Day 18 Lawrence, KS to Warsaw, MO 156.1 miles

Each day this week I get up is hard, I feel very sluggish. I took a second shower and readied for the day. 2 danishes and a bowl of Cheerios were had at the Quality Inn. I was off headed south at 8am on US-59 over more of the famous Kansas hills, it was later than I had wanted to leave the hotel. I was hoping to get a long day in to up the average miles and get closer to home. The Kansas wind sensed I was headed south so I was met with headwinds again. When I turned east on US-56 the winds came from the east. I felt like Kansas is the Hotel California line where I can check out but never leave.
A previous comment from Phillipsburg piqued my interest about Kansas, I felt Kansas was holding out on me in terms of seeing some of the back country. Last year’s Ride the Rockies in Colorado went over Cottonwood Pass which half of it was gravel road. I was told the gravel was to keep traffic down and prevent Aspen-like commercial activity in Crested Butte. So, I took off down some gravel roads south of Lawrence to see what I could find, it appeared they were a shortcut to Gardner too so it was a bigger bonus. The countryside was incredible, and a single picture couldn’t frame the entire scene. I wasn’t excited to have to do some mudbogging through parts of the road with skinny tires but I made it through ok. When I made it back on asphalt I made a note to never take the blacktop for granted.
I passed signs for the various historical trails such as the Sante Fe and the Oregon. I would have stopped for the historical markers but the urge to get to the Missouri line was stronger. There were some closed roads near the border which upped the mileage but it gave me an opportunity to see the suburbs of Kansas City. It looks the same as Charlotte where they’ve converted farmland into the million dollar houses built 8 feet from each other. A little further out there were the graded plots of land with overgrown weeds indicating the waning real estate market had hit KC’s farmlands. I rode the same farm roads with no shoulder to the dismay of the locals. I got one wave today, it came at 11am. I gave up on the waving gig. I got buzzed on US-71 in Missouri, it was the closest and most needless of the entire trip. And it was a pickup truck. I’m not in Kansas anymore.
It didn’t seem as hot today as it was yesterday, so I didn’t utilize the ice cycling AC method. Maybe tomorrow, or maybe I’m just getting used to the heat. At 4:30 it was 98, I saw another sign saying 109 but I doubt it. It was in Tightwad, Missouri, which I felt a privilege to pass through on my way through the Ozarks.
Missouri’s animals need education on crossing roads, or Missouri’s drivers have much better accuracy with their tires than other drivers. There are turtle shells and raccoons everywhere. I saw my first armadillo, but it was roadkill too.
I did not stop for lunch, I did not want to jinx the tailwind that started five miles into Missouri. That’s right, the Kansas wind blew from the east until I got into Missouri. Kansas did not want me to leave. Missouri’s wind followed me as I wound through US-71 and MO-7.
US-71 and highway 7 are fantastic strips of pavement, and with a tailwind 22 mph was the norm. I think I overexerted myself though. I arrived in Warsaw with some knee pains on both sides, dizzy, and the back-of-the-head tingling thing. I felt a little wild and unbalanced. The rashes on my knees grew larger through the day, and the tops of my hands still swell by the end of the day. I drank another 2 gallons of Gatorade and will probably walk down to the gas station in a bit for more.
I had another first. I have never been to a Sonic restaurant because I don’t go through drive-throughs, something that grew out of getting the wrong orders repeatedly from various restaurants and trying to eat everything in the car so it wouldn’t get cold. Eating in my car seems silly when a restaurant should provide tables. I’ll provide a little background: by the end of the day I look like someone took a bat to me, microwaved me, and then shook me up real good like a cat. I look a little crazy with bloodshot eyes and hair all muffed from 4 weeks of unchecked growth. So I walk into the area where the Sonic people do their work because I don’t know what the process is to order. I ask one of the employees and she points to the sign menu boards outside and says, “you push the button and say what you want”. That process seems a little silly when everyone is inside and I could just wait for my order. So I go outside to the menu board and examine it, decide what I want, and push the picture of the cheeseburger. Nothing happens. I push a little harder. Nothing. There’s a little green digital screen to the lower left with some analog buttons and a card reader so I try that, it talks about a Sonic card. I don’t know what that is and it is all the green screen wants. I look at the menu board to see if there are directions. There are none. I kind of stare at the menu board just a little while and wonder if I should just go up the street to the Subway. I kind of wanted the burger though, and I made it this far with Sonic, I thought I’d see it through. I walk back into the Sonic command station.
There was a lot of bustling from the 4 or 5 employees, it seemed busy. It’s quite an operation, they have something attached to their wrist that they swipe across something on the wall and it prints out a receipt. They have metal change machines attached around their waste and it hangs across their groin area like a chastity belt. I could not figure out how it worked. I asked again how to order, and this time it was a different employee who gave me mercy and allowed me to order on the spot. I observed more of the operations and was particularly curious about the metal change machine. I became self conscious staring at the young woman’s change machine and decided to go back outside. The food soon followed. I called Stephanie to check in and the day’s heat was starting to catch up to me. It was then I realized I was getting close to the South, one fly came to inspect my food, then two, then a dozen. Seeing that they weren’t going to get any of the food they commenced biting me instead. I left quickly. It was $9 for the meal with a milkshake, seems like a lot for fast food. It was good though.
Someone had asked if the wind/heat affects the speed of my riding. The wind does more so than the heat. In Kansas with the wind against me, I was going 10-13 mph on the flats. In Missouri I was going 22-25 mph on the flats with the wind behind me. Multiply my ride day by 10 hours and I did 156 miles instead of 123 like yesterday. I was also putzing around in Kansas today checking out the backcountry so I expect I could have cleared another 20 miles if I wasn’t so curious about what Kansas was hiding!
Today’s calories were the breakfast, 2 packs of M&Ms (my craving during the day now – they have a peanut butter strawberry flavor now but I prefer the dark chocolate which is hard to find), Sonic’s double cheeseburger, tater tots, a coke, and a pineapple shake.
I’m looking forward to sitting and doing nothing. I thought I would have more opportunity to do that, I should have planned better!
I have a craving for salty beach air…

