Bike Day Twenty-Six: Toronto, KS to Pittsburg, KS

The plan was to get a couple hours of biking in before church, which I was able to do. While I was biking I remembered that Cami told me yesterday, as we entered the reservoir area, that she thoughts she had seen an alligator or crocodile foot by the side of the road. That didn't seem possible, so as we biked together yesterday we looked for what she had seen but didn't notice anything. While I was on my own today I came across something interesting. I met up with Cami in Chanute, KS just in time to worship with a Lutheran congregation there.

I did a quick clothing change in the camper. Right before we went inside I said, "I have a picture to show you...remember that alligator?" and here's what I had: 

...which indeed did look alligator-ish, but actually belonged to this guy...

Not the only one I saw...and not the only semi-scary image for the day...

Maybe worse than the tarantula were the dogs I encountered in Coyville. Wouldn't you know it that when I went one block out of my route that is where I ran into two mean dogs. Thankfully a woman driving by decided to come back and put her car between me and the vicious two-some so I could make my get-away. Forgot dog spray this morning...and hadn't used it before or since...

Known for firsts, including my first real dog encounter.

We got a kick out of signs all around here without the "h"

We stayed at this park managed by the park and rec department and the city golf course. Despite there only being one other camper there and getting a code for the bathroom, the bathrooms were pretty bad. Before I even got there Cami had tackled the bathroom with toilet bowl cleaner, lysol, sanitizing wipes and a broom. By the time I got there things were looking great and the shower felt amazing!

Bike Day Twenty-Five: Harvey County Park east of Newton, KS to Toronto, KS

Checked out the bike shoes this morning. Might be about time for new cleats.

Ready to head out for the day...

Cami drove back a several miles to Newton to run. It's nice to run around a lake, but at that same time a run is a great way to get a feel for a little town and see what's there, so she decided to run there.

After a quick stop at the farmer's market for some veggies to cook tonight Cami ran on this path in town.

One thing I (Cami) have tried to do is memorize a passage of scripture from the summer devotional we put together. The passage that I have worked on is Psalm 145:15-16 (the devo we entitled "Satisfied"). What a neat blessing this morning to run past this corner of someone's yard.

"The eyes of all look to you in hope. You give them their food as they need it. When you open your hand you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways. He is faithful in all he does. The Lord is near to all who call on Him. To all who call on Him in truth."  There were the hands...and every living "thing"...I am satisfied in Him!!

Made a longer than expected stop at the bike shop. Wanted to get one item, but the shop owner would not stop talking!! As I walked toward the door he kept talking. As I opened the door and started to move out through it he walked outside to keep talking to me. I didn't want to be rude...but Taylor was out in the heat and I wanted to get to him with some more water!

(This particular bike shop has a hostel for bikers only...he's got plenty of folks to talk to all day...so I couldn't feel bad about that!)

Also came across this on the run...

The sights Taylor sees are different from what I see. 

The grandeur is not of mountains and vast expanses, but of a lovely flower...

...or a critter...and today there was a lot of life! God's handiwork is apparent!

When I arrived at our campground with van and camper at Crossed Timbers State Park reservoir I picked a spot, paid at the office, get quickly settled and got my bike out with the intention of biking back to Taylor -- but found I had a rear flat. Bummer.

I walked around the campground wondering what to do, frustrated, but trying to remind myself that tomorrow was another day. I could bike then...and it was lovely where I was. 

I knew that if I even attempted to fix it it would take me forever -- if I could even do it at all -- and Taylor'd be here before I got done. I decided to pump up my tire and test it out. I biked around the campground for 15 minutes and it seemed to be holding air pretty well. I texted Taylor and made sure he had a handheld pump in case I needed it for a refill when we connected and I headed toward him.

The plan worked!

I met up with him at Lizard Lips Grill and Deli several miles from the campground. Inside, like many shops, restaurants and convenience stores along our route, there was a book to sign in -- and this store was giving out tiny plastic "lizards" and zip ties to put them on one's bike as a "friend" for the ride. 

Parked at Lizard Lips!

This was a longer day of biking than Taylor planned but the campground was great, so it was worth it (and the only option anywhere around anyway. There's not much "boondocking" around here like there was out west.) It was on a reservoir, and had electricity and showers...the little things in life...

Trying to cool down and checking in with dad. East of Pueblo, in general, even though we are rural, cell service is more dependable.

