Summary: Denver, CO to Tribune, KS 465 miles
May 17th to May 24th
To view google maps click here.
As the title suggests this was a very wet week. Rain and headwinds were the norm. I think my frustration hit a peak this week. It was so nice being in Denver, the place I will soon call home, but that made leaving it, and the sun, so much more difficult. I would spend my first night out from Denver with a family friend in the city of Parker, then would fight the strongest headwind yet the following day. I would only make it 30 miles by late afternoon before being picked up by my Aunt who I would stay with in Colorado Springs, atop Cheyenne Mountain. Due to severe weather, storms, and flooding, I would stay the following day with her as well. The next day I would make it to a park in Kit Carson where I would camp the night away. The next day would be more rain and more storms but I would find myself at the border of Kansas creeping into an unlocked church to stay for the night in the city of Towner. Yet another inclement weather day would take me less than 20 miles across the border into the town of Tribune, KS where I would be offered a free motel which I made the most of. On Saturday I would run into another cyclists named Angus who I would travel for the remainder of the week. With his fitness and drive motivating me, I would do my first 100 mile day into the city of Great Bend, capping off an already great week, despite awful conditions.
Day 43: Denver, CO to Parker, CO 27.3 miles
Sunday, May 17th
In the morning, around 10:00, I went with Beth and Jade to their church called the Summit. Met some very nice folks who I’m sure I’ll get to know better this fall. The sermon was on how to not have a transactional posture towards God. Took the whole sermon to explain what that means, so I won’t even try here. Plan was to head back to Jade’s and pack up and leave. Just as I was getting ready to head on out, Beth pointed out to me that my tire was flat. I took all my newly packed gear off the bike and sat down in the living room to change the flat, taking my time so as to finish game seven of the Rockets/Clippers. Finally, I was able to leave around 2:30, giving my two friends big hugs goodbye.
The quickest route south turned out to be not too scenic so instead I took the Cherry Creek Trail. A windy trail, Cherry Creek took me through some pretty nice areas, through some stunning neighborhoods, and through Cherry Creek State Park. Unfortunately, I had been fighting a stomach bug for the past few days and some nasty stomach cramps took any drive I had to go much further than 30 miles, so I pulled over at a gas station and started looking for places to stay.
As I was looking at my map I saw the town of Parker nearby. I remembered a Facebook post about someone living in Parker. It was Laura Minkoff, who was the daughter of one of my mom’s best friends. I messaged her and she replied almost immediately saying I could certainly stay with her. I arrived at her house not 20 minutes later. She was actually staying with the family of her college friend, Savannah. When I knocked on the door, Savannah’s mom, JoAnne, answered and told me the girls were off in Denver (watching some special on Bruce Jenner :P ) and wouldn’t be home until late. JoAnne showed me around the house, nuked some pizza for me, and then set up some sheets on their couch. Laura and Savannah wouldn’t get home until about 9:30. I said hello, chitchatted for a bit, made some plans for breakfast with them, and promptly zonked out.
Creek flooded over the bike path.
Tire swing house.
Neighborhood leaving town.
Sunrays.
Child angel dedication sculpture.
More pictures of the memorial.
Day 44: Parker, CO to Colorado Springs, CO 72 miles
Monday, May 18th
In the morning Savannah took us to Eggs & I (at first I thought it was Eggs & Eye and thought it could be some kind of alternative Asian cuisine with eyeballs). I finished off a rather large breakfast before polishing off the girls’ plates. We talked about life in Boulder, where they attended college, and fun things to do in the area. I promised to let them show me around when I returned in a few months.
My hostesses. Laura on the left, Savannah on the right.
After eating breakfast I headed southward, and immediately ran into a wall of wind. I passed through the city of Castle Rock, paralleled a highway, and then skirted west to follow the mountains. The wind and rain just increased in strength as the hours passed. Pretty soon I was heading straight into an 18+ mph storm. By 3 o’clock in the afternoon, after riding over 6 hours, I had only gone 30 miles. That’s a pitiful 5 mph average for you math majors out there. It was exhausting. Finally I stopped to eat at a Safeway in Monument where I guzzled the majority of a gallon of TruMu Chocolate Milk… so good. I had an aunt in Colorado Springs who I was planning to stay with that night, my Tante Heidi.
“Tante” is German for aunt and it comes from my mother’s side of the family; she has seven siblings. I called my aunt from Safeway to tell her not to wait up for me, it would probably take me well into the evening to arrive at her house, if I continued at my current rate that is. That threw a wrench in her plans of cooking me dinner and she insisted in picking me up, she had just got off work subbing for elementary PE. In all honesty, she didn’t have to insist all that hard.
Scenes from Castle Rock.
I wonder if his name was Joe?
