Colorful Colordo

Thursday, August 3. Ordway, CO to Pueblo, CO.

For breakfast this morning we made a return trip to the Bits & Spurs Cafe. There we met Justin Lowe, owner Bob's son, who is a self-described afficionado or cattle brands. He and his mother own the "Backwards C, Walking Cane J, L" brand. I'm fascinated by the whole brand concept, too. Not so much for the ownership marking system, but more for the lingo and stories associated with the brands themselves. Our waitress the night before pointed out her father's brand on the wall--"7F under one roof"--and explained that it stood for the seven Fulton kids all living at home. She related that it's a complex brand symbol, and requires two irons. One for the 7F, and a second for the roof line. I understand why she made herself scarce during branding-time.

By the time we finished with breakfast, the grocery store was open and we could get a bag of ice for our Camelbacks. A 7-lb. bag is the perfect size to fill both of our Camelback bladders, with some left over for the spare bottles we carry on our bikes. Today's forecast was another cool day, with temps in the 80's and minimal SE winds. With a ride today of only 50 miles, there was no urgency to get on the road.

As we talked with Tom, the Hotel Ordway manager, we saw a pair of touring cyclists ride by heading east. They didn't see us waving at them, or at any rate, didn't stop. I was a little surprised to see east-bound riders, thinking that it was late in the season. I'll never know their story now.

We said our goodbyes to Tom, and headed out of Ordway toward Pueblo. We'd ride on Hwy 96 for the majority of the day's trip. We've been on Hwy 96 through Kansas and these first 3 days in Colorado. In Kansas, the chip-seal surface has kind of an orange color, but as soon as you cross into "Colorful Colorado", the surface becomes a little more patchwork-ish. The chip-seal is either green or pink, and in places there are repair patches of pink on green, or vice versa. We're seeing the sand color change from light tan to a pinkish color, and I assume that's where the road gets its hue, too.

Chip-seal is a rough road surface--in Georgia, we called it "shake 'n bake". Maybe it's a different construction, but under bicycle tires, the effect is the same. It's uniformly rough, so the only real smooth spot is the white shoulder-line. But with a nice breeze at our backs and another great day of riding, complaining about the road surface isn't really worth the effort.

We made incredibly fast time on the road, and enjoying the small hills that were appearing to the north. Tom had told us about a canal that had been hand-dug to bring water from the Arkansas River out to the high plains towns, and we could see it in places along the ridge. Hwy 96 parallels the railroad tracks; to the north are the foothills, to the south the land is lower, flatter, and greener.

Just outside of Ordway, we passed two correctional facilities. They're providing more jobs and bringing more people to live in the area. Tom's comment was that the townspeople felt pretty safe, even with 2 prisons near them. Should anyone escape, they'd stand out in these small towns where everyone knows each other (and nobody wears orange coveralls).

The only real town stop today would be at Boone. Founded and named for two grandsons of Daniel Boone, this town is about 14 miles outside of Pueblo. There's not much of the town on the highway, but I spied a "Traveler's Aid" sign above a doorway next to the post office, and pulled in. I could see a message board welcoming Adventure Cycling travelers, and could hear Jimi Hendrix music emanating from the doorway. Before I could go inside, though, I was warned off the place by a gentleman who had come out of the post office. "Don't go in there" he cautioned. "Guy's crazy". I remembered hearing a similar story from passing cyclists. Matthew had found the grocery store, and was waving to get my attention, so I coasted down to the shop. Inside, we found a much bigger food (and hardware) selection than we'd encountered in many days. We settled on Gatorade and popsicles, and took our purchases to the front. The proprietor was very genial and welcomed us to the Prairie Horizons Trail. He also warned us off the "crazy guy" in town. We had what we needed for our break, and walked over to the city park to sit under trees(!) for a bit. The breeze was cool, and the shade was a perfect place to sit for a bit. It's hard for me to understand what draws and keeps residents in these remote towns. I've been spoiled by ready access to all kinds of entertainment, arts and cultural venues, and these folks are probably lucky to have dial-up internet access. I've lived in small-town America, and couldn't wait to leave it. But I'm glad that there are folks who do want this life, and they've helped to make our trip very enjoyable.

As promised by the grocery store owner, just outside of Boone we got our first view of the Rockies. From this distance, they look more like a bluish continuation of the clouds that filled the sky. Matthew wondered aloud what it would have been like to have been one of the first explorers to see these mountains for the first time. You'd wonder how far away they were, what it would be like to climb them, and then start to wonder what was on the other side. It was impossible for me to think about climbing those slopes--I was flying down a flat highway at 17mph. We'll be seeing mountains for a few more days before we actually start climbing into them. I can wait. Highway 96 joins Hwy 50 about 7 miles outside of Boone, and the chip-seal gave way to smooth pavement and a 10-foot wide shoulder. It's a less-enjoyable ride, though, because there's more traffic. With the big shoulder, we were well-separated from the traffic, but the noise can't be masked. The road became a 6-lane, separated highway, and as we passed another east-bound touring cyclist, all we could do was wave and ring our bells in greeting. Another story lost.

As we entered the outskirts of Pueblo, we started to see prairie dogs on the side of the road. They're musch smaller than I thought they'd be--they're probably not much more than 8" tall. Their mounds are right off the highway, and although the traffic didn't seem to bother them, they seemed a little skittish about us. I managed to get a couple of pictures, but I had to zoom in from a considerable distance so as not to frighten them.

We got to the LaQuinta around 2pm, and tried to decide what to do. We'll be here for a few days, which is an odd luxury for us. We don't have to immediately tend to bike care and laundry--we could play! We hadn't stopped for lunch today, and were both hungry, but since it was late afternoon we opted for a snack and dip in the pool. The wind seemed to have gotten a little stronger and cooler, but the pool water was warm so we jumped right in. Dark, water-laden clouds appeared from the west, passed over us, and then headed to the east without so much as single drop of rain falling.

We started up a conversation with the only other people at the pool. They're here for a family reunion weekend. About 50 family members will converge here this weekend, most of them from Colorado. Some of them will come in from Eads and Hasswell, two of the tiny towns we visited in the last 3 days, others come from Minnesota, Louisiana and California. We were invited to their party at the hotel on Friday night.

As we walked back from dinner, we could see the rains coming across the plains from the east. Eads, Hessway and Ordway were all getting drenched, and Florence would even have stream-flood watches posted. We had justs enough time to put the rain covers on our bikes before the storm hit. It was a nice rain, lasting about 30 minutes in all.

When we checked into the hotel, the clerk mentioned that a father-daughter bicycle team from Denver had checked in earlier. We hoped to catch up with them, but didn't see them until Friday morning, just as they were leaving. The father was pre-occupied with checking out, so I struck up a conversation with the daughter. She looked to be about 12, and said they were headed to Falcon today. She was complaining about pain in her knees, and didn't think they'd be continuing on much farther after today. Her dad and older sister had made a trip from Denver to New York some years earlier, and this trip continued that tradition. I never did get a chance to talk with the dad--it was after 8am, and he seemed anxious to get on the road. They didn't seem to to using the Adventure Cycling maps--Falcon isn't on the ACA routes.

But now we're heading into a bicycle shop to pick up tire liners, and a new mirror. The day looks beautiful; sunny but not too hot. A great rest day. Jim arrives tonight; the Broberg family joins us tomorrow. We don't have any real plan, but I'm sure it will just be fun to hang out and rest up.