Monday, June 28, 2010
Days 22-25
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Day 19, 20 and 21
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.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
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.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
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.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
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
Saturday, June 12, 2010
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.