I actually grew to prefer primitive camping over developed camping during the course of this trip. In fact, my favorite memories are the 2 nights we camped in the Utah desert with no facilities whatsoever. Don’t mean to get gross, but a sponge, a little water, and baby-wipes do a fair job of keeping you sanitized. It just seems that people content with primitive camping are more down to earth, friendlier, and more enjoyable to be around. Up to now I didn’t know I could be like that too.

Our last night of camping was at Kenosha Summit Campground at over 10,000 ft elevation. This was definitely bear country and at Ranger Rick’s suggestion I put all my food in one plastic bag and left it well away from my tent. I was disappointed to see that bag undisturbed the next morning. Not only were there no bears, but even the birds - including those devilish ravens – showed no interest. This was also the only night of the trip where I fully zipped up my sleeping bag and pulled the built-in hood over my head. Temperature got down to the upper 30’s overnight but quickly recovered in the morning with the rising sun.

Going into this trip I expected about 50% camping and 50% motel. I haven’t tallied up yet but I think we ended with 75-80% camping. There were 2 nights when we stayed in a motel only to learn later that camping was available.

–jerry schonewille

That final bicycle riding day last Sunday was fantastic – 85 miles with nearly 7000 ft of downhill! Rick remained in Evergreen after lunch to stay with friends while I continued on to Denver. Another of Rick’s friends, Thomas – who had ridden up to meet us – showed me the way. We had a sweet 11 mile downhill on Hwy 74 to Morrison where we got on some bike trails that led to the Bear Creek Trail which we rode east until we intersected the Platte River Trail. Thomas rode home while I continued on the trail which passed by the REI store near downtown Denver. I stopped at REI to get a local bicycle map and seek advice on how to get to the airport because that was the only place where I could get a one-way rental to San Jose. Everyone said forget it, it can’t be done by bicycle (argh!). Eventually I worked out a plan to ride to Stapleton where the old airport is located. Stapleton has many Hotels/Motels which are now relatively cheap and frequent bus service to the new airport. Spent the night

Thanks Rick and Sarah for suggesting a stop in Wendover at the Utah/Nevada border. This turned out to be exactly half way home and thanks to the gambling/Casino aspect on the Nevada side of town provided cheap room and food and gas. Funny how part of the town is in Utah with a different time zone and different regulations regarding alcohol (beer) sales.

While driving through Nevada I heard a report on the radio that Mormon Crickets are getting nasty in Eureka and Austin. Estimates are that they will inhabit 12 million acres by end of summer.

Great Trip. As a bonus, I went 4 weeks eating and drinking everything in sight and still lost 8 pounds!

–jerry schonewille

It was fairly cold last night, and I had to wear my fleece jacket, pants and beanie cap. We got up and had some oatmeal, arranged our gear and headed down to meet Thomas. This is our last day on the road.

We had a great downhill to start the day. We rolled off 15 quick miles before I saw George Hincapie’s clone headed our way. Yep, that’s Dr. Thomas alright! It was great to see him again, and to ride with him. Thomas and I used to ride together back in the late 80’s when he was on his Peugot and I had my Centurion.

We stopped at breakfast at the Bailey lodge after I put the hurt on Thomas on a short uphill. That would be the last time I would hurt him all day!

Traffic was, to say the least, hideous. Everyone was passing us at 65 mph or more, and we had little shoulder to work with. Apparently there are few routes from Denver over the mountains, and this was a busy one. We even saw some traffic lights! Jerry and I have seen few of these since leaving California, and we had to adjust to the sight of them.

Jerry and his GPS guided us into the turn to Evergreen, route 73. It was nice to get onto a quieter road. A racer type guy with a team uniform passed us…I said hello and promptly got snubbed. Per usual, I could not let things pass like that. Me and the Mother Trucker (my bike) got out of the saddle and dusted him off. He passed me on an uphill and I latched onto his wheel, unwilling to let such a snobby guy go.

I backed off and Thomas caught up to me. He suspected my competitive side had kicked in. Mr Racer guy got about a 200 yard lead when Thomas and I decided to bridge the gap. Thomas passed him and the guy did a double take! Hey, watch out for us guys with touring bikes! After 1,700 miles of tough biking, I have some very serious legs going here.

