Trail Magic, First 1000 miles, Wyoming state line

We made our way out of Colorado and into Utah. Our destination was Vernal. Did I mention that Kiki was pretty much at the end of her rope with regards to hotels. Not bad, we've made it 26 days without a hotel (well we did stay one night in Durango, but that was free). Not that we're trying to avoid hotels, we do have a "foul-weather fund", we've just been overall lucky with the weather. But at a certain point, one does desire a bed. So I couldn't blame her. Getting to Vernal is not fun on bicycle. NW Colorado had turned into West Texas as far as I could tell with oil and gas stuff everywhere. And NE Utah was no different.

Summing up the experience, we passed this business on the dreaded highway before Vernal, Utah. I came up with a killer slogan for them. "Eight Ball Trucking. We get it there yesterday!"

All this oil and gas work meant the scenery was poor and the truck traffic was high. To boot, they have a double rumble strip in the road. That is, one rumble strip goes right down the center of the road! Guess that keeps all the sober Utahns from drifting into head-on collisions. For bicyclist, this causes the annoying occurrence of every time a car or truck gives you space, they cross the center rumble strip and it sounds like the full-on jake brake of an 18-wheeler. So that was annoying to say the least.

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So we roll into Vernal and ask about a hotel. I ask the foreign hotel employee, "How much for 2 adults with 1 bed?". He says, "You have a 2 dogs!, Sorry, No Dogs". I say, " No, not dogs. Adults. 2 AAA-Dults with Zero Dogs." He says, $60. I say " OK, thanks but we'll look around". He says, "I can give you for $50", I say, "I can pay $40" (did I mention that is wasn't a very swanky looking place?). Alas, we are soon on our bikes heading for Vernal proper. Right as it starts to rain we pass the "Country Grub". And get this, "They have ice cream again!"(read the sign). How could we pass up this very serendipitous omen.

After chowing and reading a newspaper from May 2 (it's June 25th but it's all they had. How could this possibly be? I tried not to think about it too much. Were they as nonchalant about food expiration dates?) and letting the rain peter out, we hit Vernal. Right as you enter town is a bike shop and it looked open, so I decided to inquire about my wobbly crank arms. Turns out my bottom bracket is shot and needs replacement. They are able to do the work right then (a minor miracle in itself), so I jump on it. Kiki in the meantime strikes up conversation with the folks in shop to see if she can find a lodging/sofa option. We stumble on James and Cory (below) who are probably the 2 coolest guys in Vernal. Cory loves Crested Butte and can name most of our best mountain bike trails. He offers us some floor space at his pad. Kiki gets clean, I get clean, (I even trim my Fu-man-chu) and then we get driven (in the rain) to the grocery store. And never, never had carpet seemed so comfortable as the night we slept on Cory's living room floor!

We say goodbye to our new friends and head out to blue skies the next morning. We're not looking forward to the upcoming events because they all point upwards. One sign even warns us off 10 switchbacks in 4 miles at 8% grade. It's scenic but definitely slow going (7.5 mph average). On days like today, we're really lucky to get 50 miles.

We covered our first 1000 miles right outside of Vernal, Utah. And, I am not making this up, there was a professional photographer right there on the side of this desolate road waiting for a triathlon to come down the hill so he could snap their pictures. I asked him if he'd take a quick pic to commemorate the milestone. This leg from Vernal to the Flaming Gorge Reservoir was really tough, so these might have been the last smiles on our faces. The scenery thru NE Utah as stunning and all along the way, they had signs that'd tell us what layer of earth we were looking at and what was special about it ("Dinosaurs roamed here", "Created by ancient sea", etc). We ended the day exhausted and found a spot right near the reservoir at the only point you actually have access to it. That facilitated a nice dip in the not-so-cold waters. We are sleeping great at nights as the temps are staying cool. I don't think I ever sleep as good as when I'm bicycle touring, you just get so dang tired.

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Had this idea today, a bicycle tour sponsored by "Subway". We'd cycle from Subway to Subway. They'd give us free foot-longs and some to-go. Subway'd pick up the cost of the tour and promote it (similar to Jared and his weight loss), we'd donate money to a charity to make it all legit. How cool would that be? Subway's are everywhere, so you could invent a pretty scenic route.

