On the Road from Denver, CO 3/23/10

Friend (Joe) - Way to go Peace Rider, you made it to "Big D!"

PR - Yeah, but not without some help. It was a bit of a slog over parts of the route after I left Provo, Utah and reported in.

F - How so?

PR - Outside Vernal, Utah I stopped at Pizza Hut for water with the added "bonus" of getting slugged in the chest with a cold. I'm over the worst of it now.

After crossing into Colorado on my way to Maybell I had one day of just a little over 30 miles that seemed like twice that. I was hit with really strong cross winds, veering to a headwind in some of the highway cuts. It was probably 20 mph gusting higher, pushing me sideways, plus a lot of hills. I was on the verge of just saying to heck with it more than once but kept going. Not sure quite how I would have set up a tent in that kind of wind.

It was a weather front stirring up the wind. Fortunately, the temperature was above freezing. The last few miles into Maybell were downhill. One of the highlights was seeing gaggles of mule deer bounding off through the sage by the road, not quite sure what to make of the contraption speeding downhill at them. All were antlerless this time of year.

The other was a stop at Lou's Restaurant in Maybell, where a hot bowl of broccoli, cheddar soup with croissants was served up to warm these cold soaked bones. The bread was compliments of the ladies of the community who left assorted Safeway breads on a table in the entrance, free to anyone who needed it. It was a really nice touch. Lou, perhaps, I didn't get the cook's name, also filled my water jug.

Next door at the Sinclair gas station/old style market, a bag of hot atomic ball candy filled out the grocery list. The lady at the register said they stocked the old candies I'd found hard to find in other places.

F - So how was it after Maybell on your way into Craig?

PR - Great, for the most part! The wind was nearly calm the next morning, a slight headwind but what a relief after the slog of the day before. There was a sad note to this transit however.

F - How so?

PR - The carnage on the road was incredible. Between Maybell and Craig I counted 21 deer, two elk and a coyote carcass. I'm sure I missed some as well. The saddest was approaching Mile 66.9 (from the CO/UT border). I saw up ahead a dark shape lying in the road. Pulling even with it I could see it was a golden eagle, still alive but unable to move. It had evidently been feeding on a nearby deer carcass at the road edge and was hit by a passing vehicle.

Mindful of that powerful looking beak I put my loose sweater over its head, picked it up and set it down next to the deer carcass off the road. It was still alive when I left but it couldn't move at all and may have been too badly injured to survive.

F - Did you report it?

PR - Yeah, when I got to Craig a few hours later I did. Said they'd send a wildlife officer out to check on it.

F - So you don't know how it turned out then?

PR - No, and it's sad no one had stopped earlier.

F - So you took to the ski slopes when you hit Steamboat Springs, right?

PR - I took to the hills alright but it was trying to get over Rabbit Ears pass before dark.

F - Did you make it?

PR - Not quite. It was all uphill for eight miles, probably the longest grade I'd tackled on the trip topping out at over 9,000 feet.

F - How did you manage to do it?

PR - Well, head down and keep at it, dogged persistence I guess. I recite a mantra and keep cranking, my goal just the next reflector post up the hill. I'm not doing this totally under my own steam you know. I'm given strength to persevere. I recognize and honor that.

Oily king salmon strips, Cliff Bars and dried fruits and nuts fuel the "furnace." It was also a warm, sunny day with gorgeous views of the valley dropping away behind me. Hard work, but just a fine day to be alive on the road.

F - Where did you end up camping for the night?

PR On the West summit. But that was okay. I camped in a pullout for skiers just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Three miles back I stopped to ask how far it was to the top. It was a Routt County Sheriff patrol car. Officer Tommie Belz was checking for speeders coming off the pass. She was interested in what I was doing and I told her.

You know, it made my day when she asked if she could put me on her prayer list. I said yes, please do, many people are praying for me and I really appreciate that. I gave her my blog address so she could follow my journey.

F - It must have been cold camped that high up eh?

PR - Well, it froze overnight but it wasn't subzero or anything like that. I found enough dry wood nearby. I was able to have a fire and cook on my tent stove. It was warm and comfortable inside.

By the time I left in the morning the sun was out and warming things up. There were just a few dips before I got to the East Summit. From there it was a long downhill to Kremmling and beyond.

F - Where did you end up hanging your hat for the night?

PR - That was special too, as it turned out. I'm days out of clean clothes and a shower mind you and nursing a cold.

