Mood:  a-ok

There are two options for the next two days:  Ride a 65 miler today, and a 80 miler Tuesday;  Or ride a 85 miler today and a 60 miler Tuesday.  I had a democratic vote, after getting up, and the majority of voters decided unanimously for option #1.   Listening to the weather reports, it looks like more thunderstorms this afternoon, so an early start will be needed.  

My strategy for today is to eat for breakfast whatever is offered by the motel, then stop again down the road at Hugo, CO, for a second breakfast.  Then try to get to Kit Carson.

The plan seemed to be working splendidly.  A waffle, orange juice and coffee later, I was on the road by 7:15 AM.  Hopefully, I could get nestled in to a room in Kit Carson before the weather got choatic.  Seventeen miles later, I arrive in Hugo, the last town before Kit Carson, and, guess what?  They had a restaurant open!  (This should be a reasonable expectation, but those that have been reading this journal know that, as often as not, things don't work out as expected.)  The waitress asked where I was going today.  I said "Kit Carson."  She questioned whether there would be any rooms available, what with all the road construction going on.  The contractors were taking a large percentage of rooms.  I called a motel from the restaurant, and reserved their last room.  Two eggs, a slice of ham, hash browns, orange juice and coffee later, I was on the road again. 

The road was wide with a huge, smooth shoulder to ride on.  The elevation was still dropping, and I was making surprisingly good time.  That is, until I got to a road construction project 5 miles outside of Kit Carson.  It looked like a long delay, then the supervisor came over and loaded up my bike and gear.  He took me all the way into Kit Carson.  It was a couple of minutes past noon, and I already had 65 miles under my belt.  Maybe this would be the day that I did the 80+ miles.   I'll decide after lunch.  A big lunch.

I decided.  I would press on 20 more miles to the next town, Eads, CO.  If the weather would be nice, then it should not be a problem, and tomorrow would be much more managable.  I cancelled the motel reservation I had made earlier.

Just like before, I was going faster than normal.  To my front left I could see two major thunderstorms dropping their loads.  It looked like I might miss them.  To my right was the weather system of thunderstorms headed my way.  It seemed unlikely that they could get here before I covered the 20 miles.

The most unique thing happened.  Nothing.  That is right!  The thunderstorms stayed a couple of miles to my left, and the storm front to my right took to long to be a factor.  I arrived in Eads at 2:30 PM.  A mileage record!  85 miles (with 5 of them in the back of the contractor's pickup truck) and snuggled into a room by 2:30 PM.  Oh, wouldn't it be nice if this were how it always worked out!

Tomorrow, I cross into Kansas to a town called Tribune.  It is around 60 miles from Eads.  The weather is supposed to be similar to today, then temperatures are supposed to climb into the mid-90's.  All the more reason to start early in the morning.  I'll try to be out of here before 7:30 AM.

Will McMahan