We rode into Evergreen and stopped for sandwiches/coffee. We took a few pictures, at least one which you can find on this blog site.

We took a couple pictures of Jerry, me and the rock the little kid gave us on Day 2. If you did not read that, he was a 3rd grader who was intrigued by our trip. He asked me to bring the rock to Colorado to live with the native rocks. I will take it to our friends house here in Evergreen.

Jerry continued on with Thomas to find transportation back to San Jose, so you will soon have him to deal with once he rests up. He is threatening to join Donny Axtell’s ride returning from Sierra to the Sea tour. Jerry will probably be updating the stats for this blog upon his return.

We certainly missed Dick on the last half of the trip. His easygoing style and good sense of humor was always appreciated. He is feeling much better, by the way, and is back on his bike.

Me? I am going to ride a few miles up the road to Jerry and Cynthia Howell’s house, get a shower, kick back and wait for Sarah and the cats to arrive. It’s been a month since I last saw them, and I have a lot of riding miles under my belt.

-Rick

After a very windy night in Buena Vista in Fran’s backyard, we had some breakfast and killed some time looking around town. We then backtracked a bit and turned east on Hwy 24/285.

The traffic was as dense as yesterday, but with a very narrow shoulder. It has been a long time since we had to deal with such a volume of vehicles on the road, and I can tell you that I prefer the lighter traffic of Utah and Nevada!

We climbed up over Trout Creek Pass and dropped into the South Park basin, a huge area (I mean probably hundreds of square miles) flat as can be and surrounded on all sides by 14,000′ peaks. It is beautiful, but I could not enjoy the scenery as much as I would like due to road and traffic conditions.

We stopped in the town of Fairplay, which was a tiny little burg last time I was there. Well, now they have motels, RV parks and a Pizza Hut. Things are booming there. They even have good cell phone reception.

Sarah was on the road this morning headed to Denver with our cats, Feisty and Buddha. Everything was going fine until she stopped for gas. She carefully got out of the car, making sure the sleeping cats did not escape, pumped her gas and got back in the car. No cats to be seen!

It sounds like she got a bit frantic, but she soon found them huddled together in the covered litter box! Feisty emerged after awhile, but apparently Buddha spent the entire day there.

Jerry and I camped at 10,000′ in a National Forest Service campground. Tomorrow we will meet my old friend Thomas Notides, who is staying about 20 miles down the road (he says he doesn’t camp anymore).

We knocked off 60 miles today. My average was 10.5 mph and I spent 5 hr, 40 minutes in the saddle.

-Rick

On Wednesday I made contact with Fran, who is listed on “Warm Showers”, an internet site that puts bike tourists in touch with folks who are willing to host them. Fran is in Buena Vista and told me that we were welcome to pitch a tent in her yard, but that she was heading out to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

She was heading west on Hwy 50, and we were on the same route heading east. We arranged to meet on top of Blue Mesa Pass.

Although we only spoke to Fran for a couple of minutes, we found that she leads bike tours throughout Colorado. She recently moved to Buena Vista, and has hosted a few tourists since. She asked me to water her plants and she was off to some stomping in the Telluride meadows to the sound of Bela Fleck (I made that up; I don’t really know if she is stomping or if she really likes Bela!). Thanks Fran, for your hospitality; please visit us in CA so we can return the favor!

We attacked Monarch pass with vigor and both ended up a little chilled on top (over 11,000′). Jerry took a couple of pictures and we bundled up for the decent. I did not stop until I got to Poncha Springs, one town away from my father-in-laws childhood home, Salida.

We started to get some rain, but persevered on. We were right next to the Arkansas River for much of the last leg of the day…it is a very well known white water rafting area and Salida was hosting a big festival this weekend.

So here I sit in the Buena Vista library, all caught up! We have taken a shower at the community center (3 minutes for a buck), going to do some laundry, maybe chow down on a steak and set up our tents in Frans backyard.

The trip is coming to a close…two short days and we will be at Cynthia and Jerry Howell’s ranchette in Evergreen. My old friend Thomas is going to ride some of the last leg with us; it will be nice to see him again. In Evergreen I will be seeing Sarah and the cats for the first time in a month or so…I do miss them, and a month away is a long time.

