Day 60 - August 2, 2013 - Rawlins, WY to Jackson, WY (by car!)

We blasted through most of Wyoming today...still catching up!  Wyoming is pretty much like I imagine the early western settlers saw it - breathtaking in its wide open expanses, with almost no civilization as far as the eye can see!

We stopped at Split Rock - an important waypoint for Pony Express riders during its short stint in service.  Soon (or not so soon- we spent all day in the car!), we were entering the forests around Grand Teton National Park, and the landscape drastically from desert to granite peaks and pine trees.

Finally we were entering Grand Teton National Park!

Exciting stuff!  We explored the park for a while, as it was still only mid-afternoon.  These mountains are absolutely beautiful, and look unlike many others I've seen, since they really don't have any foothills and appear to rise up out of the lake.

We headed out of the park to find a place to stay, and then dinner in Jackson.  Jackson is a typical mountain tourist town, similar to Breckenridge - it's cute and appears quaint, it's crowded, and everything is expensive just on principle.  We found a cheapish pizza parlor where we could eat outside on the deck, enjoyed some ice cream from a little stand on the street, window-shopped for real estate in Jackson (news flash - we can't afford a studio apartment!), then headed back to crash.  It was a nice day, even though we spent most of it in the car...

Day 59 - August 1, 2013 - Rand, CO to Walden, CO

Miles - 27

Total mileage - 1,672

We drove up to Rand, CO, where I started my ride today.  We are trying to get back on track, so are driving some of the route so we can finish on time!  We were in another one of these vast valleys surrounded by mountain views on all sides.

Today's ride was pretty flat, with just a little wind.  There were only a few climbs, which still wear me out because of the altitude!

I spotted a couple of hawks - seemed like they were hunting as a pair, squawking back and forth very close to a prairie dog colony...look out prairie dogs!!!

Saw a couple of llamas in a field too.  And earlier in the day, a couple of antelope close to the road - they were pretty cool looking!

I rolled into Walden (the moose watching capital of the world) pretty early, we grabbed lunch at a cafe, then I hopped back on my bike to continue pedaling to Wyoming...unfortunately, but right on queue for our trip, a thunderstorm rolled in.  I got another 10 miles in before my pit crew told me to pack it in and get in the car!

We crossed into Wyoming today!  Mel and I hadn't ever been here before, so it was pretty neat!  We saw a couple of Eastbound riders just arriving in Colorado on the other side of the road - hope they pedaled fast and avoided the storms!

We drove to Rawlins, WY to stay the night, I soaked my aching knees in the hotel's hot tub, enjoyed a high class dinner (Taco Bell), and then attempted to fix a flat that Mel's rear tube had gotten a couple of days ago.  After a fight with the chain, and fighting the new tube into the tire, and getting covered in grease, I thought we had it fixed, and we turned in for the night.

Day 58 - July 31, 2013 - Silverthorne, CO to Kremmling, CO

Miles - 41

Total mileage - 1,645

Mel was feeling up to getting back on the bike today, so we geared up for what looked to be a mostly downhill ride into Kremmling today.  Silverthorne boasted a bike path to the outskirts of the city - always a welcome sight!

The first 12 miles or so of our ride was beautiful downhill surrounded by mountain views.  We didn't have to do much pedaling at all.  We saw a couple of eagles nests on some poles for power lines.  There was also a gorgeous rocky river flowing next to the road - ideal road for riding on!  

After the initial lovely downhill section, we ran into a few flat sections with some climbs.  One of these climbs almost took Mel out - as I said before, asthma and altitude are a dangerous combination!  She loaded her bike up on the car after this, and I pushed on alone.

True to Adventure Cycling style, their route took me around a reservoir the long, hilly way, instead of the short, flat way.  There was a town with a restaurant promised on the map, but it turned out to be closed when we got there...

I did get to cycle over another dam, and could see local kids cliff jumping into the reservoir.  It was another 15 miles or so to Kremmling, on a semi-busy highway with no shoulder and a speed limit of 65...luckily the traffic came in spurts and I could jump off to the side for a few minutes to let it pass.  There were also a few bigger climbs, but they aren't so bad on an unloaded bike.

After I rolled into Kremmling, we grabbed Chinese food for lunch, which we had been craving for some time and haven't had since Virginia!  It was before 2:00, and Rocky Mountain National Park was only about 30 miles away, so we decided to go check it out since my mom had never been there.

We got to see moose, elk, bighorn sheep, and marmots in the park, in addition to the beautiful scenery.

We ended up staying in Winter Park, a ski town that isn't exactly the height of tourism in the summer season, so everything closed at 8, except McDonald's...luckily I had brought half of my Chinese food from earlier with us!

