Almost the 4th

Couple of days have gone by since I’ve had time to blog.  If I think hard enough I would be able to tell you where we were and what we did but its 8 in the morning.  Too early for heavy thinking.

We did meet up with cousin Ken & Kate on Monday.  That was a real treat.  Our visit began in the tire place while waiting for our one tire to be fixed – the one tire turned in to 4 new tires.  Oh well,  hopefully no more tire problems.  We also enjoyed a nice Mexican dinner while catching up with the relatives/friends.

We traveled on Monday and Tuesday – mostly like all the other days we’ve been out here.  We did cross the highest peak on route yesterday 11,+.  All went well.  The guys did 98 miles yesterday except Jerry who did 101 because he took a little side trip to a town of Guffy thinking that I might not have gotten his voice mail and ended up there.  Actually, I also did the little side trip just to check out a B+B.  What a town.  So many places out here were apparently large prosperous towns during the gold rush days but are now hanging on to populations of about 50 or so.  Guffy looked like a town out of a 50s western movie.  Not much action there now.  I would have taken some pictures but being the only car in town I felt like I was being watched.  The B&B had a no trespassing sign up so I didn’t stop there or anywhere.

Found a nice campsite last night.  Not sure what the name of the town is but it west of Canyon City.  The site is on a hills nestled among pinon trees and 2 types of cactus, site was all gravel.  We also had a humdinger of a storm last afternoon – lightening, thunder, rain – a lot of all three.

The men took off before 6 as usual this morning.  We really do not have a clear idea of just where we’ll be camping tonight.  I’m one who likes to know what is happening and when so this is a stretch for me (as if the whole trip hasn’t been).  We will be leaving the mountains, which is probably good.  The high altitude affects my attitude – not always for the better.  Also, I’ve had headaches for quite a while a few days now.  On to Kansas!  (oh, boy!...)

On to Pueblo and beyond today.  They tell me that is the halfway point.  Been on the road for 4 days short of a month and target for the Atlantic is one month from now.  Things Seem to be going well.

Woke up last night and thought I was in my bed at home.  It took a few seconds for reality to hit but at least it was a good night sleep.

Time to get on with the day.  Hope all is well where you are.   

Hiccups in the road

We hit a few hiccups in the last 24 hours.  We were camping in the City Park in Walden CO last evening.  City Park camping is usually free to tenters.  That’s a plus.  There were also about 20 other cyclists there last evening.  That’s a minus.  One of the toilets was out of order so there was only one available.  That’s a real minus.  In a sleepy little town like Walden I guess the place to be on Saturday night is the City Park.  At least that’s what a bunch of teenagers feel is true.  Also, I would bet that all the mosquitoes in town were there in the park with us.  It was a noisy night and in to the wee hours of the morning.  Another minus.  We did treat ourselves to a stake for dinner.   Steak, potatoes, onions, mushrooms and salad.  That went well.  

After dinner Jeff noticed that one of the tires on the van was low.  I’m still thanking God that he noticed it.  It could have blown so easily on me on a mountain road.  I would have really been up a creek or down a valley.  Literally.  Off they went to a gas station in town.  Being Saturday evening the one tire place in Walden was not open nor would it be until Monday.  But the guy assured us that there was one in Steamboat Springs that was open on Sunday.  Jerry and Jeff changed the tire.  Sunday morning Jeff and Jack took of on the bikes.   Jerry and I were riding on the spare to Steamboat, about 60 miles away.  When we got there the store was not opened nor were any of the other tire places in town.  Not until Monday.  What now???  Jerry thought a stop at Starbucks might help.  Well, it didn’t get the tire changed so on we went about 60 miles again to meet up with J & J in Hot Springs.  Meet up we did and had a light breakfast at a café.  Jerry then joined the other 2 and rode to Kremmling where here we sit waiting for time to pass until supper.

We did see some antelope today and a herd of cows being moved down the road.  Again it is so strange to see cows and cowboys/girls on the road in front of you.  We did see prairie dogs again today.  They act just like our squirrel at home when it comes to crossing roads.  Yesterday I hit one of them.  Looking in my rear view mirror I could see that I did not kill the little thing.  He seemed to be on his back struggling to flip over.  At least that’s what I want to think.

Monday morning will find us bright and early at the tire place.  I hope they have our size and can do it for us.  

Hoping Monday afternoon to meet up with cousin Ken and Kate for an early dinner.  Looking forward to that.