About an hour later we were driving up the hill at the southern side of Colorado Springs towards her house. You may have heard of this hill: Cheyenne Mountain. Deep underneath the surface, carved into the belly of the mountain, lies NORAD, the center of command where the US government can direct all their military defenses, even during nuclear war.
Tante Heidi’s house was nice to say the least, in a neighborhood that was just as nice. I showered and got comfortable, just in time to eat a wonderful lasagna dinner with my Uncle Bill and Cousin Corbin. We watched the news, talked family and biking, and then went to bed.
Coming into Monument.
My lovely Tante Heidi cooking lasagna.
Day 45: Colorado Springs, CO Rest Day
Tuesday, May 19th
The weather was dismal upon my waking. Looking at the news I learned it was to pour all day. The news was declaring flood warnings across the area. All the eyewitnesses were stating how they hadn’t seen this amount of rain in… forever! Apparently I had picked monsoon season to go through Wyoming and Colorado. The news throughout the day depicted scenes of flooded fields and overflowing river banks. It was a good day to be inside.
I ate an amazingly gormet breakfast of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, then with the family all at work, I just veged out for the day, making it the first day of my entire trip where I did not mount my bike at some point. It was very nice. I blogged, mapped my route for the rest of my trip, ate some leftovers, read my book, and generally just relaxed. It was a very good day.
This cat was hilarious, it loved to bonk heads.
Signs of inclement weather.
I believe this was the last ship my uncle captained before retirement.
Day 46: Colorado Springs, Co to Kit Carson, CO 122 miles (40 miles hitchhiked)
Wednesday, May 20th
In the morning my Uncle Bill drove me the 20 miles east to where he worked for Northup Grumman. Bill was a retired captain from the Navy. The downstairs of his home was filled with Navy memorabilia including posters depicting the vessels he’s commanded and awards he had received. During the drive he began telling me about the area, about how it contained the main concentration of the nation’s missile defense R&D, not to mention NORAD (which he had visited on several occasions for work). It was a fascinating conversation and I was dismayed when we arrived and I had to depart from the SUV into an omnipresent fog.
Uncle Bill, dropping me off.
Despite the fog and the rain/fine mist that blanketed me, I began flying down the road. Rolling hills marked the journey at the outset but the farther east I went they began to gradually flatten until finally I was in the plains of Colorado. About thirty miles into the ride it was still only 9:00 in the morning. I pulled over at a convenience store to grab a Snickers, then road about 100 feet before realizing my tire was flat. While changing out my inner tube I turned the tire inside out to feel along the inside to see if any sharp debris remained. When I turned it rightside-out, the rubber flanges which fit alongside the wheel flipped inwards and snapped tight. Try as I might, with numb hands and little in the way of tools, I couldn’t flip the flanges right. I would have to go all the way back into town and buy a new tire. I took the tire back inside to work on it in the warmth. Sure enough, with just a few more degrees to loosen up the rubber, the flanges popped right out and 10 minutes later I was on my way.
Soon the ride that day fell into a constant routine. My world consisted of asphalt and the brown/green of the fields around me which abruptly ended in a hazy gray. Although it was pretty dismal, there were various wild flowers sprouting that caught my eye. During a sunny day, it would be quite beautiful. As it was, I had a hard time enjoying myself. Eventually, 75 miles into my day, I would take a rest before making the final 20 mile push to the city of Kit Carson where I would stay that night. A truck stopped right next to me while I was breaking. The driver hopped out, grabbed some gasoline cans from the back, and began refueling. He introduced himself as “Chuck, Charles, Charlie, All of the Above,” and offered me a ride to Texas. I took him up on it. Well, just to Kit Carson anyway.
Once in town I stopped at the grocery store to restock before going to the only restaurant in town that was open. I ate some burgers, watched some basketball, and talked to the litany of pilot car drivers that passed in and out. I came to find out that the road I was on was an “oversized load” highway. Upon the advice of the cook/waitress I headed towards the city park where there was a covered picnic area and open public bathroom. I set up my tent, washed some clothes in the bathroom sink, and crashed for the night.
Fun road pics.
My campsite at the park.
Day 46: Kit Carson, CO to Towner, CO 61 miles
Thursday, May 21st
The covered picnic area wasn’t home to just me. I woke up around 3 AM to the obnoxious sounds of birds. I couldn’t tell you what kind, but they were awful. I quckly dug out my toiletry bag, found my ear plugs, and stuffed them down deep in my ears. Ear plugs: never leave home without them.
I knew it was sunrise because there was an ever so faint band of orange light peeking through underneath the clouds that were still crossing the sky. I got back on the highway to more of the same. Slight rolling hills, an ocean of land with the horizon as a green/gray boundary in all directions. I soon passed the first oil well I’ve ever seen with the giant, hammer shaped pendulum swinging down and up in a slow rhythm. It was only about 20 miles until I came upon the town of Eads, headwind all the way there. I missed breakfast by 10 minutes so had to settle for a chicken burger. I filled my water bottles up in the bathroom before leaving. I was now on the Trans American Route, the most popular cross-country bicycling route in the US. I would head due east for the remainder of my journey.