Day 17 –Clay Center, KS to Lawrence, KS 123.0 miles

Watching Jon Stewart this evening is making me crave popcorn…
I did 123 miles today, the minimum required to make the 13 day journey home according to my route and Google. I was chased down by a tremendous storm and I was having such a great day I didn’t want to be a mile hog and get greedy. It’s a question my conscience answers for me during the latter part of the day, “Should I go? Am I getting greedy?” If the answer is yes, like trying to push to Manhattan yesterday, then I stop pedaling. If I’m feeling lucky like Google, I go for it. There has been very few times I’ve felt lucky, and in Wyoming it ended badly when I decided to go 150 miles without any way of repairing a flat tire. The innkeeper in Clay Center told me I was lucky to not attempt Manhattan because there was a rodeo/stampede going on and all the rooms would be booked. So it all works out again.
Supposedly there’s a 3% chance of getting hit from behind on a bicycle. I don’t use a rearview mirror because I don’t want to see death approach, and I expect some people might be encouraged to cut it close if they see I’m watching their driving skills. I met someone in Idaho who said he uses a rearview mirror so he can avoid a near hit. I would be preoccupied with everything behind me when I should be focused on what’s ahead of me. What really keeps drivers from killing cyclists when most deaths by vehicle aren’t pursued by the law? I ponder that during the day, especially on US-24 east of Topeka on a 70 mph stretch with a gravel soft shoulder. If I’m not too busy counting I’m usually thanking each of the passing drivers who let me live that day.
I headed out of town via Broughton Road, yet another beautiful stretch of Kansas unfolded before me with waving locals. I was curious to know when the locals would stop waving. It was Manhattan and Kansas State University. I was greeted by heckler #9 in a truck who wished I would not be on his road, from across the median. While I have counted the number of hecklers and buzzes since I started, I expect I may have missed a few due to the earbuds. All the better. So ends all the nice folks from the west/central Kansas area. Remember how everyone treated each other during the days following 9/11? That’s west/central Kansas all the time. Take a ride in one of the combines along the road, all you have to do is stop and ask.
In Manhattan there are trees everywhere, and the roads flattened out as I headed east. The corn stalks are at least 3 feet higher than their brothers in west Kansas. I assume it is due to the cold weather and rainfall differences. Everything in the fields are lush and green, the trees fill in the areas between the fields and along the knolls along the horizon. It reminds me of home. It’s something in the mind when I think “home” that sends a jolt of energy through the legs. I wore the jolts out pretty quickly.
I met a group of college students at a Subway/gas station from Baltimore who were on their way across the states in the name of cancer research, a perfect opportunity for me to tell them about 24 Hours of Booty and the Columbia MD event in September. I told them about the group 3 days ahead of them and I learned they were the “Illini” who copied the Baltimore students’ own cross country event and were also responsible for the student’s frequent denials for requests for food donations since they already gave food to the Illini. I have a feeling I’ll see some of them again.
By 10:30am it was 90 degrees. By 11:30 it was 93. I was miserable and wearing the skin off under my eyes from wiping them too much. I had to reapply the sunscreen several times because I wiped it off to clear the sweat from my eyes. I stopped a second time for the Gatorade fix, and I put one in my back jersey pocket. The cold against my spine was wonderful. An idea popped in my head and I would use it at the next Gator-fix. Along the way I stopped in the shade of a small town and a local asked where I came from. I couldn’t remember. I knew I started in Seattle and I was definitely still in Kansas. I was confused and a little concerned I couldn’t remember where I came from… We didn’t have a lively conversation… The patchiness of my skin was getting worse, and I noticed my hands were getting swollen.
By 1:30 it was 101. I stopped for the Gator-fix and this time bought a bag of ice. I dumped the ice into an empty Gatorade bottle and another water bottle. I put one in the back jersey pocket and one behind the zipper in the front of the jersey.
Pure joy.
I haven’t read this approach in other cyclist’s blogs and maybe everyone except me knew about it, but it’s more than psychological. I didn’t sweat as much and I actually felt good. The rest of the ride was easy. I discovered cycling AC.
As I type this out I notice my skin above my knees appears to form some kind of rash. I assume it is the heat. I don’t think there’s much I can do about it.
For folks wondering how my knees are holding up: I learned a little tidbit from the nurses at Ride the Rockies: 800 mg of Ibuprofen is an arthritis dose, so take 3 doses a day. I take just one in the morning and one at night and everything is great.
Life is good!
Today’s calories included 2.5 gallons of Gatorade, 2 bowls of Frosted flakes, a muffin, a bagel and cream cheese, a glass of orange juice, a foot long Subway meatball sub and a Coke to wash it down (in Kansas, where there’s a Pizza Hut there’s a Subway), 2 packs of M&Ms, 2 BBQ brisket and pork dinners with slaw and beans at a local BBQ hut in Lawrence with 3 Budweisers… I love watching Kansas storms. The one that rolled through this evening was orange, green, and blue along with the normal colors of a storm.
I’m staying at the Quality Inn for about $62. I’m washing my clothes and hanging out a bit since I made good time today. Reportedly there are coupons at the travel centers because another guest checked in for $40 when I was trying to get quarters from the front desk.
Tomorrow I’m headed deep into Missouri. I hope to end up in the Harry Truman State Park for some evening camping. The Baltimore students said Missouri was worse than Kansas in terms of heat and humidity. I’m going to try my AC method again to see if it really works or if it was just a fluke.

