Limon, CO to Stratton, CO
Anna stands regally in front of the I-70 diner.
Anna and Asia love sweet potato fries!!
There’s a reason they call road bikes, ROAD bikes. That’s what I learned today. Our path today was along I-70, which is a huge interstate highway with trucks and semis speedily whizzing by, looking for their next prey to strike (just kidding?? Not really!! They’re really scary!!). Because bikes aren’t technically allowed on the interstate, we took a side road that paralleled the interstate: Frontage Road. Frickin frontage road man. It took me about an hour and a half to bike 10 miles on this darn road, which is almost half the speed we usually ride. This nasty road consisted of a mixture of sand, loose gravel, random splotches of rough asphalt, and evil spirits that filled me with crippling anxiety as I awaited the gravel block to catch my wheel, forcing me to slide out. Again. Travis got 2 flat tires from those pesky rocks and was rudely pushed into the car by Frontage Road. I endured 20 nerve-wracking miles of fishtailing (when your back wheel slides out behind you) and too many falls before I decided to risk it and just bike on the interstate. Seriously, in one of my multiple falls, I was just trying to get back on my bike, I sunk into the gravel and tipped over in slow motion. It was, quite frankly, pretty depressing to watch and experience. A construction worker stopped Anna and I on the interstate, warning us about the dangers of biking on the interstate (also the legality of doing so) which returned us to shabby ol’ Frontage Rd for a bit. Frustrated and fed up, Anna and I left Frontage to enjoy the delectable delights of the I-70 Diner. It’s a super cute old timey American-style diner off the side of I-70 that has the best sweet potato fries and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Mmmmmmm. After refilling our bottles with ice cold water (ahhhh…), we set off for our warmshower’s house which was approximately 20 miles away. The 20 miles was gloriously paved and went by speedily as we were slowly embraced and engulfed by miles and miles of corn fields.
Maceo stands in the vast corn fields.
Max’s giant cat head.
We are staying with a warmshowers tonight: Robert Cole, who kindly brought us out to practice at his shooting range- his backyard- and cooked us a wonderful pie themed meal (Australian meat pie and delicious apple pie- with apples from his apple tree!). He has this adorable tomcat, Max, who has a comically huge head and really cute kittens that hide around the house.
I rewrapped my handlebar tape into with this fabulously purple tape that just exudes the confidence I don’t have (it’s meant to be). We all settled in for a nice peaceful slumber as we geared up to enter ~the wheat capital of the world~.
Stay off the gravel peeps,
Asia