We’re almost at the half way point Pueblo CO.  I’ll let you know what that happens.   

Windy Wyoming

6/28

Goodbye to WY and it's strong winds.  Again last night we had a wind storm that I thought was going to take the tent apart.  The bad thing about that is the fact that we were in the tent.  It seemed to last for about an hour.  Don’t think I’ll miss them as we move in to CO in a day or two.

6/29/13

I’m tempted to just copy and paste Jeff’s blog here.  He does a really good job.  But….Thursday night we stayed at the nosiest campground I’ve ever been in.  We were so very close to the expressway and the noise continues all night.  And then there was the wind again.  Friday night we found ourselves in Riverside WO.  Okay campground but it is truly the land of cottonwood trees (that shed so much it looks like snow) and mosquitoes, many, many mosquitoes.  We all hit our tents early last evening because of them. 

After the men left this morning I went back to sleep for a few minutes only to be awaken by the cound of what I thought was a crop duster plane.  Yuck, I could see the chemicals coming from the plane.  I did not want to breathe.  I come to find out that really what they were spraying was really to kill the mosquitoes.  Now I don’t like the little things but I think they would win over the chemicals.

Hats off to Jeff and Jack.  Every evening they are there offering to help prepare supper – cutting bread, preparing the salad, - I really think they are just hovering until supper is ready but they are willing to be helpful.  And after supper they can be found doing the dishes.  They even caught on as to how to stack things so that everything fits in to our little white kitchen bin.  I only had to give them 2-3 inservices on the subject.  They are very helpful.  Needless to say Jerry also contributes in oh so many ways.

I am going to paste Jeff’s blog here.  I know it’s cheating but he kind of says it all.  On to Walton WY today, short day of 50 miles.

June27 and 28

Did not do an entry yesterday. Very strange day.  The night before, I asked Jack what time we were starting the next day, and he said about 8:00.  And they call me the Princess.  Anyway, he is up and atem at about 7:00 and doesn’t wake me up.  He instructed me that 8:00 means7:00 in camping.  Anyway, we got off a little later than usual.  We left Landor and headed toward Muddy Gap.  There is nothing between Landor and Muddy Gap. No coffee today.  Scenery was a different kind of purdy.  Nothing outstanding, just typical of what you would expect the West to look like.  Prairie land and a lot of desolate areas. Kind of like a moon landscape.   But still very purdy.  Ran into some  gentlemen heading West along the same trail and they gave us some info about what is ahead of us.  Not all good stuff, but they did recommend a place to stay in Latimore.  We continued onto our destination of Muddy Gap.  We got there and there is not a place to stay.  So we rode 10 miles more to a place called Latimore which those guys talked about.  Well, words cannot describe what we found.  Either they bamboozled us or we go the wrong message.  The place was a like a garbage dump.  Shtuff all over the place.  Some lady lived there by herself and had been trying to clear the place out for four years.  Cannot get a dumpster delivered.  Sue got there first.  The lady told her not to camp in certain places because there were rattlers.  She had a bunk house and an outhouse with a skyview.  Sue has pictures.  Needless to say.  We moved on.  Our next option for a campsite was in Rawlins, about 30 miles away.  The road between Latimore and Rawlins had construction that “those guys” said was not really passable by bike.  Not safe.  So we racked up the bikes and rode through the construction using good discretion and got a place in Rawlins, a city of almost 9,500.  We stayed in an RV Park, but we didn’t get there until about 6:00.  A long day.  We were whupped again, so we decided to go out and eat rather than cook.  Went to a place called Bucks, where everything on the menu had the word “Bucks” in it.  It was a Wyoming décor and had menus that were 24 inches by 14 inches.  Food was good.  Back to the campsite around 9:15.  All went to bed.  Very windy at night but no rain.  Total of about 85 miles today.