About an hour’s ride down the road I realized I had left one of my water bottles, the one I had bought in Winthrop, back in the bathroom at the diner. Five minutes later a screw fell out of the cleat in my shoe, forcing me to remove my foot from the shoe, and spin it off the remaining screw in order to dislodge it from the pedal, all while turning my back to wind and rain.. This may have been the most frustrating point of my entire trip. I was tired of the rain, I was tired of the wind, I was tired of things being broken or forgotten. I’m pretty sure I literally screamed. I said a silent prayer, put some folk music on, and continued on.
Sunrise!
No lie, five minutes later I ran into the first bicycling tourist I had seen since Day 1. His name was Jim and he was heading west on the Trans American Route. We stopped and talked for the better part of an hour, swapping stories, both excited to be exchanging travelers’ currency. He told me of places to visit on my way, I told him about Warm Showers. I informed him of a nice water bottle waiting for him at the next restaurant, in exchange he gave me one of his. It seemed my luck was turning. The sun even peeked out, albeit briefly, while we talked, giving me a much needed respite. After taking a picture of some of his Trans America Route Maps, I said goodbye, but not before getting his contact info.
At the town of Sheridan Lake I would stop for some snacks and be invited to stay at the local church by the pastor whom I ran into. I then ran into the local auto mechanic’s store, where he cut me a screw to fit in my shoe to reattach my cleat. The mechanic also told me that the church in the following town, 10 miles away, was also unlocked and open to bicyclists. It had minimal facilities, a bathroom, kitchen, and floor, but that was all I needed.
As I arrived in Towner, my last stop for the day, I found the church, parked my bike, and entered. The basement of the church was where I would be staying, a low ceilinged area that forced me to duck, but I explored the main area before setting up shop. As I walked around the auditorium and passed the pews I approached the pulpit and saw an open Bible upon it. The first verse I glanced at caught my eye. Psalms 120: 1: “I cried out to the Lord and He answered me.” Wow, ironic much?
Although there wasn’t a shower, I dipped my head in the sink, and used the kitchenette to toast my tortillas for warm PB&J’s. It was a feast. After looking at the next days' forcast, which read partly cloudy skies and a westerly wind, I rolled out my sleeping pad and slept soundly.
Jim, the first tourist I had seen since day one!
Adventure cycling map.
First oil well sighting.
Flowers and things.
Me being goofy.
My digs.
Day 47: Towner, KS to Tribune, KS 18 miles
Friday, May 22nd
I woke up in the basement to pitch black, right around 5:40. I wanted to watch the sun rise as I biked eastward. After getting all my things together, I bounded up the stairs and towards the front door of the church to check the conditions. As I pushed open the doors they opened six inches before a gust of wind slammed them shut again. In the brief glimpse of the world outdoors I had I saw that it was not partly sunny as the forcast had suggested. It was blustery, raining, and gray all around. Despite the horrible conditions, the next town of Tribune had a package waiting for me at the post office and was only 20 miles away. I figured twenty miles was doable in any kind of weather.
I did make it to Tribune, but was soaked to the bone as I rolled into town. I asked at the gas station if anywhere was open for breakfast and they told me no restaurants, although the hospital served a pretty decent breakfast. So I rode the three blocks into town to find the hospital where I paid $5 for an all you can eat buffet of delicious french toast, eggs, and other things.
Note to self: hospitals are a good place to find food.
I started asking around town if any of the churches offered “sanctuary” to traveling bicyclists. None did. Eventually my asking led me to city hall. The helpful secretary there brought me around the building, asking various people where I could stay. Eventually, a guy named Shannon, who was the minister at the baptist church and had some affiliation with city hall, sent me to the sherrifs office where they wrote me a voucher for the only motel in town. I was ecstatic! Free motel stay? I'll take it.
I spent the remainder of my day in the lap of luxury. Although the sun came out around 2:00 I wasn't about to let a night at a motel go to waste. Eating microwave dinners and downing a full gallon of chocolate milk while watching classic movies, basketball, and showering way too long defined one of the most relaxing days of my trip. It was grand.
State #6.
City of Towner.
My free hotel.
At the library.
Dinner of champions.
Just a little rain they said...
Tried to catch a mid air picture, not enough light unfortunately.