Day 16 –Phillipsburg, KS to Clay Center, KS 137.86 miles

I had intended to get to Manhattan, KS, but I think this was the toughest day of the 16 I’ve done. Temps were over 100, wind was varying from 10 to 20 mph out of the southeast, and the gnats were ever present. The weather channel hasn’t predicted the winds correctly in Kansas yet. The first few hours of the day were phenomenal, I was on highway 9 and saw the best of Kansas. It was a beautiful area that had rolling hills outlined with low leafy trees and pines. The road was fortunately flat though, so I had a good pace going. A sweet smell of grass permeated the area and everything seemed soft. Until about 11am when the winds came followed by searing heat. Then the rollers. And then *ping*! I blew a spoke. But I didn’t recognize it at first. I had heard spokes go before, but never on my own bike. I came to a quick stop forced by what I thought were the rear brakes jammed on the wheel. They were, as well as the wheel pressed against the lower chain stay (or whatever it’s called). The wheel had also popped out of the drop outs which gave me quite a scare out in the middle of Kansas nowhere. I thought to myself I had finally done it, I blew the rear axle or cracked the quick release for the rack. 2,300 miles and here I was with a bum rack and wheel. There wasn’t much hope for me now. Now for most folks who know my mechanical ability, you should be laughing by now. An accountant with little mechanical ability on the side of a deserted road littered with his belongings. Man versus bike… well, scared little tights wearing dude against a gnarly piece of unresponsive machinery. I talked to the wheel for a bit, but it didn’t say anything. I tried reseating the wheel when I noticed the floppy spoke. Hopefully that was it – and it was. I was back on the road with a slight wobble on the back… No attempt at truing for me, I already had my set of firsts – a blown spoke and installing a new one. Besides, I figure Manhattan would have an able mechanic when they opened the next morning. I think the spoke was blown due to the weight on the rack distributed unevenly and attempting to blast through the Kansas rollers by standing. So the prescription is: redistribution of weight to center, and no more standing. Let’s hope for the best…
The day wore on as well as the rollers. I spotted a Kansas rock slide and took a picture, it appeared dangerous. There should be a retaining wall.
The heat pressed through my skin, boiling the moisture underneath. I noticed my skin was getting patchy so I stopped in Downs for a bite to eat and a break from the heat. A foot long sub and 96 oz of Gatorade later, I was back on the road. That’s 3 quarts in one sitting people. I don’t know where it went. My usual rule of Gatorade purchase before was to buy what I needed plus one, so usually 96 oz of Gatorade (3 32 oz bottles). This time it was 192 oz purchased (1.5 gallons). Thanks for the 2 for $3 promotion!
I made it to Beloit before I had to stop again, this time 64 oz of Gatorade fell victim to my appetite. I also noticed a curious thing happening to my body. As I was sitting at the table in the gas station, I felt my eyes were rolling into the back of my head. I was losing control of the muscles in my eyes. I decided to stay a little longer and chat with the locals. It was 92 miles to Manhattan, and it was 3:30. It would be night riding again for me. One of the locals told me about a group of cyclists going cross country from the east, I didn’t see them though.