Ever used an outdoor shower? It was enclosed, men's and women's separate, and there was a roof, but as you can see it was "open."  The bricks held on to heat from the day and despite a plethora of dead mayflies on the floor it felt great!

sunset view from the shower area...and now off to the camper for sleep

Bike Day Twenty - Four: Larned, KS past Newton, KS

After Taylor got on the road I took a run, up a slight incline to the Sante Fe Trail museum and then through town. The museum wasn't open yet so I took a brief walk/jog through the grounds. (I did get told to leave as I was leaving and that I could come back in a half hour -- but by then I'd be on the road myself...)

Ah...the now more familiar limestone posts and barbed wire fence.

With few building materials (thus limestone fence posts) settlers had to make sod houses...a big contributor to the dust bowl situation.

This is pretty typical of the small downs we go through...lots of closed businesses. 

Maybe if I look back over the map I can remember what town this was...but their pie...it was unforgettable. One apple pie slice for Cami and One coconut cream pie slice for Taylor later...we were pleasantly satisfied and back on the road again.

Heavy rain had us sit for a spell in Buhler, KS. This little town actually was pretty happening. There was a candy store, a large used clothing store and we spotted a sign for LaVon's BBQ. Boy, were we glad we decided to get a snack there!

Here's LaVon -- I was really trying to get a photo of the biscuit and butter sign for Jessica and Haley!! but I captured her as well. This place is definitely worth a visit if you are ever nearby. Great vernika and sausage -- which we never had before -- and then she brought us a free slice of pie (which was better than the last one!)

It's kind of like a cottage cheese filled dumpling with ham gravy...and a sausage. Can you imagine how tasty that was?!

Sunny on half; stormy on the other...sort of what our day was like.  The roads cleared but we couldn't find a place to camp anywhere west of Newton so Taylor had to bike another 10 miles or so past Newton, but it was worth it...

This was a gorgeous county park on a lake...with showers and electricity. Bonus!

We heard a sound near water's edge...it was carp! Have you ever heard carp "kissing" the seaweed off rocks? Have you ever seen carp lips? Well...here you go! crazy!!

Bike Day Twenty-Three: Dighton to Larned, Kansas

For it being the 4th of July the temporary workers staying at the fairgrounds with us didn't stay up too late with their roman candle war, but it was kind of fun to be stowed away in our camper looking out the window at the fellas in the field. We could also see fireworks going off here and there in every direction since we have 360 degree views out in our fairground field.

Leaving Dighton we got our first rains. Taylor rode in them for a while, but it became apparent that it really wasn't very safe as more trucks got on the roads and water was pooling, so there was a lot of spray. I probably felt more unsafe for him than he felt for himself. I got him in the van outside of La Crosse, Kansas and said, "I wanted to drive 4 miles up to LaCrosse anyway, so just come along with me and let's see if the rain passes."

Yes!

We learned a great deal at the barbed wire museum and the post rock historical site. The invention of barbed wire changed the plains, as "free range" passed and ranchers enclosed their land and kept their animals fenced in.

There's a nest made of barbed wire. The birds had to get creative during dust bowl days when there simply was not other material to build a nest.

We also learned about how the settlers made fence posts without readily available wood. They would drill down into the ground, pour water into their bore holes and when the ground froze they were able to release a section of limestone to use as a post for their fence. Once we learned about these we saw these limestone posts throughout this area of Kansas.

Did you know that there are thousands of variations in barbed wire and there are thousands of patents on the various styles? Barbed wire also had a huge impact on war.

Museum viewed - check. Skies cleared for now - check.  Time to get back on the bike.

As we neared Larned, while Taylor was still biking I got to catch the last half hour of Fort Larned Historical Site being open.

This was a fantastic museum because it was so informative and well preserved. I loved how personalized it was.

Every room was well furnished from the time and had a description like this of who did or who might have lived there. Sometimes an explanation would ask, "Do you notice a feminine touch to this room? This Captain's wife and baby daughter lived here with him." -- or something similar.

The "clinic"

The hospital rooms were interesting to me. I kind of doubt that they looked this clean!

The detail was cool...down to hang-tags on the beds with soldiers' names and diagnosis.

Ha! Stomach Bitters from Pittsburgh!

Taylor met up with me here, but it was closing time. He kept biking into town for us to end up in Larned for the night. Let's hope there's a campground...

Leaving the historical site...

