Next, please...

I am now in Hotchkiss, Colorado (but really on an organic vineyard some distance from Hotchkiss). As it turned out, my train yesterday, originally scheduled for 8:00am, was delayed until about noon. So, I called Amtrak at around 7:00am. It turns out they have a really good refund policy (as in FULL refund). So, I got rid of that ticket and picked up a ticket with Greyhound that left at noon and got me into Grand Junction at 5:00pm, allowing me to travel with Matthew, who was returning to Hotchkiss from having gone to a friend's wedding in Nebraska via Denver. 

The bus ride was significantly shorter than the train would've been, went through some beautiful countryside (i.e. The Rockies), and let us sit next to some guy from Indianapolis who could (and did) talk non-stop for hours on end about all sorts of fairly crazy things - from Einstein's theory of relativity (and how that meant that Earth has gravity because it has air) to the best places to set up cardboard boxes to live in/how to ride a freight train without getting caught to how the sink is for peeing in because toilets are just for pooping. It was a long 5 hours.

The next few days (should be here until Sunday morning) should include some hanging out, and probably some local biking to get pictures, and we'll probably end up going hiking somewhere this weekend. It feels good to be in the same place as my bicycle again (Colin brought it back here Saturday after bringing Matthew to Denver); that was a weird feeling of separation - similar to the first few days of being somewhere without my car or computer or anything. It's funny how attached we get to feel towards things that we rely on, and when we stop relying on one thing, it's so easy to transfer that same level of attachment to something else - very substitutionary, shall we say. I dunno. I haven't put too much thought into that line of, um, thinking, but maybe I will more as the summer goes on. Anyhow, off to something else. Even though Jonathan, Matthew, and Colin are all working it feels weird to spend much time online. They have books, and stuff for baking, and my bike could probably use a minor tune-up.

just a couple more pics...

Ok, I think I figured out how to get the formatting a little more to my liking.

Lunch time in Cherry Creek Park in Denver (big bowl of rice and beans).

Oh, the Rockies... (on the way from Pueblo to Denver)

This is selection makes for a bad lunch. Don't do it. Half pound of bologna in one go? Not a good idea. Some stores just don't have much selection.

a few pictures

Ok. It put all my pictures in weirdly (and in backwards order from what I wanted). Oh well. Let's see. Top left: storm rolling in. Top right: CO border. Below pic of CO border: somewhere in KS. Middle left: my nightly home. Middle right: the daily view. Bottom: looking back, just a bit, day 2 I believe.

Well, the formatting is weird, but I'll play around with that before I load any more pics.

the arrival, and beyond... no, wait. before, not beyond.

So, after about 600 miles of biking, I finally reached Denver yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. I'll try to get down some of the "important" happenings since my last post.

Day 4: ...of Wind and Rain

I made it as far as  Tribune, KS (71 miles), only 16 or so miles east of the CO border. At the park there, I met a couple guys from Indianapolis. One of them used to work for the Adventure Cycling Association (whose route I was following). For this trip, they were planning on going off route and off road and try to cross 100 mountain passes in the Rockies in 6 weeks (they were on mountain bikes).

Anyways, that evening, we moved our tents into a little 4-H auction barn that was open and right by the park when a couple fronts moved in - one from the south, one from the west. The wind was from the east. The fronts hit each other just east of us, and we got some pretty good rain and wind and lightning through the night (sounded like the barn was going to get blown over), but no tornados touched down.

Day 5: ...of Fruit Flies and Cracks

Short day, only 58 miles to Eads, CO. Made pretty good time. The main problems were biking through enormous, dense swarms of fruit flies that seemed to completely cover your front by the time you got out the other side, and then the road. At least the second half of the trip, there was a nice little crack in the road every 5 or 10 yards. Bumping around like that does NOT help matters of comfort. Camped in the park in Eads, *again* saw two fronts converge just a little ways north of me (neither traveling in the direction of the wind, again). Rain didn't end up hitting until 4:00am, and not a whole lot came. That evening I missed the library AND the grocery store closing times by 15 mins. Supper: like most lunches (peanuts, tortillas with peanut butter).

Day 6: ...of Paying. and More Cracks.

