riding south, the wind picked up again and became oppressive as it so often does here in Wyoming. But we had only 20 or so miles left to finish our ride for the day.

The final 20 miles took us nearly 3 hours but there was no hurry to finish. Pulled into Saratoga to discover a tourist community nestled amongst the dry semi-arid hills. They actually had some trees as the Platte River bisects the town. Coming into town there was nothing but sagebrush and the occasional flattened rattlesnake or rabbit on the side of the road. The town has some similarities to an old west settiing but it’s inconsistent. Our late lunch/early dinner was taken at JW Hugus. Donna and I both had burgers and Lewis had chicken tenders. The food was good and the staff was friendly.

We found out about the town pool and the free hotsprings located just behind the pool, so that’s where we headed next. After standing around watching and listening to the locals, Donna and I decided to use the free showers while Lewis opted to take advantage of the pool. So he paid $1 and swam for the better part of an hour and a half while we watched from the deck for free. We promised to swim with him tomorrow as we are planning to take the day off Sunday and just hang around Saratoga. The skies that had been partly cloudy all day (86 degrees)began showin signs of rain so we rounded up Lewis and headed for the campground located a mile outside of town. We had already passed it on our way in so this was just a bit of backtracking. We pedaled the 2 miles and managed to get everything set up before the rain started. And just like that the rain stopped. This kind of rain we can handle!

That is about it for now but I have a feeling that Donna is finally going to put her 2 cents worth into this blog. I’ve been after her since the first week to just throw in a comment so people could get an idea of what was going through her head. Since Sunday will be a day off it just might happen. I’m signing off for now and won’t be reporting anything again until the end of the day on Monday. Sayonara!



My First Trimester (by Donna)

I’ve had lots of time to think on the bike, and writing my thoughts down to share with my friends and family is long overdo. Let me start from the beginning. This trip has had some challenges way before we hit the road. (What are you looking for this time, Alan?) I promised to at least try it and told everyone I was supporting Alan’s dream. Alan promised me a kiss every day of the trip, and Lewis gets a penny a mile. For myself, I haven’t had a challenge of this magnitude since I had Lewis!

The “incident” in Eugene was an eye opener. I still think of some of my things that were stolen in exchange for what we learned. “They’re just things” Alan said. I realize now that you can’t put a price on what we’re experiencing during this adventure, including family bonding and personal growth (while Alan shrinks!).

Every day is a plesant trip down memory lane for me; the smell of fresh cut hay and livestock (my nose still knows the difference between dairy and beef cows) the sound of the Meadow Lark, the smell of the big tree we used to have behind our house, popping tar bubbles, thunderstorms, Indan fried bread almost as good as Grandma’s, and our neighbor’s bull that used to scare Dad on his electric wheel chair adventures. During my practice drives Dad used to tell me “Look at it. Don’t drive at it”. I still do this on the bike, and have somehow managed to stay out of the rivers and ravines.

The first part of the trip was a mental and physical adjustment for me. I was sore most of the time and exhausted. Now I’m sore some of the time and passing Alan on the inclines (I wonder if this gives him goose bumps) unless Lewis wants to race. The tent seems like home now—home is where the heart is—so I’m sleeping better at night. The only thing I miss is not being able to collect special rocks, and baking. Alan does all the camp cooking. There’s no sense in both of us singeing our knuckle hairs!

I’ve been through these states before in a car but it’s not the same. I see and experience more on a bike; the Lewis and Clark Trail, Oregon Trail, and the very sad flight of the Nez Perce Indians. So far Wyoming has been my favorite state, but I say that with every new state we pedal through. The roads and cow folks are very friendly here, plus I have more photos of this state then any other so far. Wyoming women were the pioneers of the women’s suffrage movement and were voting before Wyoming joined the USA. They were hard workers and the men knew they couldn’t make it without their women.

Alan realizes he couldn’t do this trip without me. He’s the captain (or is it chief in Wyoming), I’m the support person/photographer, and Lewis is the moral officer. Lewis’ endless supply of energy and happy disposition has saved this trip countless times. When I’m tackling a hill or strong head wind, he’s singing “Meet you at the bottom!” or pretending to fly with his arms. His arms move more than his legs on the back of the tandem. I can’t tell if he’s pointing at something or playing Transformers.

