BEBA Part Two Day 1: Pueblo to Eads Colorado; Back on the Road Again! 62 miles with 2 short sags.

 

We are back! after a much needed rest at the beautiful mountain home of Sue and Lesli in Evergreen (talk about wonderful hospitality) and a mountain top adventure in the San Juan Mountain cabin of Pete and Betsy (talk about being high..........up on a mountain).  We have lost the companionship of Lauran, Stephanie, Sue and Lesli.  We will miss each of their unique contributions to our travels.  We will miss Stephanie's tech expertise and total enthusiasm about each new adventure, saloon, and early morning departure.  We will miss Lauran's wonderful sense of humor, perseverance, and shopping advice.  We will certainly miss the expert sag operation of Sue and Lesli 😢 and their ability to make us all laugh.

We decided to sag down to Pueblo to begin phase II.  As you can see from the photos, the elevation has dropped considerably.  Sue sister says we should all feel like Wonder Woman pedaling on the flats after crossing the continental divide 3 times.  Pete isn't sure he wants to feel like Wonder Woman, although he does have quite a bit of spandex!

Yes, it is quite flat in Eastern Colorado!  The road surface today was smooth and the shoulder was generally good, although at times it was covered over by wildflowers and Goathead or puncture vine which can be disastrous for bicycle tires and tubes!  

We started out at a leisurely 8 AM and finished the day by 2:30 PM.  The sun was hot after lunch but there was a cooling cross breeze which made the ride quite pleasant.  

The towns were tiny and seemed to have experienced better and more prosperous days.  The town of Olney was once a thriving farming town with an abundance of fruit and vegetable crops until the population in Pueblo grew large enough to need Olney's water.  It is now a dried up- closed up non-town.  They do honor their Veterans well.  One side of the street had a block long memorial to all Vets and the other side of the street had weekly meals and this:

We stopped for lunch in a roadside cafe in the tiny town of Ordway.  The woman behind the counter, seated us, took our order and proceeded to cook our food, then cleaned up and ran the register!.  She seemed generally glad to have some customers!  The food was good but the malted chocolate shake was the best ever!  

Addie's Cafe in Ordway CO

After lunch we traded sag drivers so Sue B could ride a bit.  Betsy took the car to Arlington CO which was really just a house, parking area and welcome sign:

Lots of ventilation in this outhouse!

The welcome to Arlington couldn't have been more  meaningful!

The wonderful thing about bike travel is how the pace allows you to see and wonder at things that would be missed otherwise.  As I moved the car forward, I missed the prairie dog colony that the cyclists could both see and hear.  The rest was great, but it's good to be out on the road again, no matter the terrain, or lack of services, this is the America we set out to see!