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.