I beat Taylor to Larned so I drove to check out where the listed campground was. The storms started kicking up again. I am pretty cautious about where I drive with the camper, so I parked and thought I would just quick jog up the 300 foot hill to look over the crest into where the campground was supposed to be. I wasn't going to drive up where I couldn't see on a gravel road and get stuck in some muddy, rutted road...but when I jogged to the top I still couldn't see what the campground would be like and when I turned to look at the sky it looked ominous, so I ran like mad back to where I parked the van and camper at a vet's office! Yipes!

Rodeway Inn had water and electric sites at its Rode Home RV "park" - works for us!

Finishing off the day with a little mexican fiesta :)

Bike Day Twenty-Two: Towner, CO to Dighton, KS

Starting the day from Towner...

Taylor decided to see what would happen if he stored a can of coke inside his camelback with ice and water. (It worked!)

We entered Kansas today.

We saw a "shoe tree" much earlier in the trip, but here there are few trees, so now there was a "boot fence!"

This is dedicated church-going to drive 15 miles to church!

We've seen lots of wheat and now even some corn...

...and lots of "feeder" stockyards

This was Independence Day so most of the small towns had flags flying...

When we arrived in Dighton to call it a day we got settled in our campground -- at the county fair grounds! Then were able to take a dip in the community pool to cool off and get showers.

Pretty much the only place in town that was open was the Frigid Creme -- so we had Firecracker Burgers -- were completely attacked by flies. The longer we sat, the more flies surrounded us! What a difference from out west where there were few flying bugs.

Temporary workers were camped at the fairgrounds, as well, including a crew from Minnesota and all their equipment. We had to take some photos because the equipment was so huge, and these were the items Taylor contended with on the road throughout the day.

Thankful for these signs reminding drivers to watch for the cross country bikers!

Bike Day Twenty-One: Pueblo, CO to Towner, CO

Today I left from our hotel before Cami got up. I wanted to catch the light tailwind that was out there and really make some miles. I did catch a tailwind for about 45 miles, which was a great help. Surprisingly, even though the winds are supposed to move west to east in general across the U.S. I have not found this to be very true. One business person I spoke with told me that the winds are very strange this year with a lot of varied direction to them. That was back in Utah.

Cami was able to get some work done in the hotel before leaving, got a few groceries and fueled up before leaving. We came through lots of small towns today.

Most looked like this...a main street with mostly closed storefronts. It seems very hard to keep even a restaurant open in these towns. This one did have a gas station and a cute pharmacy with many gift-y items. Cami was hunting for a high plains postcard. The 3 women in the pharmacy encouraged her that the town about 20 miles south probably had them. That's definitely a difference between city and country living. We are not used to driving long distances for daily items. Cami just kept going on our route...never finding that postcard, so we rely on the photos to represent that stretch of eastern Colorado.

Bits and Spurs didn't look very open...and in fact was for sale...but some bikers were getting breakfast there. Now that we were east of Pueblo we began to see more cross country bikers. This particular day we say 4-5 groups or individuals. Most were going west with Bike the US for MS but we did encounter a few going our way as the days went on.

The topography has changed for sure...instead of multi-colored rock walls there are multi-colored grains and vegetation.

Checking in...need water? need a cold coke out of the camper?

A consideration for our overnight. Sheridan Lake - consisting of a convenience store, a dried up lake...BUT a church that left its door open and air conditioning on with a sign that asked bikers to sign in and feel free to sleep in the fellowship hall and use the kitchen. We learned about this from our bike maps, and it was confirmed on this town sign below.

Cami walked down to check this out. The white was supposed to be water, but it was dry, dry, dry. Could this be why? or was this posted while there was still water?

If we camped here this could have been where we stayed! We did figure that this used to be a real campground since there were posts with electric outlets and water spigots, but sadly non-functional.

We decided to go on 10 more miles to Towner. 

Off the main road was this little historic site. Note the gate made out of silver painted tools welded together.

There was even less in Towner. Nothing but a grain elevator and some houses. We parked on a gravel road and boondocked for the night. We did take a little walk and watched the trucks busy delivering - the harvest was right and rain was expected the next day or two so even though it was nearing the 4th folks were working hard.  We slept well in this sleepy little town.

Bike Day Twenty -- Westcliffe, CO to Pueblo, CO

We were warned that we might be nearing some areas where there were fires, but we thought we were going to miss it all...

Detoured near Lake Pueblo State Park, just west of Pueblo proper.

Since Lake Pueblo State Park was inaccessible from this end of town and we didn't really want to drive the entire way around we looked for a second option for camping, a bit nearer where we wanted to end up. 