Now that the “incident” in Eugene is behind us, the worst part of the trip has been mosquitos, eye ball bouncing rumble strips, and very strong head winds. I’ve gotten used to riding in the rain and even wore a perma-grin on my face when we were pelted with hail. The hill climbs are compensated by exhilerating down hill rides. Yeehaw! I think of Moms words a lot, “What goes up, must come down”. She was referring to my good moods, or hers. Happiness is a choice, and it’s more fun when you have someone to share it with.

So here I am over 2,000 miles, 43 days, and less than 20 kisses later (but who’s counting); well into the second trimester. I am sporting an attractive biker’s tan, a tatoo of a bike chain on my right calf, and permanently chapped lips. Too late to back out now! We’re in it together until the happy end. Or is it just the beginning…

Friday, July 10, 2009

And the cowboy never showed up...

Friday July 10

Our night at the campground that wasn’t a campground was not one of relaxation. The wind that normally subsides as night falls, failed to do so. Our tent was hopping and bouncing all night long (no sexual inuendos) and it kept Donna and myself from getting any quality rest. Lewis doesn’t seem to be phased by anything when it comes to sleep. I was also paranoid just a bit for whatever reason. This same thing happened to me 13 years ago when I was traveling through Wyoming on bike. Almost exactly! A night of little or no sleep in a wind racked tent accompanied by thoughts of a cowboy showing up with a shotgun and blasting away at my tent. Kind of hard to sleep when those thoughts go through your head. Fortunately the cowboy never showed up (then or now). The wind subsided just before dawn but it was too late for us to make up for our sleep deficit.
We crawled out of our sleeping bags around 7:00 and by 8:00 were on our way to the next stop down the road for breakfast.

Grandmas café was exactly 11 miles from Muddy Gap. This place was really disgusting. Grandma was probably in her late 40’s and only had about half of her teeth. This isn’t what made it disgusting but it paints a more vivid picture. Everything in the place was circa 1950 but not kept up. There was no pride of ownership in the entire restaurant. I don’t know who frequents this place as no one else ate there while we were present. The first thing I always notice about a breakfast place is whether or not they have real half and half or if they use that artificial crap. Grandma had nothing but the artificial crap. Her coffee left something to be desired too! The other issue I had was with the toast that came with Lewis’ omelet. It appeared to be buttered, but the flavor of whatever was on the toast was nothing close to butter and even margarine would have been a vast improvement over whatever granny used. I,however, had pancakes which were served with small packets of actual butter. So they do know about the concept of real dairy, but prefer to use the cheaper stuff whenever they can get away with it. Perhaps the most scathing reproach for the place came from a comment that I got from Donna on the cleanliness of the restroom. I didn’t have cause to frequent it but from what Donna said, I’ll be a better person for not having seen the filth in there. I’m giving this place another year or 2 at most before it folds up and goes the way of most of Jeffrey City.

We left grannys with the funny taste of margarine substitute on our palates. Yuck! With 11 miles under our belt we had only 33 more miles to make our destination of the day, Rawlins Wy. We decided several days ago that we wanted to spend some time in Rawlins and after pedaling over 80 miles yesterday, our ride today is an easy one. We are being treated to a Motel room in Rawlins courtesy of several people who work with me at the laboratory. Debbie, Vicki, Andrea, Wally, Lisa, Lori, and Bob pitched in and covered the expense for a one night stay at the Quality Inn. Thank you, Debbie, Vicki, Andrea, Wally, Lisa, Lori, and Bob. You’ve gone above and beyond what most coworkers would do for one of their own, especially considering what a slacker and pain in the ass that I am! I think I feel a tear coming on. Oops, it was just a grain of Wyoming dirt that got blown into my eye! If this gives anyone else out there any great ideas, then make sure you follow through!

The remaining miles were a bit tougher than either Donna or I had expected. We had to cross the continental divide 2 more times today but these were smallish climbs. And the wind was not a factor as we did the majority of our pedaling before noon. I think the long day yesterday just caught up to us. In fact we’ve probably accumulated more miles in the last 6 days than in any other 7 day period. So it must be just a touch of fatigue.

We pulled into town by 1:30 and immediately found our room. Since I was still hungry (I’m usually hungry quite a bit I’ve noticed lately) and a Pizza Hut was just a short walk from our room, we decided to hit the lunchtime buffet. We managed to get in just before they called it quits. We stuffed ourselves with pizza and salad and soda. This lunch also just happened to be a gift. This time it was in the form of a Pizza Hut Gift Card that had been presented to us at our bonvoyage party just days before we left. The Barkmans from Shelton are the donors. Bravo Kirsten, Eric, Joel, and Kara. Team Jackson thanks you wholeheartedly.