On the 28^th, we left around 7:10 headed for Riverside, total of 60 miles.  We got to our campsite in Riverside about 12:20.  Like an offday.  Population 52.  But they have two cafes, an RV Park, a grocery/hardware store, and a church.  Not sure how 52 people support all the services.  The place was recommended by a guy we met going West from New Joisey.  He was alone and unsupported headed for San Diego.  Twenty-five years old.  Just winging it.  We met him at our coffee stop in Saratoga at Lollipops.  Also there was a girl from Portland traveling alone with her dog who had a basket on the front of her bike.  No she was not really from Kansas.  Ride was pretty good.   Saw some antelope and some white pelicans flying in formation.  They are black and white; and when they turn, they disappear.  Jack couldn’t see the pelicans and will to his grave say that I was making it up.  I’m sure Jack’s family will find this hard to believe.  Our day at the campsite included naps, beers at the café, trip to the hardware store, and of course dinner.  Jack made some friends at the café.  He had a book out on the table he was reading.   A young motorcyclist walked by and said he had done a book report on that book.  Jack got into a reading conversation and another motorcyclist who did not fit the typical reader type (like I am) chimed in that he had read the same book and recommended another book entitled “Stumbling Upon Happiness”.  New book club in the works it sounds like.  Tomorrow, we head to Waldon to see if Ralph is still at the pond. 

Odds and ends.  There was a city near the Tetons where lot of moose have been sighted.  Guess what they call it?  You guessed it, Moose.  A black bird with an orange head.  An orange headed black bird.  Jimmy Durante came up today.  Again, Jack had no clue.

Jeff, Jerry, Jack, and Sue

Guest Blogger

Summons

Keep me from going to sleep too soon
Or if I go to sleep too soon
Come wake me up. Come any hour
Of night. Come whistling up the road.
Stomp on the porch. Bang on the door.
Make me get out of bed and come
And let you in and light a light.
Tell me the northern lights are on
And make me look. Or tell me clouds
Are doing something to the moon
They never did before, and show me.
See that I see. Talk to me till
I'm half as wide awake as you
And start to dress wondering why
I ever went to bed at all.
Tell me the walking is superb.
Not only tell me but persuade me.
You know I'm not too hard persuaded. 

Robert Francis

kind of says it all......

Lander WY

Lander WY

Traveled from the Tetons to Lander yesterday.  The men did 125 miles.  The most in any day for all of them.   Congratulations Gentlemen!!  We had hoped to camp sooner but the campground that was listed had no showers or toilets – what’s that all about?  So they pushed on another 14 miles to find – well, at least the campground had a toilet and a shower.  Although from what the men said about the shower, made me decide that I did not need one last night. 

Yesterday was a long day.  Went from cold to hot by crossing a mountain.  With the hot weather (high today of 95) I feel like I want to check on the guys a little more during the days.  The scenery changes around every bend – rocks, prairies, mountains, streams, trees, tree-less, on and on.  I did see a moose yesterday, a very big old guy grazing in the bushes.

The men slept in this morning until about 7:00.  They are planning on an 80 mile day.  Pretty ambitious just having done over 100 yesterday and with the heat.  I’ll be checking on them when I can.

All else is good.  Hope it is the same where you are.

catch up time

June 23

The Coasters left Ennis bright and early this morning.  I hung around the campsite waiting for the tent to dry out.  When I first got up the rain fly was covered with frost.  So I had a little extra time to spend watching sandhill cranes, deer, antelope and the like.  Does life get any better?  It is easy to pray out here.  The prayer usually starts with WOW.  On the flip side, spending so much time alone sometimes it is pretty scary to pray.

So after a couple hours of tremendous scenery I find myself sitting in Yellowstone waiting for the guys.  When I passed them today Jerry was doing just fine about 1 mile behind the others but enjoying himself.  Way to go Jerry!  If Jack and Jeff wait for him before they enter the Park they will get in free on Jerry’s senior pass.  I suspect at that point they may wait.  Camp is set up, saw a few elk, no bear or buffalo just yet.  I’m sitting at a pull of completely visible to them as they pass.  Provided they are looking at something other than the road.  Weather has been good today.  In the sun it is actually hot.

A very old lady just walked past with her cane barely making it.  When she got to the end of the fence she began her stretching exercises.  Hearing more voices I looked up and here comes her husband with a walker looking more feebly than her.  Good for them.  Happy to say they were not driving.

There is an Osprey sitting in a dead tree just waiting for the right moment to do fishing.  Earlier today I did see on bringing home fish for dinner for the family.

Just looked out the window and there is a buffalo in the field across the stream –at this moment there are about 6 cars pulling in – I saw it first – I really did!  Guess I better keep an eye on my rear view mirror.  There is some buffalo fur back at our campsite.  I was thinking that it might make a nice taupe for someone I know.

June 24

So we camped at Madison Campgrounds in Yellowstone.

