Day 43: Bazine, KS to Scott City, KS (67.8 miles)
Day 44: Scott City, SK to Sheridan Lake, CO (78.0 miles)
Day 45: Sheridan Lake, CO to Eads, CO (28.5 - okay I was exhausted! Actually fell alseep on a picnic table accidentally that day)
Day 46: Eads, CO to Ordway, CO (63.1 miles)
Day 47: Ordway, CO to Pueblo, CO (51.4 miles)
Ear Worms:
Dixie Chicks - Wide Open Spaces
She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain
Aerosmith - Don't Wanna Miss A Thing
Romeo & Juliet (okay, this was unfortunate because I had the Indigo Girls version, which is one of the few songs they do that I do not enjoy... was really trying to get Dire Straits version in my head, but to no avail)
Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball
Bruce Springsteen - Secret Garden
Hello, sun on my face
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crotchety -
best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light -
good morning, good morning, good morning
Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness
~Mary Oliver
Well, I'm going to have to say right up front. This is going to be a mostly picture blog post because I'm exhausted, but I wanted to get a post out before officially HEADING NORTH INTO THE ROCKIES! I'm here in Pueblo, CO and tomorrow I will officially start heading into the Rockies. Two days ago, heading into Ordway I caught my first glimpse of them, the hazy silhouette of Pike's Peak off in the distance. And now I sitting right up against them!
Since I last wrote, I've still been cycling, cycling, cycling on Highway 96. About 400 miles of cycling to be exact. It wasn't the boring that I had heard everyone talk about. In fact, I absolutely loved everything about Kansas. It's beautiful. It's not flat!! I loved the huge expanse of the sky, the rolling wheat fields, the farm equipment rolling past, like something out of Star Wars. I loved the people I met: the generous ones that let me into their homes and the kids with their lemonade stands. I loved the old windmills, many times sitting by an abandoned old house, remnants of another time. I loved the old grain co-ops, the skyscrapers of the great high plains, signaling the presence of a town from miles away. Kansas was amazing. It just goes to show not to judge a book by hearsay. You got to get out and experience something and form your own opinion.
Now eastern Colorado..... well. It was tough. About 15 miles from the border, the winds changed. I had been blessed with wonderful tailwinds through most of Kansas. And then, well there wasn't. Combine a wind blowing at you with triple digit heat and you got a challenge. You also have an alarm clock. Because I have been getting up very, very early. It's the only option really, unless you want to roast in the heat. It also means that I've had some time to hang out in the little towns I pass through. Eads was particularly nice. A town of 600 with a community pool, softball game happening, and one awesome little movie theater! So I took advantage and saw a movie! (Spy - which I found quite funny even though there was a Beaches reference which was just slightly uncomfortable because it may have hit a little close to home. If you have seen the movie and know my love for Beaches, you will know what I am talking about. If you have not seen the movie, well I will leave you wondering.)
Oh yeah, and then there was thing about flesh eating biting flies disguised as regular houseflies. Oh wow, nasty creatures. I just want you to picture this for a moment. Me stopping to take a drink of water. Immediately my legs are black with these man eating flies swarming my legs. I scream and start peddling. And they CHASE ME. I'm yelling at them like I am back in eastern Kentucky in a dog chase. I'm slapping my legs and arms till they are red! Wow, be thankful you don't have these things to deal with. They also make it problematic to go to the bathroom out of doors.........
But now I am in Pueblo. On to a completely different chapter of this journey. In Eads they had a billboard marking the halfway point on the Transamerica. It's pretty incredible really,what one can do when you put your mind to it!