After our late lunch/early dinner, we retired to our room to watch TV and snack on some cheese and crackers and enjoy a cold beverage of choice. We had grand plans to do lots of stuff in Rawlins but we were tired, and Donna had a head ache and Lewis couldn’t care less as he had a television with cartoon network. Tomorrow morning we swim for a bit, take our time packing up, and follow this up with another easy ride of about 40 miles. When I was discussing our plans for tomorrow with Donna and Lewis, I have to share with you what Lewis’ response was when he heard we were shooting for Saratoga Wyoming; “We only have to ride 40 miles? That’ll be easy!” He’s been converted to a touring cyclist (although he’s certainly not had the tough road that Donna’s pedaled). The both of them are now sleeping and I’m about ready to call it quits as well.

Bonus Material (installment #3)

Day 39

We did 82 miles today! Thats our record. Now lets try to go farther than that. We were racing an antelope. I got to go swimming in a huge swimming pool. I would climb up a rock wall and fall down in the water.

Three days for the price of one!

Thursday July 9

Today was a whirllwind. Literally! Our camping at the city park in Lander was as good as free camping gets. We were awake at 6:30 and a little after 7:30 we were pulling away. The plan was to find a non-smoking establishment and have a full breakfast since no money was spent camping. The first place we stopped at was a winner. The name escapes me now but the prices were OK and they had wifi. I had intended on eating a smaller breakfast since I’d been snacking on fruit and granola bars, but when I had to chose, I went for the big one. Donna had an omelette and Lewis had the french toast. We spent over an hour in there as the place was packed and there was only one waitress who also had to bus the tables and act as cashier. But she did this with a smile and everyone was sympathetic towards her. I didn’t mind waiting a little for our food as I was trying to load some pictures onto the blog which takes at least 5 minutes for each picture.

A little before 10:00 we were ready to roll. Almost. A quick stop at the local grocery store for some electrolyte replacement fluids (gatorade) and we were rolling out of town. The ride today was pleasant initially as the early morning temperatures were in the low 60’s with hardly a cloud in the sky. The wicked winds from yesterday had abated overnight and there was only the hint of a breeze which seemed to be coming from the side. There were some rolling hills which aren’t too bad but at about 25 miles we came to our only real climb of the day. This 1000 foot elevation gain would take us very near to our first possible spot for camping. Since the wind had not materialized the climb was difficult but not gut wrenching. It took the better part of an hour to ride the 4 miles that got us to the top of the hill. From there we had another easy rolling up and down ride to get to SweetWater Station. This would be the 40 mile point of our day. It was about 2:00 when we pulled into the rest area at Sweetwater and we noticed immediately that the wind was beginning to pick up just a bit. We didn’t pay it any attention and went about our business of preparing lunch. However the wind intensified dramatically in just 15 minutes, forcing me to change picnic shelters to one that had a better wind block as all of our stuff kept getting blown off the table. When I checked the direction of the wind I was ecstatic! It was literally howling in the direction that we would be riding when our lunch was done.

Not wanting to waste any of this free momentum, we quickly finished off our peanut butter and jelly burritos (Donna), peanut butter and chocolate chip and honey burritos (Lewis) and an onion bagel (Alan). We all snacked on potato chips and cookies and strawberries as well. With our water supply replenished, we were on our way. This would be the ride of the bike trip so far. The wind had to be in excess of 30 mph and literally blew us down the Wyoming Highway 287. Our average speed on the flats was about 25 mph and going downhill the tandem topped out at nearly 44 mph. The rolling hills that we would have normally put into low gear and tackled at 5 or 6 mph, were a piece of cake as we flew up them at 12 to 14 mph. This is what cycling tourist live for.

So we set our sights on the town of Jeffrey City which was a 19 mile ride from Sweetwater. In Jeffrey there is only one restaurant and everything else in town has gone under. This community of 30 people at one time had over 1000 inhabitants. That would have been when the Uranium mine was still productive and there were lots of jobs. Now it is as close to a modern ghost town as you will see. Everything is boarded up and most houses and places of business appear deserted. So we managed to pedal the 19 miles in just about an hour. There was no real campground in Jeffrey but the owner of the restaurant has been known to allow camping behind her establishment. But we also heard that she’s not a very pleasant person. Since the wind was still at our backs we decided to go for the next stop (Muddy Gap)which was another 22 miles down the same road.