But hey, a couple entries to go…keep tuned in….something sensational might happen! After all, Fran did ask me to water her plants…that could turn into something exciting!

I rode 53 miles today at a 11.2 mph average. Time in the saddle was 4 hr, 45 min.

-Rick

The winds at Blue Mesa Lake died down during the night, so Jerry and I were able to maintain our position next to the restroom (as opposed to blowing through the sage trapped in our tents). We got up early and headed out of Dodge in search of a good breakfast.

It was a flat (Jerry says it was 800 foot climb, but I call it flat) ride to Gunnison, a town of about 5,000 ranchers, students and retirees. It was a good mix, and the friendliest small town I have run into. The population was diverse and appeared to be educated. A nice change from the Utah crowd.

At a gas station I inquired about breakfast (”ya like good bacon? Go to the Quarter Circle Cafe!”) and a barber (”Machete Eddy is right down the road a piece!”). I took their advice and had some of the best deep fried bacon I ever had. I guess beauty is in the mouth of the beholder. Overall, it was a good breakfast and we left happy and full.

Jerry headed out of town and I stopped in to see Eddy the Barber. This was a legacy barber shop, as Eddy’s dad had run it for years before handing off the scissors to junior. It was nice to stop into a place where I was instantly “one of the guys” and had a few laughs with the locals. A good stop, and a haircut to boot.

Next stop, the library to update the blog. They opened at 10, and they had reading camp prior to opening. Lots of kids carrying books out. Reminds me of my years as a youngster at the West Elmira library in Southern NY state.

As I was leaving town, I made a pit stop at the park. When I came out of the restroom, I found a graying fella, in his 50’s, complete with a handlebar mustache and bandana. He told me he had been riding from Stockton, CA for 30 days. I assumed he meant on his Harley; he certainly looked the part. Nope, he was on a GT mountain bike loaded with a 60# duffel bag on the rear rack.

We talked about his trip; he had turned north in Utah, while we went south. He had some hot, dry days and had become dehydrated. He told me that his kidneys were just beginning to work again, and that he had been resting up a few days.

I introduced myself and held out my hand, waiting for a reply. He paused, considered things for a moment and said “I’m Cowboy”.

I’m not sure what “Cowboy was running from, but I hope he stocks up on more water before heading out in the desert.

The ride to Sargemts was fairly uneventful, with rolling hills and ranches with hundreds of acres of green, flowing grasses. When I got to the campground, I found that Jerry had opted for a teepee, complete with propane stove, for the night ($25), rather than camp on crushed rock in our tents ($20). A good choice.

We had a couple meals in the cafe at the campground, ran out of things to read and hit the sack about 8:30.

I rode 50 miles at a 13.5 mph average in 3hr and 39 minutes…my shortest day thus far!

-Rick

We left our camping site in Montrose and headed to downtown Montrose for breakfast. We ate at the Daily Bread and it was great! Another good spot that we learned about from a local.

We had a stong tailwind all day, which is a blessing on the flats and uphills. However, on the downhills it can be a curse, sometimes changing directions and blowing you into the traffic lane.

This was probably our least inspiring day of riding for awhile, and the campsite proved to be the same. Forty mph winds forced us to set up right next to a restroom for shelter from the wind.

I toted a watermelon all the way from Montrose and enjoyed it for dinner. It was one of those small ones, not the 20 pounder type Sarah likes to take around Lake Tahoe.

I rode 53 miles today in 5 hr, 22 min at a 9.9 mph average.

-Rick

Today was the day of bugs, beavers and antique cars.

Early in the day we hit a hatch of flying insects along the river. Millions of them. It was tough not to suck a few down with each breath. I also noticed at least 50 beaver dams along the way. Industrious little guys. The day was full of antique cars going someplace; they would pass us every few minutes. Most of them were Model T’s, but there were others that were shiny and chugged along at a nice speed.

We had lunch in Ridgeway at a nice place. The True Grit Cafe was a nice old fashioned place with great food.

