The last couple of days have been long, but the weather has been kind. Leaving Julesburg at 5:30 AM hoping to escape heat and wind I got caught up in a thunder storm that blew into my face all morning. Long ride lots of work. Pretty flat and the scenery changes are subtle. Most of the ride along major alternate highway with little in the way of snack stores.
My stay in Julesburg was incredible. The Grand Motel is a do not miss. Lots of services , grocery, restaurants, taverns, within easy walking. Oh, and incredibly inexpensive.
Any way the ride to Sterling , well just kind of sucked. When I got to Sterling everything was booked and I ended up at a $150 motel. I would have camped in the city park ,but every night has had big electrical storms with high winds, rain, and hail from quarter size to softball size. Oh did I mention rattlesnakes are molting right now?
After a good night’s sleep it came to me – no more camping. I reorganized my gear and dropped two panniers and 31 pounds off at UPS. All camping gear jettisoned and a bunch of Boy Scout mentality stuff I have carried around on three different rides and never used.I took off for West Fort Morgan and picked up a 20 MPH tailwind. Wow 31 pounds lighter and a stiff tailwind , I thought I was 29 again. 53 miles was nothing.
The stop at Drovers Restaurant in Brush gets best food of the trip. Southwestern salad is not to be missed, order a half! It is the restaurant at the local cattle auction, every town has one, this one is big and the restaurant is an institution in Brush. I think the least tenured employee might have been there 30 years.
When I got to West Fort Morgan the sky was blue and the sun was shining, by the time I had a shower and discovered that I had shipped my cell phone charger and Surface charger home, the sky turned ugly and rain , hail and wind took over for a couple of hours. I am so glad to quit camping in unstable places, No excuses I want the good stuff. Oh, just as a side note I am the luckiest person I know. Both good and bad. After freaking over no navigation I found the next door gas station, liquor store , convince store, and outback electronics emporium, I found a phone charger at less than a ransom price.
The next morning (8/7) got going pretty early, but definitely had jelly legs. Stopped in Wiggins and had a pancake and egg, that got me going.
Google did me in again, routed me 15 miles into the middle of nowhere on lovely paved roads and the dropped me into soft wet sand back roads that belong in Cross Fit more than my tour. Special words were used.
Ok. Google loves putting you on terrible roads. However I saw more deer and prairie dogs than ever. Toss up.
Tomorrow I will be in Denver, get some work done on bike , hook up with good friends, Maybe figure out what happens next.
I have seen hundreds of these irrigation machines , but not one moving.
Can you tell I understand why people preserve RR cars?
Specialized
This is what Colorado really looks like.
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