An hour or so from quitting time and daylight fading fast I'm pedalling up a hill. Up ahead I see a flatbed truck parked on the opposite side of the road. A man gets out, waiting for me to draw even. I stop and he asks where I'm going to stay for the night. I don't know I said. He tells me where I can find a campground in the near vicinity. I usually don't camp in campgrounds but it was helpful information. I was near the south end of Green Mtn. reservoir south of Kremmling at the time.

He tells me that if I get another ten miles down the road I could stay at his place. He had a basement I could use . Whew, another ten miles! I wasn't sure I had that kind of mileage left in me at that point. I asked him if was pretty flat the rest of the way. I didn't have much up left in my "motor." He said it was and gave me directions to his place on Longs Road in case I made it. "Look for the flat bed truck parked in the yard," he said. Okay!

F - Well?

PR - You know a warm shower is like a spring to a desert traveler, motivation for the thirsty and dirty. I made it but probably wouldn't if Tim's report of a flat road hadn't been accurate. I was beat by the time I got to his place, a 60 mile plus day.

F - So you made some more friends?

PR - I did. That's one of the real joys of being on the road, the kindness of strangers and making new friends. Tim Bicknell is an out of work mason. He was still recovering from recent shoulder surgery. Laura his wife, teaches English as a second language in Frisco 10 miles or so down the road from their place. Laura and Melissa his teenage daughter came home later. Tim set me up in their downstairs basement, got a dinner going for me and put my dirty clothes in the washing machine, beforehand. It was wonderful to be cared for.

The wall hangings were pretty interesting inside Tim's place.

F - How so?

PR - Tim is an antiques collector. Over 20 years or so he had acquired a lot of Roy Rogers memorabilia and more. There was an original RR jacket, a couple of RR posters, and unrelated full length bear skin coat, saddles, guitars, an old style dial up telephone, a feast for the eyes, too much to take in at once.

He had expanded his home from the original, doing all the brick work. It was still a modest sized home compared to others nearby. He had two big dogs outside, as he called his horses which he hadn't ridden in awhile. Neby, the golden retriever, was part of the family and allowed inside, several cats remained outside.

F - Did you hang out there awhile?

PR - No, I left mid-morning the next day. Tim offered to carry my trailer south but with mostly flat terrain between his place and Dillon, I could manage. Laura had made calls on my behalf to see if there was media interest in Dillon for doing a story.

There was. Her calling set the stage. On my way into town Mark Fox caught me and took photos for an article in the Summit Daily News. I also met up with Bob Berwyn at Wendy's in Silverthorne. He interviewed me outside the Mountain Public Radio Station. An article he wrote that came out afterward was a good one. His site is www.summitvoice.org. Murray with MPR did a radio interview for later broadcast the same day.

It was a good day.

F - Did you make it over Hoosier Pass?

PR - I did, with help from my friend Eddie Kochman. He came up from Denver stopping at his cabin in Fairplay on the way. He dropped some things there first then drove over the pass to meet me in Silverthorne. He carried my trailer over the Pass to Alma. He also suggested we not linger in South Park after I got there with a big snow storm on its way. We didn't and that's how I ended up at his place in Denver.

F - What are your plans now?

PR - If the weather cooperates I'll start my bike trip from Alma where I left off before the last snow storm. As it happens Tim is going to Kansas City said he could pick me up in Denver and drop me off in Alma on his way home. If that works out, I'll do it but if not I'll continue on east from Denver. I don't want to have a break in the bike ride if there is no good reason for it. I didn't want anyone to make a special trip just so I could fill in a blank spot. Will see how it works out.

At the moment another snow storm has descended upon Denver so we'll see. The snow does go quick here once the weather breaks. It is forecast to improve by Thursday when Tim is supposed to return.

F - Any thing else to report?

PR - No, just a couple of big thank yous to Chris Crosby and my friends Eddie and Babbie Kochman for all their help on my behalf.

See you down to the road.

On the Road from Provo, Utah 3/9/10

Friend (Joe) - Glad to finally hear from you directly. Thought you might have gotten lost in the desert?

PR - Well, they don't call Highway 50 the Loneliest Highway in America for nothing.

F - I thought you were heading south into canyon country at some point?

PR - I was but after talking with friends in Denver I changed to a more northerly route that would take me into the Denver area on my bike.

F - How come?

PR - A lot of folks are mighty concerned about climate change there. It's important to make these contacts and speak where I can. I also want to see friends in the area.

F - Weren't you planning to go to Denver anyway, even on a more southerly route?

PR - I was but now I'm going to take a break from my ride there.

