Monday, July 20, 2009
Day 35: Lamar, CO to La Junta, CO
We were back on the road early again. We were hoping to make it to La Junta early today so that we could pick up a prescription. Unfortunately, it got to be very hot very quickly. And just as bad, the brakes were acting funny and we still couldn't coast at all. Plus, I was hurting. It felt like we hadn't taken a real rest day in a long time, and everything was sore. Jillian was simply tired and sleepy.
There wasn't anything wrong with the ride, it was just... boring. In Hasty, CO we stopped for cold drinks at a convenience store. It wasn't much of a stop, but with the thermometer reading over 90 in the shade, anything was appreciated.
After another 15, boring, slow miles we arrived in Las Animas. Boring, aside from the fact that we had no back brakes all day. They'd been uncooperative for a while now. Sometimes when we hit the brakes, the back ones would simply fail to open back up all the way. It felt like things were back in Pennsylvania, when we were riding the tire against the frame all the time. Rather than pry them apart all the timem, we decided to simply stop using them. Fortunately, we were somewhere rather flat. But remember, now we have no back brake, can't coast, and the chain is starting to be stretched too far. We were desperate for an excuse to stop. We stopped at a Coffee Shop.
On our way out, we flatted again. Flats were getting infuriating.
West of Las Animas a way, we started seeing rain in the distance.
We called my sister for a weather report. She said the weather report for the area looked clear. Five minutes later, a powerful storm arrived. We took shelter in a rest area, which was fortunately very close nearby.
Jillian wasn't pleased.
Once the storm had passed, we rode on to La Junta. Although the shoulder in the above picture looked fine, it actually disappeared right outside La Junta. We also started to feel like we were very high up... just in time for the storm to come back. This time we could even make out lightning on the horizon. Again we rode as hard as we could, careful to check for cars before crossing bridges and cresting hills.
On our way into town (desperate for shelter) we talked with the Forest Service, who told us about the dinosaur tracks not too far away, as well as gave us information about the weather. We rode a little further into town and went to a Safeway where Jillian tried to sort the prescription issues out (this is tricky, since her insurance had changed over but we didn't have the cards yet, and the provider had been purchased). Since the Safeway claimed to be able to fix the prescription in the morning (it was well past closing time for whomever they had to call back east), we got a night at a motel downtown.
We had not had a very good day.
Except then we got dinner at an awesome diner with head sized cinnabuns. Then we finally saw Harry Potter! The theater wasn't that busy and the tickets were even priced normally. Snacks were a dollar each!
Then we were a happy couple.
← Day 35: Garden City, KS to Lamar, CO | Home | Day 36: La Junta, CO to Pueblo, CO →
| posted at: 01:10 |
permanent link and comments
