Day 22: Pueblo to Lamar, CO

Today we saw a woman who was running across America. LA to NY, 30 miles a day. Raising money for the Heart Association.

You all think I'm crazy ... I think she's crazy. That's perspective for you.

I regret not getting to talk to her ... I was in a heat induced haze and trying to get done with our 121 mile day before you could fry and egg on the top of my helmet and didn't fully clue in to why this really skinny woman was shuffling along through Las Animas Colorado. Oh well ...

Today as we headed east we were in farmland that reminded me of where I grew up in Eastern North Carolina. Except it was all bigger. That's one big difference between East Coast and West Coast ... out in the west there is still a sense of vastness and ranches and farms have had many fewer generations to be divided up among siblings.

We had a long day - 121 miles. I had a good pace - averaged 17.5 mph. The first half I rode with a group and we did some pacelining to cope with the headwinds. After a bulging sidewall on my front tire followed by an immediate flat in the back (darn Goatheads - bane of all cyclists - evil little thorny bastards) I cut them loose and ended up riding the rest of the way in on my own. Which is kinda fun ... go at your own pace and aren't tied to others needs. Kinda like my life. Anyway ...

We started out through horse country and then moved into farm country. Started passing huge farms with corn and other food crops. Then back into grasslands. We are on the high plains - still around 4000 feet of elevations. It's flat. Rivers are drier and trickle instead of roar. Small houses and barns dot the landscape. We road through several small towns with names like Manzanola, Rocky Ford and La Junta and Hasty that look like small towns all over America: post office, small store with a porch or area where community members gather, little houses along the road.

Stopped at a small store/restaurant/gathering place in La Junta and made a dash for the water fountain to fill up on cold water. Bought some chocolate milk cause by then it was too hot to eat - had to drink my calories. This ended up being a 20 minute visit chatting with the store owner and customers about what I was doing. They were very nice.

I must have looked like a freak ... glistening sweaty from the 90+ heat and covered in dirt from the knees down and gnat carcases from the knees up. (Unfortunately the oily sunscreen the tour provides turn out to be gnat magnet when you ride so I get off the bike and look like the windshield that all the bugs find on a summer night. Gotta figure out an alternative way to carry my good, non bug attracting sunscreen.)

Anyway, my La Junta visit ended with a chat with a woman who wanted to know how I could ride in this heat. I was telling her about electrolytes and she is off to stock up at the bike store in Colorado Springs. Score one more for better fitness for America.

Did pass one of the huge feedlots. Thousands of cattle stuffed in acres of metal fences, literally there to be fed and eat all day and fatten up before being slaughtered. It was pretty grim ... just crowded in there being fed and waiting to die. The slaughter plant was next to the holding pens. A look at our modern food production we don't often see on that scale. Even though I grew up in North Carolina near many farms, I don't remember it being so industrial and efficient in production. But then I left NC a long time ago ...

Tomorrow we enter Kansas ... another long ride 105 miles.