Days 22-25

Spent two days at John's, relaxing and enjoying his family's company. Went to a few bars in downtown Pueblo. The psychedelic jam band was a failure, only one member showed up... figures! But the night was not a waste- we hung out and had good conversation with some of John's long time buddies at the Downtown Bar.

Left Johns house Saturday morning by 7:30, with goal for the day- make it to Ordway, and stay at Gillian's. John cruised with us for 25 miles and departed with us in Boone. On the 2 lane highway it was hot, water was scarce since most of the small towns had only one facility open if any. Hours later we arrived in Ordway. There was a fountain in the park that other travelers were soaking in. We rolled into the small park and washed off. We met Tom and Allison, from Virginia, who were touring with their motor-home, meeting up with a couple in Pueblo. There were two boys coming from San Francisco going to Virginia, Rocky and Isaiah.

It only took riding down three blocks to find Gillian's home. There were goats and horses on the property, and a few trailers parked in front of the house. Henry, a neighbor, greeted us and brought us into Gillian's house. Gillian took most of the other cyclist out to the lake to teach them how to sail. We were free to make ourselves at home. After we came back from the town's only grocery shop, Gillian and the cyclist arrived home. The charismatic Gillian is very blunt with her guest. She is open to accommodating any cyclist, but she doesn't take anyones b.s. A New Zealand native, she works as a guard for the local prison. It is expected that any cyclist who arrive in Ordway be directed to Gillians home, for it acts the towns impromptu hostel. In 2007, her house along with several acres of the town burned down. Most people lost everything, few recovered. Gillian uses workaway.info to find volunteers to help her rebuild her home. Willing cyclist also help with certain duties. A major wind storm came and held back the previous cyclist to spend another night; making a head count of 16 people. We met cyclist, of various ages, touring both direction of the country.

All of the cyclist got us early to leave. We exchanged contacts and said our goodbyes to newfound friends. This was the notorious long stretch of 60 miles to Eads. There is only one famous outhouse with a log sheet inside it and the town of Haswell that was named during the railroad construction because it has... a well... for water and had the worlds smallest jail. There was a strong headwind but the temperature was moderate. We arrived in Eads late in the afternoon. After showers and a quick snack, we hung out at the bar for an hours or so and gabbed with the locals. On our way back to camp, we were stopped by a group having a late picnic in the park. They had extra food to share, and noticing that we were long distance bikers, asked if they could feed us. Of course, we chowed down with them. They were filmmakers making a series of documentaries about historic sites all over Colorado. There was plenty of leftovers and they gladly gave us the extra homemade baked beans and potato salad. Awesome people we come across. With our bellies full we camped out in the park, watching series of The Maxx on the laptop. Happy end to a long day.

Max Cosmo showing us bike polo!

Day 19, 20 and 21

Monday morning + Summer Solstice + Headwind= Longest day ever. We departed the Tafoya's home by 9, destination south (yes, we know, opposite direction) towards Pueblo. Leaving Denver, our route took us through parks and nature preserves. We biked along a beautiful path adjacent to the creek, but the serene stretch did not last long. Soon, there was traffic, due to construction, and we were enveloped by the disgusting exhaust. We took a break around lunchtime at a corner dive bar where we could park our bikes in the "Biker Trash" parking. Ten dollars got us a dive Mexican meal. Back on the road, the unforgiving sun was beating on on even harder. Crawling over hills, one after another, ranches were only visible signs of civilization. We were misguided by our waitress, turned out the nearest camp spot was much further than she guessed. It was 4:00, and we were wiped out from the 30 mile ride. We called it a day, stopping at a tiny neighborhood to seek out a spot to camp. Farmer Bradley allowed us stay in his pasture, as long as the Mrs. gave the official OK when she got home. We set up camp, read our books, and witnessed the summer solstice sky fade after the sun rested behind the Rockies.

At 8 am, we hit the road. A few miles down we cruised up to a small neighborhood for water. A nice woman, not only filled our water bottles with icy cold watter, she also let us in to use the bathroom and handed us snack bars for breakfast. We were charged up, with the day's goal to get to Colorado Springs.