It was another hard 60 miles of rollers to Clay Center, I arrived at 7:30. If I were to push to Manhattan I would be in the dark at least until 10pm. I decided it would be safer to cut it short for the evening. I stayed at the Cedar Court Motel for another $40 or so. These small mom and pop places are starting to grow on me, they provide the same breakfast, towels, etc. And since they own the place, they take pride in it and protect it. This particular motel had a Mexican restaurant attached to it and I took advantage of their enchiladas and ice cream.
Y’all may wonder what I do during the day to keep me occupied, since cycling probably is more of the background of my waking hours. Today I watched the sweat pool in my sunglass lenses and I would see just how much I could gather up before dumping it out on to the top bar of the bike. Then I would ponder just how much salt had accumulated underneath. Sometimes I would count the minutes between cars. For less travelled roads like highway 7 there were as many as 6 minutes between cars I would see. Bored of counting minutes I would then thank my nose for its curvature and its ability to drain away the sweat, I would inevitably count the seconds between drips. I cheated sometimes by dipping my head… I would count the miles before the next town and figure my time of arrival. When I was in the northwest I would not do so much counting because I had a lot to see around me. In Kansas there were the same fields of grain all around me, but as I went further east the trees became more numerous. A welcome sign of a nearing east coast.
You know how your lower back sweats when you’re sitting in the sun and you’re wearing too much clothing? When the sun is over my back in the afternoon it makes the entire front of my body sweat. It is a tremendous wash of salt and keeps me occupied from getting it in my eyes.
So that’s how I spend my day in Kansas.
I was extremely tired again, and quickly went to sleep. I managed a little more than 2 gallons worth of Gatorade plus about 64 oz of water. Tomorrow I will head as far as I can get without worrying much about the average speed. I’m a little beat down so I’m not going to set a goal.

Day 15 –St Francis, KS to Phillipsburg, KS 137.91miles

Ow… this day reminded me of 100k charity rides in the Carolinas during August. The wind was no relief, and it blew directly from the east. It would just blow the hot asphalt air and all the gnats against me. I could tell the direction of the wind by where my skin was darkest from the gnats. I seemed to collect a lot of different species of insects, maybe I discovered a new one or two. The gnats were worse when the wind was weak, they would collect in a gnat cloud and then spray my body kamikaze style. In Kansas though, unlike the Carolinas, they don’t go for open areas of the body like the eyes, mouth, nose, etc. They keep to the arms, legs, and chest, which is nice. I’ll take the gnats over the 20 mph wind in the face. Unfortunately, Kansas will bless you with both several times over the course of the day.
I left the motel at 7:30 and didn’t have any wind until a couple hours later. I rode to Atwood and stopped at a local cafe with a painted mural of the late Dale Earnhardt on the window. Works for me! I had 2 helpings of mashed potatoes, roast beef, a roll, salad, corn, chicken sandwich, a couple glasses of water and coke… all for $15… Nice folks at “My Place”, although the waitstaff all wanted to be somewhere else more populated. They liked the principles of Kansas, but wanted everything else more urban areas provided. It was at this point I realized I was in Central time by the clock on the wall. Time didn’t matter much to the staff, as one didn’t know what I was talking about, “Central time”.

