Over the Rockies to Pueblo, CO

Okay, so I haven't posted anything since Dubois, WY. Right now I am writing this from Pueblo, CO on a rest day.

A lot has happened since Dubois. We left Dubois and we had a horrid headwind and it was so cold that my fingers and toes were in pain until they went numb. We got into Jeffrey City that night, which was by far the most bizarre town we've been to. It was an old uranium mining town that went under in the 80's, so it was completely abandoned, save a bar/restaurant. We camped under some old pavilion near an abandoned Lion's Club building. The strange thing about the town is that it looked like people picked up and left in a hurry. The building we went into had stuff strewn about like reading glasses, old six packs of coke, paperwork, old newspapers, etc. It looked like people just dropped everything and ran out in a panic, but according to the woman who owns the bar, people just slowly left when the work stopped. Anyway, I have lots of great photos of that place.

From Jeffrey City, we went on to Rawlins, WY where we took a rest day and saw Shrek 3, which was funny, but not as funny as Shrek 2. We were supposed to go bowling as well, but I opted out since I left my socks at the campground and wanted to get some studying done. The winds all through Wyoming were against us and brutally unforgiving, but since that hail storm and that cold morning leaving Dubois, it's been nothing but sun!

We crossed into Colorado about 5 days ago. In the past week or so, we've been meeting lots of cyclists. In Rawlins, we met Peter, who rode with us for a day. In Kremmling, CO we met two twins, Brandy and Brenda riding from Alabama to West Yellowstone, MT where they live. We met lots of cyclists going the opposite direction in the past couple days. All this meeting of cyclists leads to an update on the group. We are now 6: Karli, Paul, Kevin, Nicola, Linus, and Derek. We met Linus and Derek in Yellowstone, and actually started riding with them back in Lander, WY. They are great guys; I love having them along. Bryan left the group a couple days ago in Breckenridge, CO to ride south to the Telluride bluegrass festival. We also met a guy named Holland on the way to Kremmling, CO and he rode with us until Breckenridge, and then branched off with Bryan. So, now it's the 6 of us.

Back to the journey...riding through Colorado was great. From Kremmling, we rode through Silverthorne, where Bryan, Paul, and I stopped at the Outlets and went on a shopping spree at the Pearl Izumi outlet. I was so excited, but spent too much money (yikes, credit card bills!) I also got a pair of running shoes at the outlet mall and went for a run this morning around the park and through the neighborhoods here in Pueblo. It felt great to run again and not have any tendon problems! Okay, so from Silverthorne, we rode on to Breckenridge where we stayed in this really cute hostel owned by a lovely British couple. I took a nice relaxing dip in the hot tub there. We met some crazy coked out vegan girl and I enjoyed an awesome vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookie from a local bakery. I also wandered into the North Face store, but quickly left before I spent any more money. Breck was pretty cool for a tourist/resort town.

From Breck we rode up Hoosier Pass, our highest climb on the whole trip at some 11,500 feet. It was a good climb with switchbacks and it felt great to be at the top where the air is so thin and pure! Then it was down down down at high speeds before we had to climb a few more passes. That day, Paul and I decided to bust ahead of the group for our first century of this trip, and we did 100 miles into Canon City. The people in Canon City were absolutely unfriendly and creepy, so that kind of sucked. From Canon City to Pueblo, the temps have been scorching hot, the people have been jerks, and Paul and I decided that eastern Colorado pretty much SUCKS! We've also heard horrible things about Kansas, Missouri, and Kentucky from cyclists heading west, so I'm bummed that there's not much to look forward to until Virginia.

Yesterday was the first day in the 41 days that I've been on this trip that I was feeling down and ready for it to be over. Frustrations with asshole drivers, rude people, and trouble finding a place to sleep all added up for me. But today the rest of the group showed up at the city park where we ended up being able to camp in Pueblo which was a relief since we didn't hear from them for a day and a half since Paul and I shot ahead and I'm feeling rejuvenated after my run this morning. Linus also cleaned and tightened my rear cassette and helped me change my chain, so I'm excited. It'll be like riding a whole new bike!

Tomorrow we head to Ordway, CO where we hope to stay with a woman from New Zealand who we've heard puts up cyclists. She lets them camp in her yard, do laundry, use internet, etc. Then it's on to Kansas. Wish us well with those winds!