Day 21 – Riverside to Rand
Thurs 24th June 2010
We enjoyed our stay at Lazy Acres RV Park in Riverside. We had a nice site with some shade and there was a nice bar/restaurant opposite. We popped over there last night and had a coffee or four with the obligatory cherry pie. We also spotted their two burger meals for $10 but we’d already eaten so missed a bargain there.
Chris had a disturbed night due to the copious amounts of coffee he drank and this morning looked as if he had no sleep, because he didn’t. So he was not well rested for what was to come.
Colorado Cowboys
With just 73 miles to do we expected an easy day and an early finish but the weather had other ideas. Almost as soon as we set off we were struggling into a strong headwind which continued all day. The landscape was very open and the road was undulating making it tough to make any progress and we posted our lowest average speed of the whole ride so far at just over 9 mph.
Hills and a headwind. Just the ticket
After 20 miles I put on my iPod and tried to forget about the pain of the cycling. My thanks to Pixie Lot, Paulo Nutini and Robbie Williams for geting me through the day. Chris didn’t bring an iPod so just had to suffer and he hates cycling against the wind more than mosquitoes in his sleeping bag, so he had a bad day on the bike.
There's a view like this over every hill and around every bend
We crossed into Colorado today and soon the landscape started to become more mountainous a nice change to the openness of Wyoming.
...and goodbye to windy Wyoming
We arrived in Rand to find it is the mosquito capital of the world and they were vicious. We stopped at the village store to see if we could buy some milk and cereal for breakfast without success but while we were stopped the mosquitoes swarmed around us and even bit us through our shorts. I counted 12 bites on the top of my right leg alone and Chris is the same.
Danny, Stev and Gary going the other way
We went the final 2 miles to the Old Homestead RV Park where we were to stay. Apart from us I think there was just one other group of people staying there. This group of friends and relatives stay here for a week every year and within a few minutes of us arriving had invited us to join them for a steak dinner and a cold beer.
An unexpected feast
Even this many people couldn't eat all that steak
So what turned out to be a hard day on the bike ended in style. We put up our tents, showered and joined our new friends. Well they certainly knew how to enjoy themselves and we have never before seen such huge steaks! We had our first cold beer in three weeks and dined like Kings. So a big big thank you to a great bunch of people for wonderful food and hospitality. it was a pleasure to meet you all and we’ll not forget you.
Half way through our meal, Bob the site owner, offered us a log cabin rather than sleeping in our tents. With all the talk of feeding the bears we gladly accepted and took our tents down. At an altitude of about 8,700 ft we were expecting a very cold night in the tents so the warmth and comfort of the cabin meant we had a good nights sleep. Thanks Bob.
Daily Mileage – 73.5 miles
Time in Saddle – 7 hrs 30 mins
Total Climbing – 3,609 ft
Posted on: Jun 26th, 2010 at 6:57 am
These are great pictures and I am so glad you are meeting such friendly and hospitable people. It makes us feel better to know folk over there are taking care of you. We had pasta last night with the obligatory carbonara sauce!!!
Posted on: Jun 26th, 2010 at 8:24 am
Jan is right, great pictures!
Sorry to hear you had a hard days cycling Dad, but well done for doing so well.
nice to hear you are now well fed and rested!
Love you
Tracey
xx
Posted on: Jul 3rd, 2010 at 8:20 am
As I have found on all my visits to the USA this typifies Americans at home. They have to be one of the most hospitable nations ever.