We made it to Wyoming after a day and 1/2 in Utah. The funny thing about this border crossing is that across the street from it was "The Hub" restaurant. Great little place to get an all-american breakfast (which we did). The Hub is 1/2 in Utah and 1/2 in Wyoming. The 1/2 in Wyoming sells real liquor which apparently they can't do in Utah. It was just interesting to have the state line run right thru a store. Never seen that.

Above is an example of today's road booty. Four Swiss Miss Hot Chocolates with marshmallows. How can you pass that up? I love drinking hot chocolate in the evening. Today we also found some SPF 30 sunscreen (1/2 full and we were almost out) and some cool sunglasses. Plus I'm finding lots of half full water bottles that is supplying me with water to douse my legs and head and shirt. So the road is continuing to supply us with good fortune.

Small Town USA

So this happens to us in Nucla the other day. I'll set the scene:

Local supermarket, downtown Nucla, Colorado: unkempt bicycle tourist looking over the candy shelf deciding between peanut or plain M&M's. Patty, the cashier, older, dyed jet black hair and the butcher, Tommy, 30-something, white tee-shirt, tattoos, blood-smeared apron discussing Joe who has just left the supermarket.

Patty: Well it doesn't look like Joe is doing that bad
Tommy: Whaddya mean?
Patty: Well, ya know, with that nice new truck of his and all
Tommy: You don't even want to know what I think about that
Patty: Well, that's probably just about what I was thinking too

Possible conclusions (made by unkempt bicycle tourist eavesdropper)

1) Joe's an SOB and has been ever since the 3rd grade, or
2) Joe recently married brother's widow who happens to be rich, or
3) Joe sells meth

Loma to Rangley, Hwy 139

---------> Camp site on Hwy 139, sunset thru the door.

There is a lonely road in the northeast corner of Colorado that connects Grand Junction to Rangley. 73 miles long, due north. Up and over Douglas Pass (8300 ft). A perfect bicycling road.

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We've started a new tradition, (thanks to Kiki since she has the watch and the will power). That is to wake at 5:30 and be rolling by 6am. No official breakfast till the first 10-15 miles (we'll eat a powerbar or something at the tent). All this is our ploy to beat the heat. If we can get most of our ride done by noon, it's smooth sailing after that. If fact we were brainstorming names for our plan. The best we could come up with is the "High Noon Five-Oh", meaning by noon we'd like to have 50 miles done. Then you can shack up somewhere from 1pm-5pm and then cycle 20 more after it cools down. We have this same tradition on long-distance hiking trails, though modified for walking we call it a "Ten-by-Ten".

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That's how we arrived into Fruita. A high-noon five-oh and then straight to the library. I love libraries!!! They are my favorite place even when I'm not travelling. They are just so nice to hang out in and so welcoming!

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Resupplied, we head out of Fruita to get closer to Rangely and make Douglas Pass more doable. Did I mention it's hot! Somehow we miss the scenic drive I'd planned out of Fruita to Hwy 139 and instead end up on the hellaciously busy Hwy 6. Trucks flying by, little shoulder. Not a fun road, but we only had 5 miles of it, so we decided to just stick with it till we got to our road. I notice my bike is getting a bit squirrelly and finally realize that I'm getting a flat front tire. The worse part is that there is no shade to be had anywhere. This is not good because when you do stop cycling, the heat factor jumps by 10 it seems. So we stop and I douse myself with water just to make dealing with this situation survivable. I decide to pump up the flat and see if we can go 1/4 mile more and find shade. The plan works as we make it to a Conoco station (me pushing the last 200 yards); the perfect flat changing location. In my book, if you're going change a flat, might as well have a fountain drink with lots of ice.

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We made it 9 miles north of Loma before pooping out. Good part about this country is you can just camp anywhere you feel like it. We found an old jeep road and camped only about 200 yards off the main highway. It's pretty desolate out there. No buildings, nothing really. Just sage and spiders. This was probably one of our best campsites yet (see above). So close to the road and yet such a remote, private feeling. We could see the Colorado Nat'l Monument to the south and a spectacular sunset dazzled us as we tucked in for the night.

