Fear not I am alive. I'm here in wonderful Westminster, Colorado. I have been here for about a week and will be rolling out on Saturday the 7th to continue on my way. I fast forwarded to denver in a matter of two days thanks to a few car rides when I was still about four days away from here via Bicycle. I'll get to that later though. For now, here are some pictures that I've had all to myself up until recently when posted some of them to my Facebook page shortly after getting here (the home of my friends Erin and Rob and their little son Kaydin) Beware, this is the longest update ever. so, Im not offended if you end up skipping the words and just looking at pictures. Or read it in sections, whatever works best for ya!
Kyler, Myself, Bryan, And Ryan. On the roof of The Roxaboxen, Chicago skyline behind us in the AM of the day I left Chicago riding solo.
Throughout my 5 day journey through Illinois I was on and off of old Route 66 connecting Chicago, IL to St. Louis, MI. Small towns up and down that stretch are home to things like this that were built to attract people who were traveling the old Highway.
Best water tower.
I met Jose Maria outside of a McDonalds off route 66, he had started in LA and was on his way to chicago and then to New York where he was catching a flight back home to spain. He had a really hard time speaking english but we were able to communicate pretty well because of the fact that we were both knee deep in similar experiences traveling america. I didn't understand what he meant at first when he started to tell me I looked very different then most people In America, but he eventually figured out how to say "Fat" and Said that I wasn't fat and a lot of americans are.... hah I agreed and talked about how places like McDonalds don't help. He also told me he liked tattoos but that in Spain it is still culturally hard for his family to accept them but that he planned to get the Route 66 sign tattooed on his ankle once completing the road in Chicago.
Some Signs telling me where I am.
A nice side road I took during part of that stretch where route 66 no longer exists. To the Left you can see corn and to the right is soy. This is pretty much all you see when traveling off the main highway all the way through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. And well, lots of other states as well.
ME about a month ago!
More route 66 madness? or the real deal?!
I've seen and helped more turtles cross the road in the past 2 months then ever in my life beforehand combined.
St. Louis from the distance
Crossing from Illinois into Missouri.
This is Ray, and his Trike Recumbent Bicycle. We rode together on and off for three or four days. He rode at a much slower pace so we'd often start together but separate in the day and end at the same place to camp at night. I met him at just the right moment. It's because of him I was able to temp. fix my broken spoke to hold me over for 4 days of riding before getting to a bicycle shop.
This Picture doesn't show it, but missouri was extremely difficult to ride through. Lots of seriously steep up and downs. I snapped this photo from the top of a hill around 12 noon on a day that I felt particularly good about.
Having water is the main concern on the really hot days. Sometime you get to a store or gas station that you expect to get water/food or whatever else at and it turns out to be closed or just out of business all together. Times like this send me looking for a faucet on the outside of the building. (I've become a pro at knowing where to look for faucet's and outlets on any given structure...) But, sometimes you encounter this. A faucet that they have put a special sized bolt on instead of a handle to only allow water access to those with the special tool. OR those who have a handy leatherman Multi tool which includes needle nose pliers. (ME)
I eventually made my way into Kansas. Which flattened out but did not make things any easier.
In kansas the crops changed. I continued to see Corn growing everywhere but instead of soy it was wheat, which is actually the main crop of the state. Corn, Wheat and Cattle.
Two beauties.
My girl and some Cattle.
A Zebra in Kansas...
on the left is Joe and to the Right is Guy. In the distance to the right is a huge lake, which was a sight to see in the middle of kansas. Joe lives in Bloomington, Illinois and Guy lives in "extreme souther Alabama" But they both grew up together in Georgia. They have been friends since the 1st grade and are currently cycling across the United states together.
Guy, sally, & Joe.
I rode a super long day with guy and joe, we weren't together for most of it other then the last 15 miles of the extremely windy and tiring 84 mile day. This day ended us in Hudson, Kansas. A town with a population of 133 people It was 30 miles from the closest town to the east and 25 miles from the closest town to the west. We expected to arrive and just have a town park to camp in for the night but somehow met sally. The original owner of the only cafe in town opened only on sundays and it was not a sunday. But they were in there working hard on a catering order for the following day and she invited us in for a dinner of Chicken fried steak, potatoes, Jello, Homemade ice cream, and Fresh baked bread made locally and with the flour processed at the mill in town. and then set us up in the community center to sleep for the night. Before leaving us she also gave us a full tray of cinnamon buns to eat in the morning for breakfast. We let her know there is a name for people like her used within the traveling bicycle community "a Road Angel" and its true. She really was an angel and she did all of this for us for no other reason. she just kept saying things like " we just really love our bikers here". Not referring to anyone in the community who rides a bike, but the flow of travelers her small town gets every year because of it being located where it is.
