Day 25, Slippery when wet

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Yesterday we had a really nice day off in Salida. We ate food, went to the library, walked around and were generally lazy. Today, we rode 110 miles. I guess it all evens out.

We left this morning, headed for Pueblo. The first 20 miles went by fairly quickly. The weather was cooperative, the wind was with us and we were riding alongside the Arkansas river, which was picturesque. The only thing not working in our favor was the traffic and the lack of a shoulder on the road. Colorado roads either have luxurious, huge shoulders, or they have no shoulder at all. All on all we were making great time and enjoying our ride.

Our luck didn’t last. After a very tasty lunch in Westcliff CO, we started our final climb of the Rockies. Just before we reached the top it started to rain steadily, and we were still 30 miles from Pueblo. We were so cold that we had to stop under some trees to put on our cold weather gear. We have been fairly lucky with these afternoon rains so far, but not today. We had to decide whether to ride on through the rain, or set up camp and spend the night a bit cold and wet. We decided to press on, and we’re glad that we did. Once we got down off the mountain, the rain lessened and we were able to make it to Pueblo.

It was a really long day, but, we have officially made it through our second major mountain chain, and we should make it to Kansas by the end of the week. In retrospect maybe the cold rainy treatment we got coming out of the Rockies was the mountains giving us a sloppy wet kiss goodbye.

– Sarah

Day 26, High plains drifters

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With the Rockies behind us we were anxious to continue our progress. We left Pueblo without eating breakfast confident we’d find something on the way out of one of the largest cities we’d been in since we started our trip. We were a little too confident, and didn’t find even a convenience store for another 20 miles.

Now that we’re out of the mountains and on the high eastern plains of Colorado our path is fairly direct East. All through Utah and the Colorado Rockies our path would zigzag North and South as we followed canyons and valleys to approachable mountain passes. For most of the day we rode along a railroad line. For countless miles unused railroad cars sat idle. We joked about leaving our bikes and finishing the trip hobo style.

We considered ending our day at 90 miles in Haswell (pop 84) and strike camp in the town park, but decided the lack of access to a bathroom warranted us pushing another 22 miles to Eads (pop 747). We were tired and it was getting late so we knew it would be dark by the time we reached Eads. As the sun started to go down we saw what looked like 2 Great Horn Owls perched on the roadside telephone poles, getting ready to hunt for dinner. About 13 miles from Eads I got a flat in my rear tire, delaying our arrival further.

By the time we rolled into town is was dark so we decided to opt for a cheap motel and steak from a neighboring steak house, instead of roughing it in the town park.

Day 27, Into Kansas

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Before we got started for the day we went back by the steak house for a hearty breakfast. While there we met another transamer who had started from Oregon. It turned out his name was also Mike, is from Brooklyn, is a software engineer like me, and has a Long Haul Trucker bike like Sarah. Since we were all going the same way we decided to ride together for the day.

Our destination was undecided, it would either be Leoti 82 miles away, or Scott City about 105 miles away. Not far into our ride out of Eads, we crossed the border into Kansas. About an hour later we crossed into the central time zone, denoted by a small blue sign. Sarah also made her first road rescue by moving a small box turtle out of the road.

In the end we all decided to end the day in Leoti. The other Mike has been doing mostly rough and stealth camping, so we tagged along and ended up camping in the city park. First we grabbed a decent Mexican dinner, and picked up a 6 pack of beer to split in the park. The park turned out to be a decent campsite despite some brief horseplay by some teenagers before we called it a night.

In honor of our entry into Kansas watch this video if you feel inclined:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB17uWuBrL0&feature=youtube_gdata