Sunday morning we took off for Grand Village in the southern part of the Park.  Try as we might we saw only that one buffalo mentioned above.  We were even told that there was Grizzly activity on our campground and we decided that seeing a grizzly would make up for the lack of other wildlife.  Happy to say we did not see a grizzly.  The rain began Monday afternoon.  Just a drizzle here and there.  By about 5 there was thunder in the air.  We attempted to fix supper a number of times but everything we got serious about then and  it began to rain again.  Finally the decision was made to eat out.  We ate at the Lake House.  Nice atmosphere, on Yellowstone Lake.  We headed for bed early, not much else to do in the rain.  Then we heard Jack looking for his cycling shoes.  Seems he might have left them in the shower about 2 hours earlier.  I’d sure like to know who he prayed to – he got back to the shower area about 5 minutes before they closed and managed to find his shoes.  Lost shoes could spell disaster for a cyclist.

It rained off and on during the night.  No Grizzly, no moon, no stars.  Packing up this morning was a challenge.  I have figured out how to take down the tent without removing the rain fly but then the process of taking down the rain fly isn’t a pretty one.  With a chill in the air I stopped for a hot chocolate then hit the road no wildlife but road construction this day.  Got held up for about 30 minutes.  From what Jerry tells me they had to get ferried across the area in the back of a  pickup truck.  We’re at an RV site in Moran WY-nothing fancy but a port in a storm.  ( I think God has been taking part in a new game.  Let’s see if we can blow Sue over as she carries the inflated air mattresses from the van to the tent.  So far I’m managed to stay on my feet – sometimes just barely.)

And a storm it was.  I crawled in to the tent to read about 7:30.  Ten minutes later the heavens opened and the wind began to blow.  It didn’t let up for about a half an hour.  I kept thinking of Jim and Karen who lost their tent in the Badlands to the wind.  Luckily ours held together and we were rewarded with a beautiful double rainbow after the fact.    

It is now Wednesday and the guys are on the road.  I decided to let the tent dry out a little before packing up.  They say the weather will be taking a turn for the better today.  Of course we’ll be leaving the area today.  But the sun is shining and all is well.  Actually it’s wonderful.

Clouds,Clouds and more Clouds

It rained some during the night.  This time the tent did not leak, pleasant surprise.

The Coasters left at their usual time of 6:00 a.m.  I did my usual thing and slept in until 7:00.  When I began to open my eyes I noticed that the sun shining through the tent wasn’t as bright as when I opened my eyes at 6:00.  When I peeked out there were defiantly some dark clouds moving in.  The clouds here are magnificent.   I don’t know if they are logically linked to the weather or not.  I’m sure they are but sometimes they move in strange and mysterious ways.

I got a move on and packed up the inside of the tent as quickly as I could-heated up some water for tea-and finished breaking up camp.  I no sooner had everything in the car, including myself when the heavens opened.  It didn’t rain too hard or too long but I was thankful I could pack up dry.

I headed for Ennis, MT.  On the way I saw a bald eagle, and a flock of white pelicans.   The guys had a good head start on me.  I met up with them at a historical marker.  They all seemed to be doing fine.  I got into Ennis after crossing a pass ele. 7000.  Found a RV park and checked in.  I use to have a bad feeling about RV Parks but, at least out here, they are clean, have an acceptable space for tents and usually have hot showers and a laundry.  What more could you ask for – the men really appreciate the hot showers after a hard day’s riding.

Found my site – pulled in – looked up at the sky and decided I had better work fast.  Got the ground cloth down, tent set up and rain fly on before it got too serious about raining.  I had just finished when Jack called.  He was in town but Jeff and Jerry were behind him on the mountain yet.  When Jack pulled out ahead of them it had started to rain and sleet.  He was worried about them so I set out to rescue them.  Jerry called when I was leaving.  They had just crossed the summit when the rain turned to snow and ice.  They were at a pull off.  Could I come get them?  And be careful because things were icing over on the mountain.  I could have done without that last bit of information.  On the way up it rained hard, turning to sleet, the wind was fierce.  Snow was accumulating on the roadside.  I found them so very cold and wet on a pull off, no shelter.  After they put their bikes on the car they moved in to the car covered with ice.  After a few minutes of the heater cranked all the way up they seemed to thaw out a little.  We got off the mountain safely.  It was still raining for a while when we got back to camp.  They headed for the hot showers and feeling in their hands and feet once again.

Things are dry now and they are getting ready for tomorrow – gear, sandwiches, maps, plans...   Onward to West Yellowstone tomorrow.