Trek Across America

From Kansas, I continued my trek across America while keeping a close eye on the weather. I stopped in Limon Colorado because snow was forecast closer to the Rockies. I figured I would stop here and wait for the late winter storm to clear out.

Spending time with locals in towns is one of my favorite things do on road trips. In Limon, I walked to the Southside Food and Drink from my I-70 Interstate side KOA. I bellied up to the bar right in front of this magnificent bar. Talking with the bartender, I found out that a tornado destroyed the original establishment and the bar was the only part that survived. When they moved down the street, the bar was the only part they brought with them. The mirror is huge, probably about 9 ft by 5 ft. Replacement of the mirror was necessary. Having a replacement mirror shipped from Denver took three tries due to breakage and being the wrong size. Installation of the mirror finally occurred the day of the grand opening.

The first bartender I talked to turned was the daughter of the owner.  She was just there temporarily, while on her way to her regular job of installing windmills. I had seen one of the windmill blades being transported by truck, the blade was huge. I thought the blade was a replacement blade for one that broke. She said, no, that was a new blade. Transporting the blades occurs one by one. I wanted to tell her my name was Don Quixote. Later her mother Janice came out and told me more of the history of the bar.

The bar was over 100 years old and was originally shipped out for a hotel. There were two of them. The other one ended up in a barn. The bar is solid oak and must weigh at least 2000 pounds.  Painted and varnished over many times during the years, the coatings hid the beauty of the oak. When Janice started peeling back the layers she soon realized she had discovered a treasure. I had a really nice time talking to the workers, owner, and people in the bar. The food was excellent and the staff very friendly. I remember the owner’s name was Janice, she was beautiful. The daughter I think was Courtney, also very pretty. The second bartender’s name was Vanessa I think, not quite sure about her name since she was after all the second bartender I met. She too was also very pretty. I do remember she was an Apache Native American. As you can imagine, I don’t get out much and meet people while driving long distances. I enjoyed their company for the afternoon.

One of my favorite things to do on a road trip is to find places to talk to locals. I discovered a trick a few years ago that helps break the ice when talking to locals. I wear a t-shirt that has the helmet logo of the closest NFL or college football team. Since I was in Colorado, I wore a Bronco t-shirt. When I am in Jacksonville, I wear a Jaguars shirt, in North Carolina, a Carolina Panther shirt, etc. The shirt makes you look like a local, or at least that you like the local team. You better know some details about the local team if you try this approach.

After Limon, I drove to Ft Collins Colorado where I stayed for five nights. Ft Collins was the first place I got a chance to just relax and unwind for a few days. Ft Collins is a college town, home of Colorado State University, and no, I did not have Rams shirt, but I least I knew they were the Rams. A three-mile bike trail led into town. For the first time, I unstrapped my bike from the rack and rode into town. The front wheel was badly out of round. I thought the wheel had gotten out of round from the stress of the rack and straps. I hoped I could find a bike shop in Ft Collins since so many people there were riding bikes.

Of course, I got lost on the bike path going into town. The bike path ended with construction, and I followed the sign for the detour. The detour just ended. I kept riding on a sidewalk.Then I saw a drive-through liquor store, no I didn’t stop there. I just remembered seeing the store while driving through town on the way to the RV park. I thought it was odd there was a drive-through liquor store. I definitely remembered that the store was on my right while driving past it, and there couldn’t possibly be two drive-through liquor stores. I was going north instead of south. Being observant helps on these trips. I guess I was not that observant. If the mountains are on the right, you are going south. If the mountains are on the left, you are going north. I turned around and soon was in the old historic part of town.

After stopping for lunch in a nice restaurant, I looked out the window of the restaurant and saw the work “BIKE” on the building across the street. The bartender Judy told me that it was a bike shop. I told her I would be right back, that I was going to take my bike over there and see if they could fix it while I ate lunch. My luck was changing. Turns out the bike shop was a Trek Dealer, and my bike is a Trek. The mechanic looked at the wheel, and said it was not out or round, but bent, as if something hit it. Suddenly I realized that when I backed the RV into the pole, I must have hit the front wheel of the bike too. Turns out they had a replacement wheel which was unusual because the wheel is not a standard size, being 29 inches instead of the usual 26.

I went back over to eat lunch and told Judy that my luck was finally changing. Judy was a very nice person, she moved to Ft Collins from Phoenix and was thinking about returning to take care of her Mom. Another reason to talk to locals is to get pronunciation correct of area features. The bike path followed the Poudre River. I was pronouncing it PoudRAY, emphasis on the AAAs as if it were French. Turns out its pronounced POO-der. After a nice lunch talking with Judy and the manager Brian, I went back over the bike shop. The repair was complete, and the bike rode better on the way back to camp.

The next day I bicycled back to town again. Seeing a sign written on a chalkboard (the first photo in the post) that day while cycling through Ft. Collins inspired me. The journey from Florida (2000+ miles) left me mentally battered and exhausted. The drive left the coach and two bikes bruised. I remember thinking, I think I’m going to make it now.

The following day a dear old friend who used to live in Florida and now lives in Lafayette drove up and met me for lunch. We had a great time catching up and laughing. I told her to tell me if I talked too much, since she was the first person I talked to that I knew during the trip. She has a wonderful family, two amazingly talented and bright kids.

Now I am in Rock Springs Wyoming waiting out another strong weather system. Winds are howling 20-30 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Rain and snow are forecast for this evening with the temperature plunging down to 27 degrees. I will wait out this storm, and then on Sunday, drive the last 180 miles to Grand Teton National Park. There I will really finally be able to relax as I have 27 nights there reserved in three different RV parks in Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Now its time to get out my University of Wyoming t-shirt, yes, I do have one, actually two of them.

Green Grass and High Tides Forever – The Outlaws