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Heading out that morning, we knew Douglas Pass loomed ahead. We'd have about 30 miles of pedalling until we crossed it. The first 25 were not so bad, but that last 5 had us pedalling at 3 mph. It was a toughie, but no tougher than we'd already done, so we were well prepared.

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The thing about our "High-Noon Five-Oh" plan is that it make us very nappy. We pretty much have to have a nap or we'll become non-functioning or worse, hurt ourselves. Lucky for us we cruised into a recreation area right as we were both needing some down time. It had a picnic table but better, it had a shelter for shade. We immediately put ourselves down for a 30 minute time-out.

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I think that's all I really need these days. Picnic tables and shade. Give me those two things and I'll be completely satisfied. We cruised into Rangely and went directly to the Subway (2nd day in a row!). I'm way into the Meatball sub for some reason. I've lived my whole life never ordering a Meatball sub, now it seems I can't fathom life without one. Sometimes I think that bicycle touring makes you similar to a pregnant woman. You just start craving certain things and you don't know why, you just do and whoa to he who might get in your way of fulfilling that desire!

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We'll be out of Colorado tomorrow and into Utah for a day or two (Vernal) before we get to the Flaming Gorge area of Wyoming.

What the heck!!! 2 pics from Hwy 141

The above pic was taken just SE of Norwood. I have no idea. I need to do some research on this. Anyone with any idea feel free to comment. It's fun passing by something completely new though. My jaw just dropped when I saw it. It's like a Dr. Suess creation. (More: After doing "The Google", I found this is known as “Ankole” in Uganda and “Watussi” in Rwanda and in Burundi. It came about through cross-breeding for thousands of years between the hump-backed and the long-horned Egyptian buffalo. Both males and females have looong horns, which can grow to over 8 feet (2.5 meters) in length. (more info here).

Then this, later on, on Hwy 141 between Gateway and Hwy 50. You got it right, a Nazi flag waving in the breeze. I was like, you have got to be kidding me! But there it was, flapping in the breeze. Not shown in this pic is that on the left side of this home, was displayed a huge American flag. So.....go figure. Had I seen this in Idaho, I'd be like, "Well, OK, I'd heard about that faction living there." But this is Colorado!

Telluride to Fruita, CO : Summer Begins

So summer has come on with a vengeance and I'm stuck wondering why in the world I have a 15F degree sleeping bag. But first things first. We struck out of Telluride after returning all of our free box stuff that we had gathered over the 4 days. Of note were the down pillow and the very thick foam pad which I lined the entire tent floor with. That combined with earplugs and I was a very happy sleeper.

As usual for us, things continue to go wonderfully. First on the agenda was to stop for coffee (again) in Placerville before the climbing began. We cycled right up the my beloved before-mentioned bench and lo and behold, there lay two not-so-crisp dollars for us to purchase our coffees with. This kind of "magic" happens to us all the time and I just chuckle and thank the powers that be for the gift.

Heading out of Telluride on highway 141 was a treat for us because it is an road we'd never been on before. The views just south of Norwood merited some picture taking. I'm guessing but I think that is Lone Cone on the right. Very pretty country.

Of course, as mentioned above, winter was now over and the heat was coming on. For me, this means managing the heat rash that I inevitably get when I cycle in the sun for hours. But I have a "cure" and that is, every 5 or so miles, I douse my legs and shorts with water to cool my legs down. It definitely works and makes it possible for me to push on thru the hottest parts of the day. Still, we seek out shade any chance we get. On average, we try to go 20 miles and break for a snack, then 20 miles and break for lunch and a nap, then 20 more miles and call it a day. Above is us at one of our typical lunch stops.

Highway 141 up to Gateway is a stunning ride. I really felt like I was in Utah. There were tons of motorcycles and very few big rigs on this road. Looked like we were cycling on the bottom of the Grand Canyon in some places. It's a very curvy road that followed the Dolores River for a ways. A river in which we had at least 3 "heatbreaks". A heatbreak is when you get too hot and you have to get in the river, fully clothed (that includes shoes, you can leave your helmet on too!). Then you just lay there and moan.