Everyone in Kansas waves at you. It's strange, the pickup trucks are friendlier than any other type of vehicle. Try waving at a truck in Carolina while on your bicycle and see what they'll fire back. I started experimenting with the traffic and it's true. The dirtier and truckier the vehicle, the friendlier. I gave a big wave to a passing Mercedez and I got nothing back

In Kansas, distance is measured by towns. If you’re going to Z town and you’re in W town, well then you have 2 towns to go through before you get to your destination. I had a few towns to pass in order to get to Phillipsburg. I looked up lodging in the town and found the Mark V motel had a good review so I headed there as directly as I could, over the continued rolling hills of Kansas. These rollers aren’t like the hiccups of Carolina where I can spin through it with the inertia from the prior downhill, they were 1 or 2 miles of 8%+ to throw me to my lowest gear. I grudged up and down them, my energy waning under the sun. I took a picture of a town sign with elevation of 3k, “No way” I thought, it feels like I’ve been going uphill for days.
Gatorade became a regular occurrence, I downed 192 oz over the day with about a gallon of water to chase. Subway received my business with a footlong club sub late in the day and I hit the bed with one bounce before I was asleep again. The heat sucks the life out of me. I am tired of hills. Kansas is not flat. I’ll say it again, Kansas is not flat.

Day 14 – Thornton, CO to St Francis, KS 194.13 miles

Phase II Denver to Charlotte
So it’s June 21st and I need to be home by July 3rd, a very tall order but doable. I’ll have 13 days to cover around 1600 miles, or at least 123 miles per day. I jettisoned all my heavy clothing, my sleeping pad, and other items to lighten the load. Since I don’t have a scale, I suspect I relieved my bike of around 10 lbs of extra gear.
Ever since Wyoming I’ve had shifting problems, each time it rains it gets worse. The shimano folks from the RTR tour recommended changing the cassette. I bought a new cassette and put on the new chain given to me by the good shimano folks. Brian and I messed with the gearing but it still didn’t work out, I guess I’ll have to limp 1,600 miles back home! Brian thinks it may be the shifter, it seems to have acquired an 11th click. I also bought some Continental touring tires at the RTR Continental booth ($50 each is a good deal) for the road home instead of the racing tires. Brian and I went up Lookout Mountain on Saturday and they seemed to ride through anything, a nice change from the jarring 4000s ($45 at RTR).
I said my goodbyes to the new McManus family and I got a little teary as I left, there were a lot of memories crammed into a short amount of time for them and me as well. Big thanks to them for letting me be the third wheel, I’m sure they’ll be glad for some normalcy soon.
The terrible storms that have pounded the Midwest have since passed, I’ll face very high temperatures all the way to the Appalachians. I had feared getting caught in an infamous Kansas storm, I think I have lucked out this time. I want to be in Kansas by the end of the day, which would be about 187 miles according to Google. Somehow I acquired another 7 miles to make 194. I took 120th out beyond DIA and then down to 88th for a while and then south again to US-36. The wind came from the south so there were some slow miles each time I turned into the wind. When I arrived on US-36 it was a welcome change, and the road was fantastic with wide shoulders and smooth pavement. I saw Porsches pass me intermittently on the highway which puzzled me but I finally found the source out in the middle of nowhere: there was a race (road) track where they were running the course as fast as they could. I think they were time trialing, there weren’t any clear winners.
After the track the road started to crumble and the rollers became steeper and steeper, where were the flatlands? From the air Kansas and East Colorado looks flat…
I happened across another cyclist named Noah who was on his way back home. He had an old RTR jersey on but he did not participate in the ride this year. It was his first attempt to do something like this, I explained to him the importance of chamois butt’r on long rides instead of using Gold Bond powder and how Endurox is quite helpful for recovery. I guess just a short 13 days to Denver had made me somewhat a veteran already. I’m sure I still have a lot to learn though!
It was hot, but at least it wasn’t raining. The wind was coming out of the south so it wasn’t completely at my back however it gave me a little boost. The rollers just wouldn’t stop, I thought I would average 20 mph on the flats but they never came. Instead it was the same 15 mph and I knew I would be ending the day in the dark.
I stopped in Anton at a grocery store just before it closed and bought some Gatorade, M&Ms, Pringles, and a prepackaged ham and cheese sandwich. Gone in no time. I was sitting at a picnic table by the store and shared my space with a local farming family (Horas). They told me about how the government pays them to not work the fields on a rotating basis. They also explained to me why all the towns I passed through seemed to be modern ghost towns with all the motels and restaurant/cafes boarded up. Since there were less fields to work, there were no transient workers around to keep the businesses busy. It was sad to see the towns like Cope Colorado where a once vibrant town now looked like a dilapidated post war East German town.
I caught a flat as the sun went down near Idalia. The front tire masked the flat I think for a few miles before I realized it. A staple had worked its way through the tire but it was a quick fix and a needed rest off the saddle. For all the folks who want to lose weight fast, try James’ workout model: Bike 13 hours in 90+ degree heat and have 2 bowls of cereal in the morning with the above lunch…
In eastern Colorado the sun goes down on the summer solstice at 8:30ish. By then the roads were terrible and I wasn’t excited to dodge potholes in the dark. I pushed through to Kansas in the dark and the roads immediately changed to perfect flat asphalt. It was a smooth ride to St Francis but the twinkling city lights in the distance never seemed to come fast enough. When it’s the only thing I had to look at, and the hills came and went, I was admittedly frustrated.
I arrived at the Dusty Farmer hotel, learned from some of the other guests to ring the doorbell for service, paid my $40, got in the room, and almost immediately fell asleep. The Asian innkeeper kept saying “You’re checking in so late!” It was only 10:30… so I thought. I wouldn’t learn until the next day that I was in Central time. Losing a precious hour again hurts!
In addition to the calories above I had a clif bar, banana, 96 oz of Gatorade, and about 260 oz of water…
Tomorrow I head east again to Phillipsburg, about 150 miles and hopefully with the wind at my back. It’ll be even hotter than today, but at least no rain!