F - It's going to be tough to make Earth Day in Washington, DC doing that isn't it?

PR - Yeah, I had to let go of that. I'm learning the way of the cyclist, take each day as it comes, enjoy the journey. I get there when I get there. I'll celebrate Earth Day where ever I am.

F - How was your Great Basin crossing?

PR You know, I loved it, snow storms and all. I had some really exquisite camp sites. The temperatures were into the 40's during the day with some frosting at night where I camped at higher elevations.

And I found lots of dead wood for my tent stove. Dry sage burns hot and quick. There was lots of it in most places.

I'm not quite across all of it but more summits are behind me than ahead in Utah at least. Explorer John C. Fremont reported the Great Basin as covering 11 degrees of Latitude (660 nautical miles) and 10 degrees of Longitude. I read that on a BLM information sign at the Ron Bosso recreation site east of Sacramento Pass.

F - Any problems getting across?

PR - No, not really, I was held up briefly by snow storms in several places but I was already in camp. I just waited them out. The sun angle is higher now. The daytime temperatures are warm enough that the snow on the road melts off quickly. The snow plows were out right away which also helped.

On of the more annoying things was the nearly constant noise from overhead jet traffic. Closer to Fallon Naval Air Station it was from Navy fighter aircraft overhead, Further away it was from high altitude airline traffic.

I got boomed by a Navy fighter exceeding Mach l. Supersonic flight over the Continental USA is prohibited the last I knew. Shortly after that another fighter came screaming out of New Pass in the Edwards Valley, at low level, west bound. This was all outside any military restricted area shown on my map.

But you know, I may have been guilty of booming someone during my "go fast" days as a military pilot. These things happen unintentionally. This could have been turn about, me on the receiving end. It's startling and unpleasant, at best, to be boomed from shock waves hitting the ground. Nevada may be sparsely populated but it's not uninhabited.

I was not a happy camper in a very gracious mood afterward.

F - An irate letter to the base commander in the offing?

PR - I was tempted.

F - You had some long stretches between towns didn't you?

PR - Yeah, the longest was between the Nevada/Utah border and Delta Utah, an 89 mile stretch. I packed two gallons of water from the border to make it. At least this time of year with rain and snow there was some standing water in places.

But boy, in the summer this country has got to be a very dry oven. Early travellers had to know where the next watering hole was or they'd be in tough shape in tough country. I have a better appreciation of what early emigrants had to deal with.

F - Any stories to tell?

PR - A couple. I got a late start from Delta after picking up mail forwarded there. Snow overnight didn't help. I was only a few miles out of town when I hear a motorcycle coming behind me. Instead of passing he pulls along side me and asks. "Did you hear me coming." "Yes," I replied. "It wasn't loud was it." "Not as loud as a Harley, I responded.

That's how I met Frank "the high speed Ninja" Mann. I pulled into the turnoff to the Delta Airport and we had a conversation. He worked in the Red Rock Specialty cheese plant two miles back. It was on the other side of the road. I hadn't noticed.

He was on a yellow Kawasaki 600 crotch rocket. Said he bought it from a Provo pawn shop for $1700.

He did most of the talking aside from me telling him what I was up to. I make the best #@# Rigatto cheese in America he said. "We can't get enough whey, man." He proceeded to tell me the problems with supply. He said, "we have free samples at the cheese factory. Park your bike and I'll give you a ride. I don't go fast with passengers." Seemed like a reasonable thing to do. It was close. I had been impressed by the friendliness of people I met earlier at the PO and willingness to help a stranger.

Sure why not. I got on the back. "You all set he said." "Yeah," Not fast for Frank was an eye watering experience for me, and I had on sun glasses. The rain bonnet over my helmet stayed put to my surprise. Couldn't see the speedometer, probably a good thing. I could hear the inline, water cooled four wrapping up and me thinking this was not one of my brighter ideas. Frank had no helmet to cover his balding head of close cropped gray hair. It was no heat wave out either.

He wore a red and black Red Rock Cheese sweat. I had only a light shell on. I was starting to feel the chill when we decelerated and pulled into the factory. Whew!! I reminded myself to ask him to go slower returning.

Anita was behind the counter. I tried their goat and cow cheese samples. It was good stuff. They only make white cheeses she explained. I bought a small bag of jalapeno curds. Frank said they'd only been open five years. It was an old restaurant before. He was off for three days but could work more if they could get a steady supply of whey. His use of the English language was colorful, that of an exMarine but not out of place.