We arrived in Gateway which was exciting for me because I've always been intrigued with it on the map. It just seemed like it had to be cool. Well what it turned out to be was not what I'd expected. For those who have hiked the PCT, think Warner Springs without the hot springs. It's basically just a resort with employees zooming around in golf carts. Still, we were SOOOO excited to be there as it was 95F out and we were "knackered as". They have this store at the resort called the Outpost. The first thing I notice was that there was no access to the Outpost from the road. What kind of business makes it hard for their customers to enter their establishment? Lucky for us, we had bikes and could hop some curbs to get to the store. Inside, it's pretty darn nice as you can see from the pic. And get this, they had only one Ben and Jerry's left and it was my favorite flavor, "Chubby Hubby". Anyone who's done some long-distance travel can pretty well imagine how LONG we lounged in this oasis.

After over-staying our welcome at the Outpost in Gateway, we tried to trudge onward (and upward) but only made it 6 miles before both of us were bonking and literally shaking a bit. Not sure what was going on, but it was a record heat day. So we took another heatbreak and tried some more, but Kiki tapped out and said she just didn't feel right. Magically, this wayside picnic area appeared and we pulled in for the night. Sometimes you just gotta camp wherever you poop-out. The above picture show how critical picnic tables can be to an enjoyable camping experience. Once our panniers explode their contents, it's pretty easy to cover the tables in no time flat.

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That reminds me of one reason I love bicycle touring or long-distance hiking. You get to this state of appreciation for such simple things. Like the above picnic table, or often just good shade from the sun, or having cold water instead of tepid water. These simple things are usually taken for granted in normal life, not even noticed really. So we must rely on other things to stimulate that "make-you-happy" feeling. And yet, if you've got it all, well then it gets pretty tough to get that feeling at all.

Telluride --> Buffalo, WY (18 days)

It's Monday and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival is over. We now begin the longest leg of the Bluegrass Bicycle Tour. 700-800 miles to Buffalo, Wyoming via Jackson, The Tetons and Yellowstone Nat'l Park.
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Telluride ended with a very emotional moment when Craig Ferguson (the TBF director) sang an ode to his recently passed away father, accompanied by Sam Bush on mandolin. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. Then the "house band" of Sam, Bela, Jerry, Luke, Edgar, Bryan proceed to tear the house down with a set full of classic bluegrass numbers.
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It was nice to see our old Appalachian Trail friends, Easy and Handstand, who were are the festival this weekend.
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Telluride ended with some good news for us. Our camp site, dubbed "Camp Not-a-lot-a", got voted Saturday's most environmentally-friendly campsite. They announced our names on the main stage and we won some swag (a bamboo shirt!). That was quite an honor and we are now in the running with the other 3 day-winners for the grand prize. We'll know in a week or two who Planet Bluegrass selects as the 2009 winner. Wish us luck! I think we have a good chance. Our spiel was that we don't have anything so by default we'd be more environmentally-friendly than the camp site that, say, has a solar panel. An example of our selling points for our camp was that since we had no cooler, we bought no aluminum can drinks and hence no ice. Of course the big selling point was that we had no car and used no gas bringing in our camp or taking it away.
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We'll be heading to Wyoming by way of Gateway and then Douglas Pass, both highly recommended routes. Then we'll skirt the west side of the Flaming Gorge in southern Wyoming before heading towards the Tetons and Yellowstone. We'll give some updates along the way if we hit the libraries at the right time.
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So far the BBT has be very well received by all we encounter. Folks are always encouraging and often in disbelief. My goal all along with the BBT has been to raise awareness to the ability to vacation on your bicycle and it seems that we are getting results; one person at a time. I even have some very serious inquiries about joining the BBT from fellow cycle tourist. I hope that pans out, it'd be fun to create a posse of BBT'ers.

More Telluride Bluegrass Pics

Here's a shot of the beautiful setting that accompanies the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. This is pretty much the musician's view as they perform . They all comment on it and really, how could they not be inspired to sing their heart's out with such an awesome vista to behold.

Of course some folks barely make it back to their tents each night (or at least 3/4 of the way to their tents). Let's call this guy, "Joe the Festivarian". The days are long and the sleep marginal, but the memories last a lifetime (well maybe not for some!).