RTR days placeholder

Hey folks - just a placeholder for the missing RTR days I'll edit when I have a chance, on to the trip home for now.

RTR Day 2 –Hotchkiss CO to Gunnison CO, 81.3 miles

I left around 7:30 am after cooking up some pancakes at the tent. I thought it was a good idea, but we had a half gallon of milk to finish so I probably drank too much of it. Out on the road I realized why I don’t drink a lot of milk since it is an inflammatory and would not do wonders for my knee. Here is a recent article on anti-inflammatory diets: http://www.velonews.com/article/92129/sports-nutritionist-monique-ryan-takes-a-look-at

There was a very long line for the luggage trucks this morning, I put my bag on the middle truck and guessed it would take about 5 hours to get me to Gunnison in 80 miles. While there weren’t any passes ahead, it was just mostly uphill.
The weather for the past two day’s riding has been perfect, chilly in the morning with mid 70s during the day. Put a cherry on top to make it a sun-day…
7:30 I assume is considered late in the RTR world, there were more warring cycling factions on the hillsides and it seemed the prior day’s battles had blasted more injuries through the ranks. The SAG wagons were full of bikes. For those who survived, there were spectacular views of Black Canyon and the river responsible for its creation below us. There were times I would ride in the middle of the road to ease my fear of going airborne. The mind plays funny tricks, I imagined myself getting launched on the descents when the front tire blew out. Rather fatalistic for such a beautiful day.
The day was much easier for me, I talked to some other folks and they claimed today was harder. I expect the elevation profile didn’t do all the climbing we did any justice.
I arrived in Gunnison just short of 12:30 as expected. I had a little help on the pulls with Mike, a gentleman aspiring to complete the Kentucky Iron Man in August. He also wants to qualify for Kona. He was modest and pulled his share of the load, people I like. Meanwhile behind us we had a wheelsucker for about 25 miles. I call them ghosts, they don’t talk during the ride but they make just enough noise to let you know they’re there, and never pull up front. To be fair, he did come by later at the campsite to chat about the various rides in the Colorado area.
So, 12:30 in Gunnison, and no luggage truck. It broke down on the road and wouldn’t arrive until 2:30. For folks unfamiliar with large supported tours like RTR, the positives of getting into town early are the lack of lines to the things you need, like a shower, clean toilets, food, etc. Without a bag, there would be no shower, which was the other dream I had along the way besides falling off the side of the mountain. Speaking of falling off mountains, I met someone later who had flipped over a guardrail along the way but fortunately there wasn’t a lot of open space between the rail and consequential ground.
Just as predicted, the bags arrived at 2:30 and I was peached. When the rest of the party arrived we bee-lined to the local brewery and had great hospitality. Sticking to my diet guns, I had a salad. It was paltry so I gave in a little to some of Jennifer’s nachos.
Uneventful night – I was to awake early and head to Salida to secure a very good camping spot in the courtyard of the school, a building with many shades. I woke at 1am to discover my travel pillow sprung a leak so my head was flat on the floor. 1am was a little early to head to Salida though…