This is when the direction of the wind changed enough for us to feel the difference. It wasn’t a head wind, but it also wasn’t as helpful as it was just minutes earlier. The 22 mile ride took nearly 2 hours but we had made Muddy Gap and in the process had set a new milestone for miles covered in one day: 82! The anticipated café to camp behind ended up being another 15 miles down the road, into the wind, so we stayed at Muddy Gap. This place isn’t even a community but rather the place where 2 highways intersect. There is exactly one establishment here which is a gas station which sells some overpriced groceries. They charged us $12 to dry camp beside the store which means we get no shower and there is no water to be had once the store closes at 9:00. But we could use the restroom to freshen up which we did.

This is a non standard campground as we are the only people here so Lewis is out of luck as far as finding a family to bond with. But never fear! Lewis discovered the joy of catching grasshoppers. Donna and I were relaxing in the tent waiting for the wind to settle and watching Lewis jumping around like a young coyote pup might do while trying to catch mice. It was hilarious. He was unaware that we were watching him which made it all the better.

Just before dark I prepared our dinner of Rice-A-Roni which we devoured ravenously. So the granola bars were brought out along with the potato chips. Everyone has dined and Donna is fading into sleep. Lewis wants a back rub so I guess I’ll sign off and do the rest of my catching up tomorrow.

Wednesday July 8

This day began with some threatening clouds but that’s all they (the clouds) could muster. We packed up and were ready to leave KOA before 8:00. This is like a new record! Had an impromptu breakfast consisting of glazed donuts and coffee at the Donut Castle. This brings back fond memories of my first big bike tour, having lived on junk like that for nearly 4 months! We haven’t had nearly as many donut or pastry breakfasts as we should have had by now. But there will be plenty of opportunities to correct this! Donna was a bit miffed as she couldn’t enjoy her breakfast due to someone smoking in the dining room. Wyoming is not with it as far as non-smoking regulations. We will from now on inquire about their policies before we decide to eat or go. After a 15 minute breakfast, we were ready to make miles. Our destination for the day was Lander Wyoming. This would be a lengthy ride of some 63 miles. The cloudy day was soon anything but as the puffy gray shapes gave way to mostly sunny skies. We were able to pedal an astonishing 50 miles before 1:00 pm having stopped just a couple times for snacks and once to buy some genuine Indian Beadwork Jewelry at Crowheart Wyoming. A late lunch (2:00) was taken care of at Fort Washakie Indian Reservation. This is when we noticed that the wind which had been moderate and mostly behind us, had intensified and was mostly now in our faces. Good thing we had covered so many miles early on because they were coming a lot harder after lunch.

The final 15 miles from Fort Washakie to Lander took nearly 2 hours with no stops. It was such a drastic change from the morning ride where both Donna and I felt euphoric while pedaling with little effort and making 17 to 20 mph. We were in the zone. And then just a few hours later we were cursing the wind. Funny how that happens. But we made it. First stop was at the museum where an hour was spent looking at historical stuff. Really neat place. Next we went to find the Junior High where a pool and showers were available. Without taking a shower, we left to hunt down the city park of Lander where we would be spending the night. Once we located the park we set up our tent and then set off on our bikes to get dinner. Tonite it was Lewis’ turn to pick dining establishments so we ended up at McDonalds. Yeah!

From McDonalds we wound our way through town back to the Junior High. For $5 we all got to swim and also enjoy the jacuzzi. They have a wonderful facility there with a rock climbing wall adjacent to the pool (photo). One of the swim team moms was outside the pool telling us about the history of Lander and their dominance of swimming in the entire state. The boys team have been State champs for 14 consecutive years while the girls team have only been State champs for 7 or 8 of those same years. Quite impressive. They kicked us out of the pool at 8:00 so we went back to the park but not before stopping at Safeway to get some groceries. And the tandem got stolen (bad joke, but couldn’t resist Stan). When we returned to the park we noticed that the number of tents had exploded. Evidently there is some kind of climbing festival taking place this weekend and the city park is where they all go to flop. We’re in good company! I spent an extra hour outside in the dark journaling while Donna and Lewis are sawing logs. Well, only Lewis was sleeping. The climbers have a lot of energy and didn’t quiet down for quite a while. But eventually everyone rested, including me. A long day of 78 miles, adios!