Got to Ordway, CO. I actually had to pay to stay at a campground tonight. Turns out I payed $15 to bruise my hands pushing the tent stakes into the hard-packed ground in an RV campground. With no showers. And guess what. Yup, got to watch a couple more fronts collide (neither moving in the direction of the wind). Some rain, but not a bad storm. Met a couple guys from Ft. Wayne who are riding coast-to-coast to raise money for a jail/rehabilitation program - going for an average of 100 mi/day (they have someone carrying their stuff and following them in an RV - www.grace2009.org ).

The first and last 5 miles of the day I had a great tailwind, but the rest of the 61 miles, I was fighting crosswinds or headwinds. It was probably the toughest day mentally thus far.

Day 7: ...of Pueblo

It was a somewhat long-seeming 53 miles to Pueblo, with a crosswind much of the time. I got into town early afternoon and hung out in the city park for a couple hours until I got a hold of Dave Foncannon - pastor of the Pueblo Mennonite Church (camped in his yard that night). It was great to get a shower for the first time since Dighton (Wednesday, this being Sunday) and to be able to just sit and relax on an actual couch. This day was an excellent morale booster for the next day.

Day 8: ...of Hills and Wind. and Poor Planning.

I didn't get out of Pueblo until 9:45 or so (didn't want to deal with rush hour traffic in the AM). After going about 5 miles, I passed a sign: "Pavement Ends." Not a welcome sight. Spent the next 15 or so miles on packed dirt/not-packed-enough gravel. Then I had some fairly pleasant riding - tailwind, not too serious of climbing, sunny, all the time with the Rockies in sight to the west. Well, after about 30 miles of riding, I was getting into Colorado Springs. At rush hour. 

Turns out that, between Pueblo and Denver, there's a divide (the Palmer Divide) that runs east/west and is about 7500 feet high. Also turns out that most of the climbing starts around Colorado Springs. Also turns out that sometimes in early afternoon, the wind can swing around from the south-east and start coming out of the north. At 15-20 mph. Put it all together and what do you get? 70 miles in about 9 1/2 hours of pedaling. Physically, this was by far the hardest day. I'm pretty sure I hit some 15 - 20% grades (those are the ones you only make about 5 mph going up and have to take a break in the middle). I ended up biking down a gravel road at 9:00 at night with my headlight and taillight on, and when it got fully dark I still hadn't passed anywhere I could camp, so I pulled into a guy's drive and asked if I could camp in his yard. It was a little horse ranch (everyone has horses up there) at around 7100 ft. His response was along the lines of, "Um, yeah, sure. How did you get *here*?" I mumbled something about google maps, he remained confused, and I went to bed. He pointed me down the road that, in about 5 miles, would hit CO-83, which goes straight into Denver. And is all paved. He looked a LOT like Dustin Hoffman.

I went that late because I hadn't expected to make such poor time - I was halfway intent on doing the 115 miles to Denver in one day. Nope.

Day 9: ...of Getting There

From where I thought I was, I figured I had another 10 or 15 miles of climbing to the Palmer Divide before I could coast most of the rest of the way into Denver. Turns out that the road I camped on, that hit highway 83, was Palmer Divide Road. After averaging less than 8 mph Monday, I averaged more like 18 mph through the day. I still had a few climbs to do (some of them fairly long and steep), but I'm pretty sure I coasted at least half of the 50-some miles I covered before I got into Denver-proper (most of the way with a 15-20 mph tailwind). At one point I hit 44 mph according to my speedometer. Coasting. But it was certainly the most beautiful scenery I've passed through thus far - rolling hills of the high plains (Mom and Dad: I found a house for you. I didn't actually see it, but it's for sale - 3500 sq. ft. on ~3.5 acres, up around 6500 ft. altitude, I believe). It was green, and rolling, with creeks and wildflowers and rocky outcroppings poking through sporadically. It probably helped that the weather was nice.

I got into Denver, biked through about 15 miles of sprawl and stopped at Cherry Creek State Park to hang out and relax until Denver people got home from work so I could go to their house. I was there several hours, had a nice big pot of rice and beans, swam in the (cold-ish) lake, dried out sitting in the shade, and generally relaxed. And when the time came, I got to bike another 10 or so miles to get from there to James' (et al.) house. So, I'm now at their house, clean, with clean laundry and fresh bread.

Anyways, yeah. Sorry for the long post. Now it's time to relax. I'll try to get some pics up later this week.

well, yeah...

