Colorful Colorado

Tuesday, August 1. Tribune, KS to Eads, CO.

Torrential rain. Hail. Lightning. Continued strong winds, even tornados.

No, we did not encounter any of that today. The powerful southerly winds were gone, and the forecast strong storms never materialized, leaving us with a day of cycling so nice (compared to the past three days) that it was almost boring. We didn't see any other cyclists; we didn't even meet anyone along the way, since our expected lunch stop was in Sheridan Lake, but nothing there was open. We left Tribune and saw no one else until we stopped in Eads.

When we got up this morning, we found a note on our door telling us to dial "0" for fresh coffee. Bob, the proprietor of the Trail's End motel, brought us two fresh cups of coffee made from his home-roasted beans. That was also when we discovered that we had two flat tires: Nancy's front tire and the her trailer tire. So we knew we wouldn't be leaving right away.

The maps we have warn us about a parasitic thorn that exists in this part of the country, commonly called "Texas tacks", that are the scourge of bicycle tires. Upon removing Nancy's front tire, I immediately found several of the thorns. They are no more than a quarter-inch long but are needle-sharp and hard, like a sliver of wood. I made a detailed and thorough inspection to find any and all thorns stuck in her tire, then in all our tires, ultimately finding several dozen. Bob told us that if we stuck to the pavement, and to concrete driveways, we should be able to avoid getting any more. But the flats presented a more immediate problem: we were out of spares for the trailer.

Fortunately for us, there is a hardware store in Tribune that also sells bicycle tire tubes. While I continued finding and removing thorns, Nancy rode off on her newly-thorn-free tires to get some tubes at the hardware store.

After getting our tires ready to ride, we went down the street for breakfast at the Chatterbox Caf�. There, they have a spiral notebook that cyclists write in, noting where they are coming from and where they are going, and so on. So Nancy made an entry for us, and we read some of the other entries, finding several from people we have met along the way. And then we left, not realizing that the people there in the caf� were the last people we would see (other than drivers on the road) until we would stop for the day.

There is a tiny town in Colorado, right across the state line, called Towner; it is about 2 miles in. It is at that point that crops generally disappear and the sagebrush takes hold of the terrain. The change is abrupt and stark; at other state lines the only indication is the change in the pavement surface (which was also evident today). This was the first time that we could see such a dramatic change in the land so near the state line.

We couldn't stop anywhere for very long because of the vicious variety of fly that exists here - they BITE. We couldn't even slow down, because they could still land on us if we dropped much below about 12mph. So it was a nice treat to find the Friend's Church in Chivington open and even cool, as a way to get inside and away from the flies. Although Chivington itself appears nearly deserted (one building had actually collapsed), the church was clearly still in use; a calendar open to the right month was on a wall. They had a "missionary wall" depicting families and individuals away on missions in various places (including Rwanda, Ireland, and Aguascalientes, Mexico), asking people to pray for them. Among these pictures of smiling missionaries, though, were a variety of pictures without explanation; one was of an older woman with a fur stole around her shoulders, and another depicted a strange tableau of three people. A man was facing the camera, while a woman stood facing him from the side. DIRECTLY behind her, right up against her back, another man stood with his arms folded. We were left to wonder what could possibly be going on there.

So now we are in Eads, CO. We had a lovely dinner at a place now called Karen's Kountry Kitchen (it used to be called Our Place), where Karen has decorated with some of her mother Hazel's quilts. Hazel, 82, also makes all the homemade pies on the menu, so we sampled a slice of the chocolate cream pie. Her recipe clearly includes a hint of cinnamon somewhere, giving it a unique and delicious flavor.

Tonight we also learned that Suzi will not be making the trip to Pueblo after all. Naturally we are disappointed, but of course are still thrilled that Jim will meet us there. We are looking forward to a few rest days before beginning the big climbs in the Rockies.

And, speaking of the Rockies, we should finally catch our first glimpse of them tomorrow, as we make our way to Ordway. It will probably be another long, uneventful day (we hope). Then it's just another day into Pueblo. More tomorrow!