It's known that athletes from everywhere come to Colorado for Olympic training. We could see why. It's been challenging taking on these arduous hills while acclimating to the high altitude in Colorado. Today we noticed our improved endurance. The cool breeze was nice. The eastern sky was overcast and the Rockies to the west broke the coverage revealing a bright blue sky. We arrived in Colorado springs mid afternoon. We sat at a deli and used the WIFI to find a night's stay on Warm Showers.org and Couchsurfing.org. The results were impressive. Nearly all the hosts or their back-ups contacted us within the hour and most of them had rooms to offer. John was the first to call. It was 19 miles to his place in the direction we were going. We got on our bikes and cycled down as far as we could to his home as the daylight was disappearing. By nightfall we stopped at a shopping center and John picked us up. John and his wife Judy made us feel right at home. Throughout the house hung family photos that captured fond memories of recreational adventures. They let us use their kictchen to cook chicken fajitas and quinoa, and offered us drinks and homemade cookies! John, a retired elementry principle, was a cycling aficionado. He titled his 3 legged tour "No Regrets" and cycled across the US, from California to North Carolina. The cause he was riding for was the Rocky Mountian Cancer Center Foundation supporting Fountian Valley patients. He had many helpful pointers and shared stories and laughs with us late into the night.

After a pleasant nights rest, the next day, John helped us prepare. John hooked us up with lightweight gear, and even grilled up burgers for lunch. We shipped off anther box of useless-goods-on-the-road weighing at 15 lbs, to Michigan. After driving us to the post office, John saved us 8 miles of Interstate 25 and dropped us off at Old Pueblo Road and wished us farewell. Huge thanks to John and Judy for their excellent advice and great hospitality!

We began our shorten trip to Pueblo, only 33 miles to go. Short, but not sweet, the ride was torturous. We rode the trail to the interstate, along the way were snakes either napping or dead on the road. This worked Marie's nerves, just as a warm up. We arrived at I-25 with a much abused 75 mph speed limit. Gripping at the handles, we dodge blown out tires on the shoulder, snakes, and unavoidable pebbles rocking our ride. At one point a burlap bag, marked product of India, was laying in the road. It was struck by a car just as we passed, exploding and showering Marie with some sort of flour.Two miles away from the exit, Marie anticipated relief, untill she sensed an unfamiliar rumble. Turned out a goathead vine popped her back tire. Marshall got out the tools and fixed her right up.

We made it to the exit and a few miles further we arrived at John Tafoya's home. At last... Pueblo... where we enter the TransAmerica Trail Route.

day 17+18

Yesterday we explored Denver with Jon, and his nephew Zain. We went to the Highland park street fair where we met up with Matt and Amber. Amber is running for a local office and had a booth set up to meet the locals. After the fair we cooked chicken, quinoa, and salad.

Today we went to gay pride in the civic center in Denver and had a lovely day with Jon.

day 16

Awesome day in boulder exploring the city and riding around the bike paths. We spent another night at with Mike and then in the morning repacked everything and headed to Denver to meet up with Jon. Another fourty miles when today was said and done. Jon's sister Amber and her husband Matt Set up a tent for us in the back yard with a queen size air mattress. We're going to stay here for a few days to visit with Jon and enjoy Denver.

day 15 naropa university

day 14

Got a good nights rest in Denver then woke up and repacked everything and headed 34 miles to Boulder. The ride was tough because we weren't acclimated and the air is thinner up here...

day 11, 12, 13

day 11

Sacramento again. Marie's dad came to placerville and picked us up and took us back to the house in Sacramento. Her mom offered to get us a train ticket to Denver to skip over the mountains.

day 12

Ted drove us to Reno and we caught a train to Denver. We met another couple traveling a similar route. http://tandoorisonbikes.tumblr.com/ They had got caught in the same pass that we we're headed for and had to take a cab around. We also met Mike from Boulder who had just finished a west coast tour and was riding the train back, we are going to go visit him after we leave denver.

day 13

utah and colorado are beautiful. we talked to lots of people on the train and then when we got to denver put our bikes back together and went to find our hotel. Then when we we're unpacked we rode to the downtown and ate pizza. then we got some rest so we could ride to boulder in the morning.

Day 10

We hit some big hills today and really took a beating 4 miles an hour up the hills. We stopped for sandwiches at a grocery store and smothered them in hummus. We went slowly along for 24 miles of hills then stopped to look for a place to set up camp. We asked a guy who was out in his yard if we could camp anywhere around there and he said that we should ask Lenora, up on the next hill, she owned both sides of Combo Court. Theresa answered the door and took us around back to ask Lenora. She said that would be fine and suggested a meadow up the street a way near a spring. Theresa and Jeff drove us to the campspot and gave us a shovel to dig a fire pit took Marie up to the house to take a shower while Marshall set up camp then went up to join her. Lenora and Theresa were an amazing hostesses and said to make ourselves at home and get plenty to eat. Jeff checked over our route and let us know that Mormon Emigrant trail was closed still. We checked with the sheriff and he confirmed that it had been a harsh winter and it wasn't open yet. We said good night and went down to our campsite and had a small fire before going to bed.