Distance: 27.8 mi, Climbed: 512 ft
Completed: 2,287.6 mi, 105,918 ft
We’re not in Kansas anymore!
Today was our first full day in Colorado. The forecast is for 102 degrees in the afternoon. Too hot to ride. Like yesterday, we elected to ride just 28 miles so we could be off the road by noon and avoid the afternoon heat.
The difference between Colorado and Kansas could not be more stark. It is as if Mother Nature knew exactly where the state line was and gave Kansas all the water, leaving Colorado bone dry. Within the first few miles of entering Colorado, amber waves of grain and dark-green fields of soybeans were replaced with large fields of dried out grass and sagebrush. Ironically, after passing the sign yesterday that stated “Welcome to Colorful Colorado,” all the color was gone.
The road today had a few gentle hills, just 2 or 3% grade, but that was enough to give us some sweeping vistas of the sagebrush dessert in front of us. In its own way, it’s quite beautiful. We had little traffic as we were riding early and it’s Sunday morning. Gone were the grain elevators that were always on the horizon in Kansas. There were almost no signs of civilization other than the train tracks that paralleled the highway. We had the Colorado plains all to ourselves. Very peaceful.
As has become more common in the last few days, we saw a dark figure on the other side of the road in the distance. At first, I wonder if it’s a road sign or a mailbox. Eventually, I realize it’s moving towards me. Another bicycle rider! We met Oivind from Norway. He is riding the full TransAmerica Trail from Astoria, Oregon, to Yorktown, Virginia. He started in Seattle and biked down to Astoria to start his cross-country journey. Several riders we have met have told us that they got caught in a late snow storm in Yellowstone. Oivind planned well. He saw the storm in the forecast and paved his own route to avoid it.
A new phenomena in Colorado is that we had a variety of big bugs crossing in front of our bikes all day.
Probably the most unusual site on the trip so far is we went past the wreckage of 2025 train derailment. There were sixteen grain cars that derailed when navigating a turn. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.
With mostly flat land and very few trees or buildings, we could see for miles ahead of us as we rode. About eight miles away from Eads, I could see a tall white building in the distance. I had seen many of these in Kansas, and the tall white structure in the distance was always a grain elevator. I was confused, as we were seeing nothing but sagebrush. There were no crops. Sure enough, about two miles outside of Eads, we started seeing crops again. And yes, it was indeed another grain elevator. It was just down the block from our hotel.
