Day 54 New High Speed Record!

New Maximum Speed - 54.1 mph!

Guffey Museum

Bicentennial 1779-1976 Plate in the Guffey Museum

Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of American Independence

The route we are following had the inaugural trip in 1976. This certificate was presented to Bill Soux of Guffey for his participation in the event.

It reads: This is to certify that Bill Soux has participated in BIKECENTENNIAL the grandest touring event in the history of the bicycle. More than 4,000 bicyclists from around the world took part in this majestic journey to inaugurate the TRANS-AMERICA TRAIL during the summer of 1976, the 200th anniversary of American Independence and the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the bicycle to the United States of America.

GGG-Guffey Garage Gang, Plymouth Owned by Bill Soux

Bill Soux and the Guffey Garage Gang?

Alpaca or Llama? We aren't sure but know they are raised for their wool and meat.

Farm-raised bison

We had fun exploring The Gold Mine Rock Shop off Highway 50 in Canon City www.thegoldminerockshop@yahoo.com

Careful. Glass is sharp!

Sonic Burgers and Beverages! Yum!

Date: Sept. 11, 2009

From: Guffey, CO in Summit County

To: Canon City, CO (pronounced canyon) in Fremont County

Route: Hwy. 9/Hwy. 50

Passes:

Miles Today: 35 miles

TOTAL MILES: 1,415 MILES

Top Speed on this trip: 54.1 mph (NEW RECORD TODAY!)

Weather: Lovely day with some intense cross winds from Royal Gorge into Canon City

License Plates Collected: 5 Montana plates, 8 Wyoming plates (2 motorcycle) and 1 Idaho plate (found in WY), 2 Colorado plates

We spent the morning exploring the Guffey Museum and Guffey Garage after finally meeting Bill Soux, owner of the garage and hostel property where we camped last night. In the picture you’ll see the museum is this eclectic collection of stuff including bits of history from Guffey. Bill’s Guffey Garage has an equally interesting collection and we chatted with Bill for a bit and then shared our story with a group of motorcyclists also passing through.

All of this happened after a delicious breakfast at Rita’s Place that opened an hour early just for our benefit. Karl whipped up some Eggwiches on croissants for Mike and Gregory and I had a fluffy ham and cheese omelet. Four hunters had just arrived from Texas and also bent our ear a bit while I uploaded the blog. After all this time at the restaurant, museum and garage we didn’t get on the road until well after 11:00 A.M.

If you read my blog yesterday you know the road into Guffey was steep. Well, we hit 43 mph as we rode out this morning. We also had a couple of steep climbs first thing today and it was on the second descent that we broke our speed record. The guys loved it but I was clutching the handlebars for all I was worth and hollering at Gregory to do the same. All the while I was calling, “Still clear! Still clear!” every so often so Mike could safely guide us through the corners. Mike meanwhile is asking for a left knee or right knee to steer us safely through the turns. Fortunately we didn’t have a single car come up on us and Gregory was thrilled to break 50 miles per hour. Now hopefully the boys will be happy with that and we don’t have to do that again. Even so, every downhill is a chance for Gregory to put his arms out for an airplane ride and I love looking in my mirror and seeing my boy flying.

We enjoyed quite a bit of coasting today and at one point Mike refuse to pedal. Greg and I thought we’d tip over and just about then we’d pick up momentum again. It was kind of fun. As we coasted to the intersection where you can turn off to the Royal Gorge Bridge we recalled memories of our 1994 crossing and my birthday rafting trip. All of the rafting companies were closed and we debated making the 8-mile ride off route to the bridge. The wind had really picked up by then and we weren’t sure if we’d be able to ride back out tonight or if there would be camping by the gorge. We remembered remote camping off dirt roads from 1994 but knew we wouldn’t make it on this bike.

We opted to go up Highway 50 just a bit and explore The Gold Mine Rock Shop. Gregory and I love rocks and minerals and this was a treasure trove for us. The owner Denise cracked some large geodes for another customer and the amethyst that was revealed within was stupendous. After leaving the shop we had a nice downhill to Canon City but the thrill was dampened a bit by the worst crosswind we’ve experience yet. To top it off we had to bring the bike to an abrupt halt when Gregory screamed, “My foot!” His shoelace got caught on the pedal and was winding up as tight as a spring and squeezing his foot. I had to grab the front of the bike and have Mike help untangle him because I was unable to even get his foot out of the shoe. That is scary incident number two with the same foot. I pray nothing serious happens to him on this trip!

Our initial feeling about Canon City was not good. First of all you enter town and ride past a factory to the right and a correctional facility to the left. Gregory and I tried to wave at the tower guards but got no response. Then, at the information center the lady working there didn’t really want to go out of her way to help me locate camping. The RV parks 8 miles back were her only options and when we asked about camping in the city park she just sent us off to the Chamber of Commerce. We asked for a map of town and she wanted to charge us $2.

Luckily we met Spencer at the bike shop. After I’d explored other options at the Chamber including calling an RV park on the opposite end of town whose bathrooms were closed for the season and finding that the person we would need to speak with at the Town Hall/Police regarding camping in the city park was unavailable, I went back across the street to Spencer’s Sports and reported my findings. Spencer, bless his heart, made some calls and found we could camp out by the Raft Masters headquarters and gave us directions.

At Raft Masters, Dennis showed us where we could camp but also gave us the option of sleeping in the female rafting guide housing quarters since they were all gone. It is a funky trailer but we were happy to be inside and have a bathroom available to us. Gregory was thrilled because it had a TV and movies! There is no way we could have predicted that this is what today would bring and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Each day is a new adventure with new kindness sent our way. It seems when we are in the stickiest situations we come out smelling like roses. I may have said it before but I’ll say it again, no rain, no rainbows!