Day 56 Trains, Trains and No Sleep

Saying goodbye to our new friends, brothers Dave and Dennis, who fed us dinner and breakfast at Pueblo Lake State Park.

Waving to our first train...the novelty quickly wore off after our evening in Boone City Park...

Mike chooses a healthy snack?? The "milk" is lactose free with 25 grams of protein and only 3 grams of sugar...

I'm almost embarrassed to post this! But, he looks so darn cute (and happy). He definitely burned it off this afternoon in a headwind.

Places like this sometimes look a little sketchy especially in a neighborhood where many other places of business have closed down, however, it was recommended by the locals and turned out to be excellent!

At the Plaza Cafe we watched some of the Denver Broncos vs. Cincinnati Bengals game. Later we found out that the Broncos won in the last few seconds of the game. The Broncos have a new quarterback and several folks have doubts about how well they will do this season.

Would you look at those short telephone poles! Gregory and I were on the hunt for a purple insulator. We saw lots of blue, brown, white and clear but no purple!

Date: Sept. 13, 2009

From: Pueblo Lake State Park

To: Boone, Colorado

Route: Hwy. 96

Passes:

Miles Today: 29 miles

TOTAL MILES: 1,490 MILES

Top Speed on this trip: 54.1 mph

Weather: 75 degrees and windy in the afternoon

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

I told Mike I wanted to sleep in this morning so I had to apologize this afternoon when the inevitable wind picked up and we were fighting a headwind. I will never complain about getting up early or ask to sleep in again.

However, it was really nice to sleep in and wake up to the warm sun shining on the tent. Dave, who we met the night before and fed us barbequed beef sandwiches, brought us cold juice and honey buns to get us going this morning. We visited with Dave and his brother Dennis and didn’t get on the road until after 10:30 and then only rode about 5 miles into Pueblo where we had brunch. I was a bit shaky when we finally got to the Plaza Café (I’d only had a few apple slices and a granola bar) and immediately requested a dinner salad. After tanking up on ice tea and a huge deep-fried chimichunga I felt really good for the first part of the ride out of Pueblo. (Fried food is not my usual fare but adding a little fat to my diet has helped stave off the hunger. Another indulgence has been generous amounts of “real” half & half in my coffee each morning.

We didn’t get far before we made a potty stop at a Phillips gas station and we got cold drinks and not so healthy snacks. The headwinds hit us after that and the rest of the day was a struggle. We happily pulled into the little town of Boone around 4:00. As we passed a parked truck full of 3 barking dogs we found Joni and Jack out in front of the market they run. It just happens to be next to the park where we are allowed to stay. Though our maps said there were no bathrooms we were fortunate that they had a celebration of some sort the day before and the port-0-potty was still there. Joni let us freshen up in the bathrooms at the market and rinse out our shorts. We got cold drinks and used her Internet connection until she closed at 5 P.M. As we sat there the train came through town (right across the street from the park) and we knew it was going to be a long night.

We set up the tent and as we sat inside changing our clothes a couple of locals came by and their dogs immediately came over and started barking at us. Though safely inside the tent Gregory was a little disturbed as he quickly tried to dress and avoid the advancing dogs as their owners tried to retrieve them. We took Jack and Joni’s advice and went a couple blocks down to the VFW hall to have a drink and some pizza (frozen and heated up but surprisingly good…we had two of them). Gregory was invited to play darts by a couple of the local ladies and he ended up beating one of them. The locals are always curious about our trip and we chatted with a few and showed them our stead. Louie even offered to have his wife bring us some tostadas and we probably would have taken him up on it if we weren’t so stuffed with pizza!

Shortly after returning to camp the first of over a dozen trains came roaring through with a vengeance. We’re talking it felt like it was coming right through our tent. They all sound their whistles as they enter town and it is enough to raise the dead. If I managed to fall asleep between trains I would sit bolt upright as they rumbled by just 100 yards from our tent. I was wide-awake at 2:30 and I couldn’t believe that I had to try to go back to sleep for a few more hours. Mike and I crossed paths on our trips to the potty and shared a hug under a star-filled sky. I asked, “Can’t we just pack up now and get on the road?” Mike’s reply was, “Too dark.” We got back in our bags and wondered when this night would end.