I was generally feeling like the tour was over and entered into the second half not really expecting much. Not in a bad way, just in a "I'm already satisfied" sort of way... like I'd be okay if nothing else exciting happened. I mean, I'm sure I thought that, but if I'd made it another month without anything happening, I probably would have gone crazy. So the universe, apparently, had other plans for me.
And coffee too.
The next morning I decided to take off late as I had another host set up only about 50 miles away ("only 50 miles --" never thought I'd say that). Abbi and I got coffee and breakfast burritos at a local coffee shop that didn't take themselves too seriously, and played half a game of cribbage. She may or may not have won. Just by a few points. Maybe. A few.
Anyways, I was back on the road by about 11:30. I got to ride along the Arkansas River for about 30 miles. It was a nice way to get back into the swing of things after a break day -- all downhill! Of course, after I went downhill, I had to go uphill.
I wasn't the only thing that had gone up recently.
It was a pretty standard day that day. I was a bit tired as my body was still trying to finish recovering -- the norm after a break day -- so took it easy. I passed some BLM land, which was reassuring, as I was worried that the farther east I went, the harder it would be to find places to camp (...wait for it...). I was also by myself, as K/T didn't take a break day in Salida, so they were a day ahead of me and on their way to Pueblo, CO that day.
About 5:00 I made it to my hosts' house -- or more, the turnoff for my hosts' house. The road up to their driveway was gravelly and uphill. Their driveway was rocky... and even steeper. I walked. But it was worth it. They were swell.
Oh, and the view was swell too.
They had a house on a hill that had been built by Harry, the husband. It was a log house with plants everywhere and roughly 180 degrees of windows. It was swell. And not for sale -- I may or may not have asked.
They gave a wise answer.
Oh, and did I mention that Myra was a mountaineer? She had climbed Everest. All the way up to the Hillary Step, at least. The weather was too bad to keep going. But hey, in my mind, that counts. Or at least, it's awesome. Oh, and she was sponsored. Yup. She climbed Everest for free. And kept the gear. She also can't wear the jacket because it's "too warm." But she had some good stories. In exchange, I offered touring advice, as bicycle touring was sort of on their to-do list. They had already climbed mountains, hiked, kayaked, built a house, and done everything else on their to-do list, so I'm sure they'll get to touring eventually. For my part, I continued on.
The next day was uphill for about 5 miles, and then almost all downhill. Harry and Myra's was at about 7,500 feet, and after climbing to 9,000 feet, I descended to Pueblo, at 4,660. It was pretty steep at some parts, so I was glad not to have passed anyone and to have to tell them the bad news. Come to think of it, I hadn't passed anyone since I could remember (...future Kyle says, "since Francisco in Utah").
I took this photo only for my dog.
Got into Pueblo about 3, which was great, as my host had said not to arrive until after 5:45 and I had some things on my to-do list. For starters, I found K/T at one of the local bike shops (and it's not often on tour you get to say "one of the local bike shops"). We caught up a bit and Tim and I plotted the next few days. Sadly, that was to be the last time I would see Ken, as his furlough was soon to end, and he had to get back to CA. Actually, I believe he first took a train to Chicago to see some friends, then flew home from there... but it doesn't really matter, does it. In any case, I also bought a new chain, as they are supposed to be replaced every 1500 miles, and I was well above 2500. Then I found a Little Caesar's for a bit of a snack, and went to the park to install my chain.
While I was there, I was approached by a homeless man who had been in a car accident, and we philosophized a bit about the human race's reliance on mechanized things. He said he refused to used vehicles from the day of his accident forward, and that he was started a revolution whose tagline was "Stop inciting senseless violence with noisy metal machines." I thought it was an interesting approach, but he planned to spread the revolution purely by word of mouth... in a park... in Pueblo. Despite that there is more than one bike shop in Pueblo, there weren't that many bikes. There were many cars. It was a cool idea. But... well, $0.02.
I headed to my warmshowers host, arriving just before he did, actually. His name was Rick, and he was a Fire Protection Engineer -- add that to my list of careers to check into when I get home. Oh also, he knew just what to provide for an appetizer:
My favorite food. Chunks of it.
Okay, so I don't like Brie, but the Munster and Mozzerela were delicious. For dinner there was stew. Beef stew. Delicious beef stew. I didn't eat all of it, and as a consequence I was deemed a "lightweight." In my defense, I had just had a break day, and then two 50 mile days, one of which was half downhill, and the other of which was almost all downhill. I wish I could have brought some with me though.
With Rick came the pleasure of getting up at 5:15 AM. Up to that day, all of my hosts had let me stay home alone if they'd had to leave for work, for which I was incredibly grateful. I think it was just fine and perfectly within his right for Rick to kick me out when he left for work, and anyways, I did 144 miles that day.
You heard me.
Had I not started at 6 AM that day, I also wouldn't have met Rattlesnake Jim. But we'll get to that in a minute. First, I biked in the dark. I had to visit two gas stations before finding one that had donuts. But sure enough, I found one. At about 11 -- so, 50 miles later -- I came across a town called Ordway. It seemed like one of those small, not-many-services, middle-of-nowhere places, so I decided to see what they had for food. Hey, sometimes you find some great food out in the middle of nowhere.
Hey look! Great food, in the middle of nowhere!
I suppose it would be unfair of me to say that Ordway was in the middle of nowhere. But that's a bit how it felt. Or at least, it was on the edge of nowhere. And the food was good. And priced right! -- a huge omelette, hash browns, toast, two biscuits with gravy (which were thick enough to, when cut in half, be four biscuits with gravy), and a 6" cinnamon roll for $11. Uhuh. Anyways. THAT'S when I met Rattlesnake Jim.
He doesn't like photos. Neither do snakes. Get it?
Rattlesnake Jim introduced himself as an emergency helicopter pilot. He had apparently just gotten off shift and somebody else had taken his place -- apparently they get calls once every five minutes. So either their radius was huge, or I was kidding myself about being on the edge of nowhere. Or Rattlesnake Jim was kidding me. I mean, he catches rattlesnakes in his spare time.
Wait, what?
Yea, apparently the government pays $100 for a 40mL bottle of rattlesnake venom. Somehow they use it to make an antidote. So in his spare time, about three times a week, Rattlesnake Jim goes rattlesnake hunting. Oh, and he uses his bare hands. No sticks -- he doesn't want to damage the scales on the snakes he catches. Anyways, he milks them, sets them free, and sells the venom to the government. He's participated in rattlesnake catching competitions too.
So that's Rattlesnake Jim.
(also, something inside me is saying the government might use the venom to make, er, poison... unless the antidote is bacterial... but that's none of my business)
Shortly after Ordway, this happened:
Over and over and over again. Or I don't know, maybe it was more of a constant thing.
For a while. A long while. I sort of wondered where Tim was as I could have used some conversion. He caught up with me about 5 that day. I passed through a few towns actually in the middle of nowhere -- who had no services -- before Tim caught up to me while I was taking a break in Ely. They farmed there. And... nothing else. I'm pretty sure, anyways. But there was free camping in the city park.
But I didn't camp there. By the time I reached Ely it was already my longest day at about 104 miles, and if it was going to be my longest day, then I wanted it to be long, darnit! Also, I had a place to stay in Sheridan Lake -- there was a church there that offered free lodging to touring cyclists. So I took off, and spent the night in a church.
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