Ok, so I finally got around to stopping in at a library for some internet (though many towns don't have this option). It's day 4, and I'm taking a lunch break in Leoti, Kansas - about 40 miles from the Colorado border. Here's a bit of a break down of my trip so far:

Day 1: 65 miles - Hesston to Peace Creek Hostel, not too far from Hudson on the edge of the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, 5 miles south of the route. Camped in the yard of the "hostel" that night (it was really just a couple's home who let bikers stay there if they come through).

Day 2: 78 miles - Hostel to Rush Center, population 176 according to my map. Had a big, juicy, tasty burger for dinner at Effie's for $3 (plus a 75 cent can of Coke). The last 20 miles of the day were due north into a stiff headwind, with the 2nd half of the day being in long, rolling hills. Somewhere before lunch one of my sandals fell off my bike. I backtracked through town but couldn't find it so I turned around and continued on my way (didn't want to backtrack the 42 miles I'd already biked).

Day 3: 65 miles - Rush Center to Dighton. Camped in the city park with 5 other bikers - 3 of whom were going east, and 2 are also headed west (but they go faster and farther than me). All five of them are doing complete cross-country treks; one has already been on the road for a month and a half. The guys going east offered to mail my chaco back to Ohio if they come across it, so I gave them my address and I'm really hoping they find it. I've only barely broken in those shoes (does anybody know if it's possible to buy just a single, left sandal from Chacos? I'm guessing probably not). Had a good tailwind most of the day, so I made it in about 4 1/4 hrs of biking.

Day 4: so far, ~48 miles, and about 24 to go (which will land me in Tribune - 16 or so miles from the CO border, where I will camp in the city park again).

Tomorrow I plan on doing only 58 miles, which will feel quite nice, I'm sure, shooting to end up in Eads, CO. Saturday I will hopefully get as far as Ordway, CO, letting me arrive in Pueblo on Sunday. I may or may not take an extra day in Pueblo just to relax before heading off for Denver, which will be ~120 miles. If I feel *really* good and ambitious, I may shoot to do the whole trip to Denver in one day, but I'm not counting on it; it sounds like I'll have a decent stretch in that section on some gravel roads, so, blech.

So what do I do during my hours in the saddle? Mostly I try not to think about how uncomfortable bike seats are; funny how poorly that works. It seems like it's not quite as bad today as it had been, but it's still far from feeling great. Usually in the afternoons I listen to some music - it helps me get through the "I'm tired but still have 20 or 30 miles to go" times. Tuesday, as I pulled into my destination, "Carry on my Wayward Son" started playing and made me realize that I don't have nearly enough music by the group Kansas for this trip. No matter; I'll hit the Colorado border tomorrow morning. I've taken a few pictures, but really not all that many. There isn't a whole lot to take pictures of in this part of the trip. "Oh look, a wheat field." "Oh look, more wheat." "Hey, an oil derrick." "Look at me with my bicycle." "Look, I'm still with my bicycle." "Yup, the bike's still the same." I think I figured I probably pedal somewhere around 30,000 rotations each day. Yeah, isn't that awesome?

about to begin

The bicycle is ready, the panniers are packed, and I am at my starting point: Hesston, Kansas. The past few days have been quite nice and lazy - mostly sitting around the motel hanging out with the Horst family (who gave me a ride out here). Andy and Emily's wedding is Sunday, so Monday is when I start my solo trek. It will be about 530 miles out to Denver, and if my planning is at all accurate, I should get there around the 18th.

In case you're wondering why I'm doing this, there are a few reasons. A couple big ones: to visit friends and spend time doing activities with friends that we all (all two of us, for the California part of the trip) enjoy, and also to later be able say, "I did that. I accomplished that." Biking as an activity is all right; I'm pretty lukewarm about it (at least for the first couple hours on the bike - after that it's somewhat miserable). I do enjoy riding my bike, but a lot of it is liking the idea of getting around under my own power, covering some hefty distances.

I am excited, though, and also incredibly intimidated by the distances ahead of me, now that being here in Hesston is finally forcing me to face what is to come. So far I've worked hard to take it a day at a time, and I feel that's the only way I'll be able to push through this trip without getting overwhelmed.

On a lighter note, though, the weather is beautiful and my stomach is pleasantly full of almost really good chicken noodle soup from the Breadbasket in Newton.