Tuesday July 7

We enjoyed a relatively peaceful stay at the Colter Bay Village campground. When we got around to leaving our tent we were surprised to discover that every other occupant in our area had already departed. This would have been at about 8:30. Donna realized that we evidently are not of the same caliber as most of the other cyclists. Perhaps we’ll work on this a bit. So we enjoyed our breakfast of fresh coffee, cream cheese coffee cake and a quart of chocolate milk and a half gallon of OJ. I think we’ve got the eating part down!
By the time we were packed up it was approaching, yep 10:00. But this doesn’t foul our mood in the least. The early riding is a lot of up and down which we can handle now. When the up and down gets replaced with just up and up, we’re still novices. This happened today. At about 25 miles we began the ascent of Togwotee Pass which will be the highest elevation in Wyoming at 9658 feet. Initially it wasn’t to bad as the gradient was gentle enough to ride in lower gears. But that only lasts so long on these monster climbs. So as we have been known to do on this adventure, we dismounted and began to push the bikes up the hill. Then we got back in the saddle and then we got off to push some more. We must have been approaching the halfway point in this climb and were doing one of the pushing instead of pedaling episodes and a guy pulled up next to Donna in an attempt to give her a hard time. “You’re supposed to ride the bicycle” he quipped. When Donna explained our theory of how the Universe would tip and everything might explode if we rode too many of these hills, he was satisfied. When he finally offered us a lift, we jumped at the opportunity.

We were quickly approaching the section of this highway where major construction was taking place. And when major construction occurs on steep highways, they always force the bikes to take a ride in the back of a pilot vehicle. We had a taste of this yesterday and were warned about the extent of todays construction. I had previously informed Donna and Lewis that it would be to our advantage to find a ride to the top of the pass so we actually thumbed it but to no avail. We had to be selective in finding a ride as the tandem doesn’t fit in just any vehicle. But every time we tried, we were ignored. So when the offer was made to Donna she accepted for all of us.

Don and his friend Sandy were on their way to Dubois which is where we had hoped to spend the night. Don has a regular full size pickup with a canopy. The bed was partially full of stuff but we were able to rearrange things and managed to first fit the tandem in (the rear wheel resting right on the edge of the folded down tailgate),and then we managed to wedge Donna’s bike in next to it. Don had some of those industrial strength tiedowns which we used to secure the bikes to his truck bed. The trickiest part of this maneuver was the wedging in of Donna and Lewis and myself into the tiny backseat area of the cab. He had the little fold down seats that might have been used for small children. But small children Donna and I are not. We managed to squeeze in then Lewis sat on my lap. Quite cozy to say the least. Within a mile or so we encountered the first construction stop and saw a large group of cyclists waiting for their turn to be loaded into the pilot truck. After 3 or 4 bikes had been loaded, the pilot truck took off with 30 or 40 vehicles following (one of which we were in). In 2 or 3 miles, the pilot vehicle pulls over, deposits the bicycles then turns around to lead the traffic back in the opposite direction. Since we were now safely situated in our own “Private Pilot Vehicle” we skipped the unpleasant task of loading and unloading that holds a certain amount of risk of damage to the bikes. In the 13 miles we rode with Don and Sandy, we avoided 4 separate stretches where the piloting would have been mandatory (not to mention the onerous task of pedaling the bikes up the remainder of the pass). And so long as neither of our bikes fell out of the back of his truck, we were going to be way ahead of the large group of cyclists that we passed. Bonus!

Don and Sandy deposited us just past the final construction site which was located just on the downward side of the pass. We took pictures of our first Guardian Angels of this trip (photo). Thanks again Don and Sandy. We sometimes flew and we sometimes pedaled our way to Dubois which was another 20 miles. The wind came out of nowhere and made the ride a bit tricky as it was pushing us all over the road, but we persevered!

We pulled into Dubois a bit after 5:00 and immediately found the KOA campground. The spot costs me $28 but with a pool and wifi, I figured it wasn’t too bad a deal. The wifi didn’t work for beans so I got screwed! Oh well, we did go swimming and even met another cyclist like us who was self supported. And as we were walking through the campground we heard “Alan, Alan, is that you?” It turned out that our guardian angels were visiting someone else in the campground. It truly is a small small world.

This brings me to a concluding comment on the large group of cyclists we passed earlier. They are doing what we are doing except that they aren’t really. They stay in motels every night and they have their meals prepared for them and all they have to do is ride their bike every day, carrying absolutely no gear. What fun would that be? Actually it sounds like a lot of fun but it also equates to a lot more money. These packages where everything is done for you typically run $4000 and up (significantly more if you choose hotels over campgrounds). We should be able to complete our adventure of a lifetime with out spending more that half that amount per person. We’ll have to wait and see but our expenses have averaged $50 to $60 a day. Total miles covered 63.