July 3, 2013
First of all. A
shout out to Janet and Don Schmidt celebrating their 25th weddin’
anniversary yesterday and Joe Schmidt on his ? birthday
Last night, an executive decision was made. Jack, the head dishwasher, motioned that we
begin using bowls rather than plates for our pasta in the future. Easier to clean. Motioned carried. We are an exciting group.
Left early today, around 6:00 and headed for Pueblo. Good traffic, shoulder, and tailwind. By 10:00, we had put in over 50 miles. Saw
some alpacas again. On our way, you
could see the mountains begin to disappear.
Everything began to turn to plateaus and desert looking terrain. Think of the moon. East Colorado is pretty desolate and sparsely
populated. Picked up a bike trail in
Pueblo that took us along the Arkansas River.
We avoided the majority of the city that way. Along the river, there is a dam. Murals were pained along this dam for at
least 1 and a half miles. They depicted everything
from Groucho Marx to the Hard Rock Café to Bob Marley. Really impressive. We had to carry our bikes up some steps to
get off the trail. Then we got back on
the Transamerica Trail along route 96.
We had hoped to get some pancakes and coffee at a café on that side of
Pueblo, but there were none to be found.
We had to settle for gas station coffee.
Lady in the station reminded us that mustard is a great deterrent for
cramps. We did not know that. Went through little cities called Boone (population
339), Olney Springs where we stopped for lunch (population 345), and ended up
near a town called Ordway. These towns
have few services and camping is getting hard to find. For awhile, we may be staying in city parks
and churches. Future is very
uncertain. Next shower is unknown. Our campsite tonight is a mile and a half off
the road. No one else is in the
campground. No water, no electricity. In the distance is a correctional
facility. We saw more road kill and correctional
facilities today than we have the entire trip.
The other day we saw a motorcycle with a trailer. On top of the trailer was a pretty big dog in
a crate. Strange. Today, we saw a pickup go by hauling bales of
hay. The truck was going about 50-60 and
on top of the hay was a dog about 8-10
feet up, standing and holding on for dear life.
Hard to describe but funniest thing to see.
We head into Kansas soon.
We keep heading East. Not much in
the way of towns or camping along the way for awhile. So far, 96 has little traffic. We continue on this road for a long
time. We did about 95 miles today. Past the halfway point.
Jeff, Jerry, Jack, and Sue
Thanks for the birthday wishes.
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