He Said, She Said: Day 33-Highways and hills and prairie dogs, oh my!

He said: Luckily the rain finished overnight and the day started out cool. 31 miles to our first stop where we met a very interesting "character". Larry Taylor. After getting his dog off me, he answered my inquiry about available food by inviting me in to his "bike hostel". In exchange for toast and apricot jam I got to see how he was going to save the town and create a bike oasis, as well as an Iraq and Western theme parks. All this in a ghost town with the economy in his words "is dead". I even got to see the future hot tub for tired bikers (a pink bath tub in the backyard, with a wooden cover and vegetated water inside). Interesting fellow, we wish him well. Onward westward, hit a good patch of road and thought the road situation was looking up. NOT! You'd be surprised what smooth asphalt does to your speed compared to chip stone road surface. That rough surface has done a number on my tire and I had to change it tonite as it was just about worn through. Approaching Pueblo, a good size city, my 2 lane road (65 mph) became a 4 lane divided highway, and the drivers in Colorado are the closest we've seen to east coast drivers in quite awhile. I guess I left my map at Larry's because as I was approaching what I thought might be my exit, with very little breakdown lane, I discovered I didn't have my map. Good thing Pueblo was the last thing on it. Had to call the SAG vehicle for a rescue. She swooped down like an angel and delivered me unharmed to downtown Pueblo. We hooked up with Andrew, Evan, and their new riding partner from Louisville for lunch. We had a good time, but we needed to get back on the road as I still had 35-45 miles to go. We're not in Kansas anymore. I had to do some spinning, but also got to go downhill at 36 mph, first time I've broken 30 since Missouri. By 85 miles I knew my limit for the day, so here we are in Florence, Co. Oh yeah, failed to mention we are in prairie dog country. Saw 2 of the little critters today. If you ask the locals why you don't see any just over the line in Kansas, they tell you Kansas is too liberal.

She said: When I left this morning it looked like we were going to see pretty much the same scenery, at least till Pueblo. Then I turned a corner and saw mountains in the distance, and the landscape started "greening". Met up with Evan and Andrew, had a nice visit and shared stories of experiences we have all had since we saw each other. They are heading straight west to San Francisco and taking the train to Portland for their flights home. If we make it to Astoria before their flights they want to cheer Paul into Astoria and see him dip his tire. Left Pueblo and saw the terrain change as we went through a small canyon area and saw the mountains off in the distance, getting closer and closer. There were a few good hills for Paul to ride over-a hint of what's to come. Stopped for the night in Florence, Co., out to a nice local family restaurant for dinner, and hope to get to sleep early.