This is Adam and Leah. I met them one morning in Kansas after apparently just missing each other in all sorts of towns all the way back to Illinois. I had no clue when I met them that i'd spend as much time together as we did. We ended up riding and camping and hanging out for about 5 days straight which was incredible. They started late april in the state of Maine and were making their way to San Francisco, CA. Im going to type more about them on the bottom I think But this is whats most important. They are two really awesome individuals and are riding across america for a cause. Which you can learn all about by clicking this link... http://foodcycleus.com/
Nicola also camped at the same park that night along with myself, leah, adam, Guy, Joe and another cyclist I don't have a picture of named Chris. We met Nicola because she is riding the opposite way (East). She is here from Great Britain in the United States for the first time ever. Crossing the country solo on her bicycle. We just all happen to be ending our day in the same town, Which had a big park and a big pool for swimming. Im pretty sure it hit 110 degrees that day so swimming in a pool was exactly what we needed.
Early Morning Hay Shot.
The last days in Kansas were hot and always incredibly windy. Wind usually from the south which was better then a head wind but still made it a hard day of riding. And did not cool anything down, it felt more like gusts from a furnace at times. But we did eventually make it to the state line. I waited there for a while to try and let Leah and Adam catch up. Mostly because I really wanted to be able to look at someone and say "Were not in Kansas anymore."
In my days traveling with Leah and Adam we found ourselves having to get up earlier and earlier each day in order to get the distance we wanted without putting ourselves in danger of riding through the hottest part of the day. On this day we woke up extra early with a plan to make it extra far in the course of the next two days using plan A, B or C. Adam had to be somewhere by the next morning that would have proper phone service so he could have a phone interview with a college he hoped to work at. I also wanted to get as far as possible. Mostly just because I was started to get burnt out. It had been 20 days since I left Chicago and had yet to take a day off of riding. I just really wanted to get to Denver and have my week off. It was time. and the 105+ degrees everyday wasn't helping my sanity.
so on this day, we woke up in Sheridan Lake, Colorado at 4 am with a plan to get to a town called Haswell as early as possible. We knew that in the heat we would not be able to ride any further then Haswell that day but decided to try our luck at catching a ride from someone to take us further down the line.
And what do you know, it worked. ^Meet Randy^. Randy, his dog and his big Truck picked us up in Haswell, CO and drove us all the way to Pueblo. cutting off an entire day or cycling. He was hard to understand at times due to his super thick accent but all in all it was a fun and much needed lift.
By the end of the next day thanks to the kindness of another stranger with a truck I had bypassed the Waldo canyon wild fire outside of Colorado Springs and found myself ahead of schedule and in Denver, Colorado.
I have been here about a week now. Being spoiled by air conditioning, a real bed, a computer, TV, and the constant company of good people. The past few days have been packed full of colorado appropriate outdoor fun. I met up with Illes my soon to be Brother in law and he took me up into the mountains and showed me where he likes to go camping and a few nice hiking trails. The following day (july 4th) Erin and I went White water Rafting. A first for both of us. And today Erin, Rob, kaydin, their dogs Zeus and Karma and myself all went to see the Red Rock Theater and park. Which was incredible.
Red Rock Amphitheater.
Erin, Zeus, Rob and Kaydin on Robs back as we hike around Red Rock park.
Red Rocks, Colorado.
A lake made of snow run off, Nice and high up in the mountains.
A shot of trees just outside of A spot Illes has found for camping. That red shirt is Illes, not a wild red animal.
So my time here is coming to an end. I will be pedaling out of here on saturday bright and early in the morning. I am two days off course of the maps that will get me all the way to Oregon. I will be passing through Rocky Mountain National Park on sunday and crossing the Highest pass of this entire journey at something near 12,100 ft above sea level. Not only the highest point of elevation this trip but probably of my life thus far.
I found out just the other day that my mother will be in Jackson, Wyoming from the 9th till the 15th. So I will be setting a goal for myself to ride extra hard every day for the first 7 days back on the road. Doing this should get me to where she is by the 13th if not the 14th. I can't just let that slip by. To be able to see my mom so far from home and right in the middle of this trip is an amazing thing. And unplanned and unexpected. So I will have a week of long hard days, but it will be worth it. From there I will enter Yellow stone National Park and then find my way to Montana. Thank you to those who sent letters or care packages to me here in westminster. In a few days I may have a second location where I will be picking stuff up, most likely in Montana. I'll post it up here.
Hope everyones been having a killer summer. happy fourth America. See you soon.
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