Day 57 - July 30, 2013 - Hoosier Pass to Silverthorne, CO

Miles - about 25

Total mileage - 1,604

I decided to skip that whole "I'm going to go back and bike UP Hoosier Pass" thing.  We drove up to the top, took a picture, and I geared up to sail down it.  It was pretty darn cold out, so I put on a long sleeve shirt, and some very fashionable Walmart sweat pants that we bought a few days ago.  All of the other cyclists on the mountain probably got a good laugh, but hey, I stayed warm!!  I'm cycling alone again today - altitude is still too much for Mel's asthma.

The ride down from Hoosier Pass to Breckenridge wasn't as fast as I expected it would be, but it was still plenty of fun.  And being surrounded by gorgeous mountains and nature wasnt so bad either!

Once I got to Breckenridge, there is a bike path that goes all the way to Silverthorne, CO, about 16 miles or so down the mountain.  Bike paths are such a rarity on this trip, and so amazing to get to ride on!  There were a ton of people on it around Breckenridge though, and they were mostly on rented bikes, so the going was a little slow since most of them don't realize they need to get out of the way, or not stop in the middle of the path with their family of five...oh well.

The bike path took me through some beautiful wooded areas, around a reservoir, across a dam, and finally down a steep winding hill into Silverthorne, Colorado.  There, I found Mel and my mom waiting for me in the parking lot of an outlet mall - we made a quick trip in to replace the shorts I've been wearing over my bike shorts every day, which have developed a large hole in them...and found the exact same shorts, in my size, on clearance!  It's the little things...

After a Chipotle lunch, the rain and thunderstorm that had been hanging over the mountains all day rolled in, so we took refuge in a hotel, hit the pool and hot tub, and turned in for the day.  This was one of the best days of cycling on the trip, nothing but fun and breathtaking views!

Day 56 - July 29, 2013 - Hartsel, CO to Fairplay, CO

Miles - about 20

Total mileage - 1,579

We intended to begin the day in Guffey, CO, but we arrived on a Monday, when all of Guffey's restaurants are closed, and I desperately needed lunch before taking off to get some miles in today, so we drove on to the next town of Hartsel, CO.  The altitude is proving to be too much for Mel and her asthma, so it's a good thing my mom has a car and a bike rack that we can take advantage of!

After lunch at a small diner place in Hartsel, I set off on my own, with an unloaded bicycle.  It takes a bunch of getting used to, this whole riding without 70lbs of crap strapped to my bike frame.  It feels completely out of control, and I'm having to relearn how to balance, and what happens when you get going to fast and try to stop using your front brakes without a weighed down back end.  Fun stuff...

It takes me so long to bike any miles in these mountains, because I constantly want to get off the bike and take photos!  We are at about 9,000 feet in the Rockies, but in these beautiful valleys with 360 degree granite mountain views.  Best cycling ever, even despite the altitude messing with your breathing and making you tire more easily.

For the first part of my ride, Mel and my mom leap-frogged me in the car, making sure I wasn't ready to give up and put my bike on the car yet, but I was having a great time taking in the views and pedaling relatively quickly without any crap on my bike.  Then I turned into a full-on headwind...that's the thing about these mountains, storms seem to roll in every afternoon.  I was headed, yet again, right into an oncoming rainstorm, and the wind was coming directly at me at about 15mph.  It was all I could do to go probably 4mph, so I decided to call it a day and have them come rescue me.

I stopped at a driveway to a ranch, and was watching the road for my mom and Mel to drive up to get me.  All of the sudden, I hear an angry animal noise behind me, and turn around only to find that the bull I pedaled past a bit ago had come right up to the barb-wire fence to check me out, and apparently wasn't happy about my presence in his yard.  He was pacing, and bleating at me...it's nice that he was behind a barb-wire fence, but he could get out if he really got angry enough.  I was glad when I was rescued!

Fairplay has a restored 1800's town, and is actually the inspiration for the comedic cartoon "South Park".  It was a cute town, with gift shops, antiques, art galleries, and you could pay to walk through the restored 1800's town.  We passed on the paying, and just glanced down the street over the fence. Worked for us!

Once we were all loaded up in the car, we drove onward to Breckenridge, up over Hoosier Pass, the highest point on the TransAmerica trail at 11,500 feet.  This is our first crossing of the Continental Divide - one of about 9 on this trip!  I planned to come back the next day and pedal up to the pass.

We got to Breckenridge and went on a search for Chinese food - we have been craving it, and haven't had any since Virginia!  The Chinese place had apparently turned into an upscale "comfort food fusion" place (Breckenridge is 100% tourist town), so we ended up dining on appetizers from a bar and grill down the street instead.  While on the hunt for Chinese, we saw a fox trapped inside someone's backyard fence, and another one across the street.  He was gone by the time we walked by again - poor little guy was scared!

Day 55 - July 28, 2013 - Florence, CO Rest Day

Miles - 0

We slept soundly in our garden room (which used to be the summer kitchen) at The Florence Rose B&B, and didn't wake up until my mom came to knock on our door at almost 8:30, which is when breakfast is served.  We enjoyed a delicious breakfast, and good conversation with the other guests and the owners of the B&B about cycling and the house.  There was another family staying there, and the father and son were doing day bike rides to different destinations while mom acted as their sag wagon - pretty cool!