PHOTOS:
Day 44: Scott City, SK to Sheridan Lake, CO (78.0 miles)
Day 45: Sheridan Lake, CO to Eads, CO (28.5 - okay I was exhausted! Actually fell alseep on a picnic table accidentally that day)
Day 46: Eads, CO to Ordway, CO (63.1 miles)
Day 47: Ordway, CO to Pueblo, CO (51.4 miles)
Remnants of the past
Ear Worms:
Dixie Chicks - Wide Open Spaces
She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain
Aerosmith - Don't Wanna Miss A Thing
Romeo & Juliet (okay, this was unfortunate because I had the Indigo Girls version, which is one of the few songs they do that I do not enjoy... was really trying to get Dire Straits version in my head, but to no avail)
Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball
Bruce Springsteen - Secret Garden
Hello, sun on my faceHello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crotchety -
best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light -
good morning, good morning, good morning
Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness
~Mary Oliver
Well, I'm going to have to say right up front. This is going to be a mostly picture blog post because I'm exhausted, but I wanted to get a post out before officially HEADING NORTH INTO THE ROCKIES! I'm here in Pueblo, CO and tomorrow I will officially start heading into the Rockies. Two days ago, heading into Ordway I caught my first glimpse of them, the hazy silhouette of Pike's Peak off in the distance. And now I sitting right up against them!
Wide Open Spaces
Since I last wrote, I've still been cycling, cycling, cycling on Highway 96. About 400 miles of cycling to be exact. It wasn't the boring that I had heard everyone talk about. In fact, I absolutely loved everything about Kansas. It's beautiful. It's not flat!! I loved the huge expanse of the sky, the rolling wheat fields, the farm equipment rolling past, like something out of Star Wars. I loved the people I met: the generous ones that let me into their homes and the kids with their lemonade stands. I loved the old windmills, many times sitting by an abandoned old house, remnants of another time. I loved the old grain co-ops, the skyscrapers of the great high plains, signaling the presence of a town from miles away. Kansas was amazing. It just goes to show not to judge a book by hearsay. You got to get out and experience something and form your own opinion. 
Grain co-op: a staple in every little town
Skyscrapers of the great high plains
Now eastern Colorado..... well. It was tough. About 15 miles from the border, the winds changed. I had been blessed with wonderful tailwinds through most of Kansas. And then, well there wasn't. Combine a wind blowing at you with triple digit heat and you got a challenge. You also have an alarm clock. Because I have been getting up very, very early. It's the only option really, unless you want to roast in the heat. It also means that I've had some time to hang out in the little towns I pass through. Eads was particularly nice. A town of 600 with a community pool, softball game happening, and one awesome little movie theater! So I took advantage and saw a movie! (Spy - which I found quite funny even though there was a Beaches reference which was just slightly uncomfortable because it may have hit a little close to home. If you have seen the movie and know my love for Beaches, you will know what I am talking about. If you have not seen the movie, well I will leave you wondering.) Oh yeah, and then there was thing about flesh eating biting flies disguised as regular houseflies. Oh wow, nasty creatures. I just want you to picture this for a moment. Me stopping to take a drink of water. Immediately my legs are black with these man eating flies swarming my legs. I scream and start peddling. And they CHASE ME. I'm yelling at them like I am back in eastern Kentucky in a dog chase. I'm slapping my legs and arms till they are red! Wow, be thankful you don't have these things to deal with. They also make it problematic to go to the bathroom out of doors.........
Lights out in Eads, CO - heading home after the movie
But now I am in Pueblo. On to a completely different chapter of this journey. In Eads they had a billboard marking the halfway point on the Transamerica. It's pretty incredible really,what one can do when you put your mind to it!
Goodbye Kansas - you were surprisingly wonderful to bike through
Officially in the mountain west now
You never now what you'll find on this ride
Cute little cafe find in Sugar City, population 200
My neighbor for the evening in Ordway. Stayed at the famous Gillian's place: A New Zealander living on an amazing animal farm. She spent five years sailing all around the world in a sailboat!
Halfway!
Cute little theater and 100 degree yet. Why yes, I think I will see a movie!
Graffitti barn
Small town America.
Life on the open road
Beloved lemonade stands. Lemonade has seemed to have replaced the milkshake craving
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