Monday, June 23, 2003

Kit Carson, Colorado

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Our ride today is dedicated to Ohio Willow Wood's Accounting Department: Bruce Helwagen, Sandy Howell, Lisa Heise, Gloria Henderson, Terri Phillips, and Barbara Tucker.

What do you get when you mix clumsy people (especially Mark) with bicycles? Nothing, actually. Mark's story is that he was downhilling it hard and fast and took a big enough tumble to slightly crack his socket and give him a remarkably large knot behind his right knee. Yeah, right. So much for Mark's stories. Turns out the injuries were real, but the reason was a bit different. Turns out he took the "tumble" in his bathroom in Colorado Springs. Put him on crutches for the day, but he should be able to ride soon.

Lesson: Never be within four feet of Mark around wet floors. And be realistic regarding an injury -- rushing the healing process is almost ensured to slow it down.

Today we left Colorado Springs for the small hamlet of Kit Carson, CO, which is on the Wild Horse River (not much of a river, but it's a cool name). The crew (Mark excepted, who used the forced downtime to nap in the back of the van) battled brutal head winds, but still put in over 30 miles each.

Note to Raymond: Mark will only use his crutches if they are appropriately supercharged with Pathfinders. Perhaps there is a market for this? Cyclists and crutches go together so well... Gravity, after all, is everywhere.

The plains of western Colorado seem like ranching heaven. Beautiful grasses that stretch gently to the horizon. Unfortunately, there was also few trees, thus little respite from the scorching sun when the crew watered down next to the highway during infrequent rest stops.

Bruce theorized that those cows tracking the boys (those facing right) are actually Evil Arconians (from Arco, Idaho) who have been shadowing our journey for the past two states. We think that maybe Bruce needs a new brand of sunscreen, and perhaps a slightly larger Camelbak.

We hope so, at least.

Hmmm.... See Cheryl's bike? I wonder what she's up to? Enough said on that topic. For now. But it may come up again the the future. Hee hee hee.

Ok, ok, we can't resist. See, the boys have standing instructions to not pass up rest stops, especially as the plains are woefully short of trees (aka "Latrine Camoflage"). And here is Cheryl's bike leaning against the proverbial outhouse.

Actually, now that we think about it, there's really not much to say about this. I mean, nature calls and that's that. Even the sophomoric humor favored by the boys can't push this joke much further. Darn, and the photo is SO evocative. Sigh.

Trooper Reeder of the Colorado State Patrol gave us great help, warning us about traffic on US 40 on our way to Kit Carson. Here he poses with the crew, which no doubt will be very embarrassing when this photo hits the Internet. Thanks, Officer!

Actually, the officer was trying to serve a warrant of some kind on Keith, who is now sadly (or thankfully!) home in Alabama. We hope in the arms of his sweet Jeanne. We wonder if she's found that hickey? We miss you, man.

Tomorrow we leave Kit Carson for Oakley, Kansas. All of us are sad to be  saying goodbye to Colorado. Our stay in Colorado Springs was exceedingly warm and memorable (Mark is still glad he stayed out of hot tubs, particularly since he cannot be trusted on even slightly damp floors). The mountains were incredible. We cycled hard, talked to many fine people, and hopefully made friends and began building relationships that could last a lifetime.

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