July 6, 2001.
Ordway to Pueblo, Colorado. (52 mi.) Mile 2317
Objects
in view may be farther than they appear
This evening I am on the dataport
in our motel room in Pueblo, air conditioner on high. We have come out of small town America to a city
of 100,000. We have already taken advantage of a bigger grocery store and the
usual fast food choices. Much earlier, we were looking forward to the
amenities of the second largest city on our route (Eugene, Oregon is our
largest), but today, we can't wait to leave the traffic and congestion behind
again.
Mike has not broken any spokes for
a while. His wheel seems to have reached some sort of tension harmony we are
reluctant to upset, so we aren't doing anything about it in Pueblo as we had
thought earlier. We know
that a 36 spoke wheel should be able to handle Mike's load just fine if things
are in adjustment. We will have more bike shops along
our route now if we have more trouble.
Our first glimpse of the distant Rockies
This morning we were able to see
the faint silhouette of the Rockies in the distance for the first time.
On clearer
days in the past, people have told us they are visible from the Kansas border.
Pueblo is at the foot of these mountains, so from this point, we will start
some serious climbing. We are already at about 4800 ft, but in the next week,
we will climb up over the Continental Divide at the trip's highest point,
11,000 ft Hoosier Pass. This evening it has been hot (103 degrees) in Pueblo,
but the mountains to our west are darkened by enormous thunderheads. I am a
little apprehensive about the climbing at elevation, but also looking forward
to the scenery ahead of us as we follow the mountains and high plains north to
Montana.
1) 
2) 
1) Breakfast was at Olney Springs
Cafe, where the hot topic of discussion was how those Denver and Boulder people
are using huge vacuums to suck prairie dogs out of their burrows and relocate
them to places like Olney Springs, where the prairie dogs, and their fleas,
are less then welcome. We pedaled off wondering what the whole experience must
be like for the prairie dogs.
2) Everyone's doing it. Wisconsin
Cheeseheads, mother and son team of Lorraine and Steve Gebert, are pedaling across
America west to east. Lorraine told us, "I didn't even start bicycling
until I was 51." Steve added, "There is some spectacular scenery
ahead for you."