Frank held the speed down going back.

He told me how he met his wife Sylvia when she was working at Quality Foods in Delta years ago. He was as a young man with long hair passing through heading to the west coast with a friend. She was 17 years younger but something clicked. They married. He had a 10 year old son, Franky and Wyatt, 16 months. Wyatt was born with a heart defect. They didn't know it until he stopped eating he said. Franky was flown to Salt Lake City for emergency heart surgery. Frank said it was a repair and knew it when he saw the doctors face coming out of surgery. He had to have a second operation.

He told me about hitching back to Atlanta, his home town, when he was a young man. The ride dropped him off. This is where the narrative gets a bit fuzzy. He was walking on the side of the road back to the traffic holding up a destination sign. He said just in time God whirled him around to see what was coming and leap out of the way. A car had swerved over where he was and would have run him over. They were four old people he said. Those #@# were trying to kill me! They swerved back into the lane of traffic, didn't stop.

I had to get going. I offered him some nuts I was carrying. Oops, not very observant of me to see he didn't have any teeth. I gave him a fire ball to suck on instead. He took that. Off he went, said he'd see me on the way back. He did. The engine was still rapping up, getting louder, higher pitched as he accelerated, disappeared out of sight.

F - You liked him?

PR - I did. You had to look deeper than the language. He is one tough hombre, not to be messed with.

F - Anything else?

PR - One more. I tried to find a Warm Showers host in Provo before I arrived but without success. Friends had called several possibilities in the area but none returned calls.

I had a really nice ride around Utah Lake, through rural countryside on the way to Provo. People like their horses here. Not many homes were without a horse or two nearby. A couple of yards had rheas, I think, ostrich like birds.

I got into Provo in the early afternoon. I had to find a bike shop. That was the first priority. I need to replace a worn rear cassette, as it is called, and get a higher gear ratio low end sprocket if possible to make pulling the hills easier with a load. After that I hoped to find a place to stay in the near vicinity.

I hit Highway 6/89 into Provo on a Sunday. It was the right day to get into town, most places were closed with light street traffic. A good thing, not much for shoulders on this four lane thoroughfare.

I hit University south, crossed the street and was going to head north. There was a used car lot on the corner. Two men were by the sidewalk moving cars around. I thought I heard them speaking Spanish. I asked, they were. I also asked if they knew about one of the bike shops whose name I'd written down. No they hadn't but invited me to come inside and look in the phone book.

Turns out they were from Ascuncion, Paraguay. I could speak some Spanish and had traveled with a friend up the Rio Paraguay from Ascuncion the capital in '86. I told them about my bike trip and us building the Canoa Alaska on the riverbank in front of the Governors Palace. The dictator Stroessner had been booted a few years earlier.

I made two new friends and they invited me to stay with them. Nelson Mouseques is the owner of Autocraft on the corner of University Ave. South. Ramon is his father and helping out. Both were a big help to me and gracious hosts. Claudia, Nelson's wife made a nice sack lunch for me to take on the road did my laundry and saw to it I was well fed. A big thank you to them!

I made two new friends and they invited me to stay with them. Those of you who have kept up with this blog know that the kindness of strangers has been a recurring theme of my journey.

I recognize there is a greater hand in this than just me. The Universe wants us to succeed to turn aside from the disaster we will create if we don't get it right. It's time to break our addiction to fossil fuels and create a clean energy future for our children's sake.

F - Preach on bro!

PR - This is about growing up, becoming aware that we are a part of a greater whole, not separate from it. It is a higher state of consciousness that will bring an end to the madness, the hell we've created on Earth.

Everyone's needs can be me met in a world where there is balance and harmony, an understanding we are all in this together, including the voiceless many that enrich and make our lives possible.

This ride is about more than just climate change, it is about a great coming together of awakened people everywhere to avert an impending disaster. We will create it if we do nothing or do too little too late.

F - You haven't given up hope.

PR - Not at all. A lot of people are awake to the danger we're in. But we can't risk dragging this out over several decades. It's past time for this country to lead by example. It will be a rising up at the grass roots level that will impel our leaders to do what they should be doing anyway for the good of us all.

F - Where are you headed from Provo?

PR - I'll head straight up University Avenue out of Provo through the mountains to Heber City on Hgy. 6, connecting to Hgy. 40 into Colorado. In Colorado I will likely go south from Kremmling via Hgy 9 to Fairplay then east on 285 to Denver stopping to see friends along the way.

F - Stay safe!

PR - Thanks. I'm in good hands.