Sunday, June 13, 2010
Halfway! We made the halfway point, 2132 miles, two days ago. We are in Canon City CO today Last week we were riding in very hot weather, 90’s and twice in the 100’s and today it is 47 degrees. We’ll have to get used to cooler weather (we’ve been told it is snowing in the higher altitudes) and to climbing. The weeks in the plains have spoiled us. We never did have a west headwind and several times had tailwinds. One day we had a favorable wind so we just kept riding and ended up putting in 104 miles!
One early morning we twice had mule deer running next to us for a hundred yards or so, and they easily outran us. In one area of Kansas we went past fences held up by rows of stone fence posts. We read that when the settlers moved out here there was no wood (no trees) to be found for fence posts so they quarried local sandstone for posts. Each post weighed 250-450 lbs. and cost 25 cents (delivered).
We have met several other people doing the TransAm, the latest a couple from Holland. We have seen them several times and have had dinner with twice. Nice folks. They told us they have been pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of Americans and said that they really had thought everyone in America carried a gun.
There was a cyclists’ hostel in Larned, KS that was in the State Mental Hospital. We opted for a small motel, thinking that once the people in the mental hospital heard what we are doing they wouldn’t let us out!
We got our fist sight of the Rockies about 30 miles from Pueblo. The sight brought out just how far we have traveled and gave us a bit of a lift.
We have gotten into the habit of celebrating small milestones, like the end of one map, which usually takes us a week to finish. This week we took one night and celebrated the end of a map, entering Mtn. time zone, the halfway point, and the end of the plains. We left later than usual the next day!
My daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons drove down from Greeley to spend the day with us at the Royal Gorge so we won’t be riding today. That’s okay, it’s been six days of riding and time to give our legs a rest.
That’s it for now. Thanks again for all your support, it really is appreciated!
Bruce