Charlette had arranged for us to go zip lining at 3, with lunch at the zip lining place prior to that - we were so excited for a fun day off!  Prior to that, we wanted to drive some of the route and see what the next day would be like, since it would really be our first day of climbing in the Rockies, so we took off with the small and quirky town of Guffey as our destination.

The drive to Guffey was beautiful!  The mountain scenery is amazing, and more and more pretty little valleys kept opening up along the way!  Guffey itself is an interesting town - the mayor is a black cat, there is a guy who builds little shacks and rents them to cyclists - it's just unlike any other place we have been.

It was time to head back for zipping, and we enjoyed a huge lunch with the awesome group of people Charlette brought with her, most of whom we had met the previous night.  After lunch, we geared up for zip lining, and took a van ride over to the course.

After an awesome couple of hours on the zip line course with the beautiful Rocky Mountains as a backdrop, we headed back to the bar and restaurant, and decided we all wanted to hang out a while longer, so we had a few drinks, and spent the next 4 or 5 hours just hanging out shooting the breeze and having a blast.  

These people are so awesome, and we had such a great time getting to know everyone!  Thanks to all of them for making us feel at home and like we've all been friends forever!  This was by far our best day off, and this great group of people and Florence, CO will always hold a special place in our hearts!

Day 54 - July 27, 2013 - Pueblo, CO to Florence, CO

Miles - 26 by bike, 14 by car

Total mileage - 1,559

Par for the course - we got a later start than we wanted to from Pueblo this morning.  After a breakfast of cold pizza leftover from last night, we took off sometime after 9, and discovered that Pueblo isn't as flat as the rest of Eastern Colorado!  The route took us through the burbs, and the city park and zoo, which was nice.

A mile or two out of town though, we were tossed right back into the desert.  And into the biggest climb we had seen in weeks.  It was quickly apparent that we had not acclimated to the altitude, and we had to take several breaks to power up that thing.  But...we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the Rockies when we got to the summit.

It was getting hot pretty darn fast, and we were going through water like champs - another side effect of the high altitude, in addition to it being harder to breathe (especially for Mel with asthma), getting tired more quickly, and occasionally feeling a little lightheaded.  Luckily we had some extra Gatorade and a bottle of water, but it was all hot, and drinking hot liquid when you are already overheated is pretty nasty!

We had planned for my (Erica's) mom to come up from Southern California to meet us today earlier in the week, so we knew she wasn't far from Pueblo now.  She is going to act as our chase car in the Rockies, and entertain us for an indefinite period of time (until my dad gets too jealous of all the fun we are having, or she gets sick of us!).

After struggling uphill against a 10-15 mile headwind for hours, while only making it 26 miles, and after making a turn only to be faced with another climb up something called "Hardscrabble Pass", we decided to call it quits on a gravel side road.  We waited for my mom to arrive with a bike rack, loaded up all of our crap, and cranked up the air conditioning as we drove the remaining 14 miles or so to Florence, CO.  Oh, and just our luck, another storm was rolling in!

We had a quick dinner in a cafe in Florence called 2 Sisters, then I emailed Charlette - she and I had been in contact for a few months about her organizing a fundraiser for the Looking Out Foundation through Looking Out Across America, and we were going to meet up with her to hang out and get to know Florence a bit.

Turns out Charlette had gotten worried about us when the storm rolled in, and was driving up and down highway 50 to find us and rescue us from the rain - how sweet!  We met her over at the brand new bar she manages - Creative's Cork - and had a few beers and met some of the awesome people that Charlette knows before she showed us to the bed and breakfast she had lined up for us to stay in - seriously, we are not used to being spoiled like this!

We cleaned up at the B&B, then headed back down to the bar - Charlette had also lined up live music for the evening to keep the fundraising going, and entertain us and many of the locals - the place was pretty busy that night!  We enjoyed second dinner and some drinks at Creative's Cork while being entertained by the musical stylings of Chauncey Crandall.  We were taken over to another new bar in town, The Hamlet, who had also been raising money for LOAA!  We met some great people there too.  We actually ended our night there with a lot of the Creative's Cork crew, since they close earlier than The Hamlet.  Chauncey entertained us with some karaoke music, and many laughs were had by all!

We had decided by this time that we were having so much fun with this crew that we needed another day to enjoy this place and these people, so we made some rough plans to go zip lining near the Royal Gorge the next day, and would figure out the specifics in the morning.  The Creative's Cork crew graciously decided to just close the bar the next day to hang out with us!  We were exhausted - this was later than we had been up in weeks, so we passed out soon after getting back to the B&B.  

We had so much fun in Florence this evening - thanks again to everyone who donated to our cause, came out to support us, and made our night so much fun!