We left yesterday's campgroung at 6:30 to get a good start before the sun got too hot. It worked for a couple of hours and we were making good time. We stopped about 9:00 for breakfast in Ordway, CO. We had a pretty good omelette and the two boys that we had met the day before told people we should be coming through, so people were looking for us. The biggest difficulty we had up to that point is that it seemed everything was up hill, not big hills but just constant hills. It ended up being about 45 miles of constant rising with an occasional short downhill. You couldn't say it was our best day, in fact we both agreed that yesterday was the toughest thing we had ever done. We also had 15 to 20 mph headwinds all day. Talk about sapping us of strength. Our maps are pretty good listing what type of conveniences are in each town. The problem is that each town is very, very small - especially yesterday.
We were coping with the wind and hills pretty well when we got to the next little town that was supposed to have a convenience store and cafe. Both were closed! We found some shade on the city hall steps and drank a little supplement that we had. Along the way you can really tell how bad the car sales are in the US. We passed about 40 miles - yes I said miles with car transport cars just sitting on the side tracks for storage. There would be 15 to 20 cars in a row, then a break to allow a rancher access to his property and then they would start up again. I kidded Mary Kay that we might end up sleeping in one of them last night.
Again there was no place to go to get out of the sun. People are still warning us of rattlesnakes and saying to stay on the road. Finally it got just unbearable and we needed to find some shade. I saw a little access road running underneath a railroad tressle. We ate some of the supplies we were carrying (lucious sardines on an English Muffin) under there - we jokingly called it the 12-8, 10-6 Restaurant or it could have been the Swallow Cafe, since there were a bunch of swallows nesting under it. Luckily no snakes.
The problem was since we didn't have a chance to stop at the convenience store to replenish supplies we ran out of water about fourteen miles from our destination. That was bad! I flagged down a car and a couple of young girls gave us five bottles of water. That was a life saver since we still have a long hard hot hard ride for that 14 miles. One small town, really just a crossroad had put out a picnic table and an outhouse along the road for people to use. It reminded me of the old reststops that used to be along US 31. Very primitive, but a great place for us to rest for awhile. After that we went our last 14 miles to the big town of Haswell. We, especially me were wore out. We rode into the town park and found it too had outhouses and a hand pump for water. Boy that water tasted good, it was very cold - but helped clean us off as well as get us some fluids. However, their convenience store was also closed. We had peanut butter, English muffins, and some nutrition bars to eat for supper and breakfast. A really great part of the day was when a young man, Dusty stopped to talk to us. Dusty will be a senior in high school next year. He has 7 kids in his class and rides the bus about an hour and forty minutes to school each day. He was very positive about their school. They go from 8 to 4 - four days a week. Many of the classes are done through distance learning between four or five other schools and they are able to take college level classes. He is planning to go to college and major in elementary education. He told us quite a bit about his life. His "Hope" was for his grandma. She recently have an operation for colon cancer and his hope was that it would all turn out well. A little while into our conversation a fourth grade boy came to visit us also. I guess the bikers added some interest to the town of 52 people. Blake got a real kick out of talking to Mary Kay about rattlesnakes. They said they probably wouldn't be able to get in our tent, but might crawl under it during the night. That morning Dusty's dad had stepped up on his tractor step and stepped right on a rattlesnake. Fortunatly he stepped close enought to its head so that it couldn't bite him. Dusty was able to take care of it with a shovel. We said it was time for us to get our peanut butter supper out and Blake said his parents ran the convenience store and he would askhis mother to open it up for us. We really appreciated it. I found cheesesticks, peanuts, gatorade, a snickers, and a bologna sandwich. We lived it up, said goodbye to our great friends and then went to bed. No snakes, again!
Today we only planned to ride a little over 20 miles, because we knew there was a motel with showers and indoor toilets. Not as many hills today, but still a good headwind which slowed us down. We did get to Eads about 11:00 am. We didn't make it to church, but believe me we have really been praying the rosary and any other prayers we can think of for the last few days. I hope God approves. There was a restaurant across the parking lot from the motel. We cleaned up and went there for lunch. At last a place to actually order something. We both had a salad, Mary Kay had a shrimp dinner, and I had a swiss steak/mashed potato buffet. It was really good. Un fortuanately the only thing open for supper is a convenience store and a bar with pizza. I am trying to make up my mind. Mary Kay found a laundromat about half a mile away, so got all of our laundry done. Then we went across the street to the bar for a drink. Other than the owners we were the only two in the place. They were really nice people to talk to. She is a Scentsy sales rep. and they are trying to sell the bar. It was a nice break for the day, the air conditioned room is great - now I just need to decide between a deli hot dog or pizza for supper.
We have been so fortunate to get all the great help from strangers - Do something for others today!
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