As we neared Montrose, I was floored by the traffic. Sarah and I had been here in the early 90’s, and really liked it. This place has exploded! Fortunetely the downtown area is still intact and triving.

We stayed at the Montrose RV park, which was under construction. They charged us only 10 bucks and we had a pool, nice grass to set up our tents and a brand new laundry, which we did not use.

We had dinner at the Red Barn, an institution around here. Our server was Mary Ann, who is planning to to go to the Cordon Bleu to be a pastry chef…oo la la! Tres Bien!

We rode 64 miles today. It was mostly downhill, and I covered the distance in 4 hours at a 16 mph average.

-Rick

What a great night’s sleep overlooking McPhee Lake. We woke up with the sunrise and rode into Delores. It is a nice little town on a fast moving river. My source for bike racing on this trip, Mark Cooney, says it is a mecca for kayaking.

We had a great breakfast at the Ponderosa (not the old steak place!) and I stopped at the library to update the blog while Jerry pushed on.

Just as I was finishing my entry, I hear someone call my name. Mathu from Holland has once again surfaced! Apparently she was sleeping in her travelling home, the Silver Spirit (an old Toyota wagon) behind the building next door to the library. She saw my bike and thought I might be in there.

She told me of her latest adventures and we parted ways in front of the library. Meeting her and experiencing her joy for life has been one of the highlights of this trip. It’s all about the people, isn’t it? I am sure we will meet again during this lifetime when I can listen to more of her stories.

The climb today was long, but the grade was very forgiving. At many point I was climbing at 12-14 mph, not bad for being fully loaded. Watch out Java Jive Double Expresso riders! When I return in September I’ll be faster than ever!

Did you ever put playing cards in your spokes when you were a kid to get that snapping sound that was soooo cool? There are grasshoppers up here that make the same sound when they fly!

The cottonwood seeds were flying like snow, and at times piling up like it too. They tickle your nose when you inhale them too.

About mile 29, the grade increased and I had not caught Jerry yet. I keep seeing these big rodents in the fields…two times the size of a squirell, yet half as big as a woodchuck. Marmots maybe?

I finally found Jerry in Rico, a small town that seems to be experiencing a housing boom and a declining business climate. It was hard to find food, and we had to settle for a Conoco gas station where they charged outrageous sums for stuff. The hot dogs were on the rollers so long they were black…yum!

I pushed on to Telluride, where we anticipating camping at Town Park. What we did not know was that the entire place was being eaten up by the Bluegrass Festival. Sounds like fun, but it would not start for days. I stopped at the Visitor Center and they guided me to a nice condo for only 75 bucks…a great deal.

We rode 77 miles today; I was on the bike 6 hr, 14 min and averaged 12 mph.

We were happy to leave Blanding…we did not even attempt breakfast in fear of what we would get. We pushed up the road 20 miles to Montecello, where we found one place to eat in town. It’s Sunday in a religious area, after all!

The restaurant we stopped at was in their final day of being open. The owners were not LDS, and apparently the locals were not patronizing them. They seemed very frustrated…the windows of the restaurant said “Bikers Welcome!, Truckers Welcome!” Maybe they should have said “LDS Welcome!”…

In Monticello we ran into Dave Ware, a cyclist riding to raise money for MS research. His wife was diagnosed two years ago while in her 50’s, which is late in life.

Dave was in his 29th day of riding from Virginia. He was cranking out 100 mile days on an old Specialized mountain bike with wide, knobby tires. He was heading toward Cedar City, then down to the Grand Canyon and home to Orange County. Go Dave, go!

Our very special friends Down-Under, Rowan and Margaret Boutell, had written an email suggesting we stop at a cafe in Dove Creek. Friends of theirs, Greg and Francie, had recently purchased a the business and were trying to make a go of it here in the bean capital of the world.

Unfortunetly, Sunday was their day off and I did not find them. But they have a nice little spot here, and we wish them luck. We will stop in for a latte next time through!

Our campsite was very nice for tonight, overlooking the lake. I ate my emergency backup food, my Top Ramen…yum!

We cranked out 85 miles today. I was in the saddle 7 hr, 28 min and averaged 11.3 mph. Today was fairly flat compared to past days and we seemed to fly!

Rick