Fort's looked alright on the way in...and the highly tattooed vet who checked us in was friendly enough...

But we knew we were in a less affluent part of town for sure (if you look carefully you can see the van at our campsite). Most of the folks staying here were long-term in their RVs or mobile homes. Our "next door neighbor" was from Minnesota, wearing a purple shirt and all! He said he was here short term for work.

Cami took a run and came across a number of signs in folks' yards, like this:

Also, on the run...a little photo shout out to Cindi - big fan of Elvis :)

And also a house that reminded us of La Crosse, near the church we attended Sunday morning (Agape Fellowship - Church of Love). First we tried "City Church" but no one was there...we could see all the empty chairs through the storefront window...wondered if they did something silly like change their morning worship time for the summer ;)

We found a great little coffee shop that uses solar power, and even uses old rum and bourbon barrels for some of its roasts. We had to pick some up to try with our only coffee drinker Chet when we reconnect with our kids.

Our next two nights in Pueblo we actually stayed at a hotel and rested the legs! We got the oil changed, paid bills, made phone calls, got the bike chain changed out, had dinner on the riverwalk and looked at the next stretch of our route.

Back to riding on Tuesday morning 7/3...destination Eads, CO about 110 miles. We'll probably be staying in the city park this night and the next since there are little to no services for the next couple days. I hope the wind is in my favor, or not totally against my favor! (This is outside the children's museum and Sangre de Christo Arts Center across from our hotel downtown).

Bike Day Nineteen -- Sargents, CO up and over the Continental Divide/Monarch Pass to Westcliffe, CO

We stayed in Sargents because it was at the foot of the huge climb up Monarch Pass. I got an early start on the day (wait...that's pretty much every morning...but anyway)

Heading toward Monarch Pass my highest peak yet -- 11,312 feet

After a downhill Cami and I met up in Salida for a little while...

They have tubes for rent near the riverwalk in this cute town

After biking on a windy road with lots of trucks and recreation vehicles and a narrow shoulder it was good to stop for a moment in Cotopaxi before continuing on.

Yes, kids, it is a phone booth...

Near Hillside, CO

On the outskirts of Westcliffe, near our campground

One of the last sites in town...not much between here and Pueblo

From our campground in Westcliffe

Bike Day Eighteen -- Montrose, CO to Sargents, CO

Today's bike included miles and miles through the Curecanti National Rec Area. I had never heard of this area before and again was in awe of all of our national parks and national rec areas. Each day of our trip so far the geography has been unique and beautiful. 

This area looked like a tractor had smoothed the ground, it all appeared layered...but actually the green, lush areas had at one time been underwater and the wood in the foreground is basically driftwood. This is how far into drought this area is.

We camped in Sargents - basically comprised of Tomichi Creek Trading post which included camping, cabins, convenience store, gas and food.

We thought that for sure we'd get typical bar food here, but dinner was amazing -- red trout dip with veggies and crisps, and huge burgers with bacon and brie and barbecue sauce.

Bike Day Seventeen -- Priest Gulch (east of Stoner, CO) to Montrose, CO

The temps dropped overnight and we had to turn on the heat in the camper. In fact, it was in the 40's when I started biking but by the time I got to Rico it was 31 degrees!

Had to wear sweats to get ready this morning

Cami enjoyed driving the van and camper over this little bridge...not

That's where I came from...

Garmin's ready...

That's where I'm going...

Cami and I met up in Telluride for some "healthy mountain food" which included lattes and a cream cheese danish :)

Then we took the free gondola ride up to Mountain Village

Cami had parked the van and trailer in a great spot at a park at the end of town. We came back to a very unfriendly note from someone who didn't appreciate us taking up 4 spots. At the beginning of the day there were plenty of spots. We did make 4 people happy when we left, though!

On the outskirts of Montrose there was a beautiful Ute museum with dwellings. Cami got to walk around and check it out while she awaited my arrival to town.

Every few blocks in Montrose is a huge bronze western sculpture like this one

We camped in a city park in Montrose that we read about on another blog and found out that they were open to having campers there for 24 hours. It was a bit sketchy, with a van and a car that stayed overnight as well with doors wide open, a little bit of activity in the parking lot in the middle of the night...but overall it worked out great. We bought a watermelon and knowing we couldn't eat the whole thing cut it in half, cut it into chunks and gave half to a couple homeless-looking guys sitting in the park with their dog at a picnic table.  This was the riverwalk near the park...where we took a brief stroll before figuring we better get back to our stuff and keep an eye on it...