TransAm Day #30 Ordway, CO - Pueblo, CO
TransAm Day #30
June 24, 2018
Ordway, CO - Pueblo, CO
51 Miles
Ride Time 3:31 Hours
Tour Total Miles 2264
Steve and I went to the bar in Ordway last evening which was a genuine western saloon. The bartender reminded me of the cowboy in ‘The Big Lebowski’. The barstools were made out of 2 x 4’s and looked like squat lifeguard chairs. We asked the bartender if we could bring our bikes into the bar to weather out the storm. We leaned them against the wall near the pool table. He said that it wouldn’t rain and that they only got wind around here. Sure enough he was right. It never rained, but boy was it windy- all night long.
There were water fountains for kids to play in at the park, but no showers or sinks to wash my clothes. I didn’t bathe, do laundry, or even change my outfit. We camped under the pavilion in the city park, where I strung up my hammock. It was extremely windy, and the insect netting flapped against my face all night long. It got cold in the middle of the night. I had to zip up my bags all the way up around my head.
The plan was to get up at five and be on the road by six, but at five the wind was howling. We decided to sleep in, and were on the road by seven. The sky was overcast and the winds were favorable.
My lips are in bad shape and I’m worried that I’m going to run out of lip balm. It’s extremely dry here. Hopefully my body will adjust. It began to drizzle. I was already wearing my rain jacket and leg warmers. I pulled over to put on my shoe covers.
I passed two large correctional facilities on my left. To my right I passed the largest hill I had seen since Missouri. It turned out to be a series of grassy dirt hills that flanked the Arkansas river. Highway 96 follows the Arkansas river valley.
The rain broke and I found myself on higher ground. I could unmistakably see the mountains to the west. They were still very light gray and far in the distance, but much larger than what I'd seen yesterday. The convenient store that my map indicated I would find in Boone was closed. Basically today was a fifty mile ride with no breakfast, orange juice, Gatorade, coffee, nothing.
Highway 96 joined up with highway 50, which was a four lane divided highway. It had a nice wide shoulder, but tons of traffic and not as special what I had been on for the past three days. The rail line has a switch and becomes active west of North Avondale, where I passed a long freight train loaded with coal.
I rode past the closed down Pueblo chemical depot. It reminded me of the nerve gas stored in Berea. I even saw the same kind of sirens. I wonder how many deadly chemicals are stored in this country. Pueblo has a population of over a hundred thousand and was the largest town I’d been to since Charlottesville.
Steve and I met up with Eileen and her TransGang crew at the Courtyard Marriott, where Steve generously treated me. The staff attempted to turn us away, until Steve produced his Marriott Rewards Premier Plus card. The TransGang, their bikes, and gear were all crammed into a single hotel room. I met fellow TransAm east-bounders Kyle from South Africa, Brythnie from San Francisco, and Scott from Philadelphia. We talked strategy for the mountains, which Steve and I plan to hit tomorrow. I’ll be crossing a twelve thousand foot pass in two days time.
I met Brithnie outside of Berea and rode with her for a day. Tell her Robbie says hi.
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