Day 48: Tribune, KS to Scott City, KS 46 miles
Saturday, May 23rd
I awoke the next morning to conditions that matched those of the previous day. Rainy and wind going in the wrong direction. Staying another day at the motel was incredibly tempting, so I decided to think on it while eating breakfast at the hospital once again. After breakfast I came out to find the weather considerably more mild, so I packed up my gear and left the motel, to the dismay of the motel owner, a Metallica-shirt wearing pudgy man who wore flip flops and had crumbs in his beard, who seemed real keen on keeping his only guest and making $50, the cost of another night. Before leaving town I checked in at the local Flea Market for some rain pants, just in case. The lovely ladies there who looked straight out of Golden Girls were incredibly kind and helped me find some XXXL pants that would do the thrick in a pinch. They sent me back a whopping $1.
I went about 30 miles or so before stopping for lunch at a convenience store in the town of Leoti. As I sat at the bench just inside the store I saw a bicycle tourist pull up his bike alongside mine and head into the store. He came up to me and asked if I was the guy coming from Washington. When I told him that indeed I was he offered me a pair of rain pants one of the ladies from the flea market gave him to give to me. I couldn't believe it. We both laughed a bit at the odds of him actually meeting up with me. He introduced himself as Angus, a guy almost as tall and gangly as myself, with a thick British accent. Angus was from London and doing a “warm-up” trip across the states before going from London to Singapore through Europe and Russia. After eating lunch together I decided to ride with him for a while.
Buz buzz.
On the road.
Sun... wonderful sun!
We made it to Scott City that day where I showed Angus my Warmshowers app. A guy named Dean was in town and he responded to my request very quickly. Dean was another 20 something year old and seemed quite glad to have not one, but two cycling guests. He lived in a second floor apartment, cooked us pizzas for dinner, and played Call of Duty on his PS4 with me for the majority of the evening. Dean worked as a technician on wind mills around the area and had created his Warmshowers account that very day! He showed us footage he took using his GoPro from atop and inside the windmills. It was pretty amazing stuff (propriety stuff).
Speaking of GoPro. I had mine on a mount on my bike but it had fallen off weeks before while I was still in Wyoming. I was quite dismayed to loose not only the camera but all the wonderful footage on it. Right before we rolled up to Dean's I received a message from someone in Dubois, WY who said they had my GoPro. It was a postman who I had hitched with who somehow acquired it after it had passed through three pairs of hands before landing in his. My luck was indeed turning.
Loving the sun.
For some reason I got a kick out of this.
Mailbox of the day.
Stopping in Leoti would be quite fortuitious.
Angus and me on the road.
Windmills.
At Dean's apartment.
Day 49: Scott City, KS to Great Bend, KS 120 miles
Sunday, May 24th
In the morning I was the first up so I made the other guys bacon and eggs. The smell of it quickly woke both of them and we all ate about a dozen eggs in five minutes. After saying goodbye to Dean and thanking him for his hospitality, Angus and I hit the road. The thing you have to realize about Angus is that he is a much, much better cyclist than I. His average was over 90 miles per day while mine was about 60. Great Bend was his destination for the day, a ridiculous 120 miles away. I told him I'd keep up as much as I could.
Woke up to a flat tire. Wo knows how many this week? Maybe 5 tires in 5 days.
The company Dean works for.
Dean, hard at work.
As we started eastward, I quickly realized I couldn't keep up with Angus' brisk pace of 15 mph into a headwind. I rode up next to him to yell in his ear good luck, but then I discovered an amazing thing. As I approached his back left flank it became considerably easier for me to keep up. I was drafting behind him. I didn't think there was such a thing as drafting for bicyclist but I was glad to find myself ignorant. I didn't take many pictures today because I rode the entire 120 miles to Great Bend, beating my previous record of about 80 miles! My legs burned, my right knee was occasionally painful, my butt passed numb, but overall it wasn't terrible.
Pretty much my view the whole day.
Some pretty cool road finds today.
As we got into town we considered splitting a motel, but I figured we should eat dinner first. Being that Angus had never even heard of an Applebee's, and to celebrate my first century ever, we decided to stop in there. We were greeted by a half dozen hosts/hostesses who stood there open-mouthed as we walked in and told them where we were from. I guess we made quite the pair. We ate an enormous amount of food which included salads, burgers, pot stickers, multiple milkshakes and glasses of chocolate milk, fries, chicken, nachos, and rice. The general manager of the restaurant actually approached us and actually asked to take a picture with us, which we gladly did. Then she asked us where we were staying and said we were trying to find the cheapest hotel in the area if she knew any. It was that point that Kimberly introduced herself and offered for us to stay with her. We accepted her offer.
After heading to WallMart to stock up on food we went to Kimberly's where we met her incredibly energetic three year old girl who was fascinated with the two giant biker strangers in her house. Her and I spent the next hour or so talking about how amazing Frozen is and how Dora the Explorer is just as good. Finally, someone I can actually relate to.
Once again I slept amazing, only awoke by the lightning storm that swept through in the middle of the night. But that only made that night all that more special.
At Applebee's, Jennifer on the left, Kimberly on the right.