Kremmling, CO

The joys of riding in the early morning are several fold: there is less traffic; winds usually have not had a chance to build; you ride in the cooler part of the day; and, if you are sensible, you stop before most other people and therefore get the best selection of campsites, motels, hostel rooms, etc. But even more so, I get to watch the world come alive—the sun bathing the earth in a golden hew before turning white hot, and seeing and hearing wildlife awaken to a new day.

This morning on my ride through the Arapahoe National Wildlife Refuge I saw a badger (at least that’s what I think it was) scuttle across the road, a pheasant sit in the middle of the road until I was 30 yards from it before taking flight, the cry of an unseen coyote, and uncounted pronghorn antelopes and mule deer.

I seem to be going against the current, upstream. Today I encountered, and in some cases stopped and talked to, more than two dozen riders heading west. They started in Yorktown, VA at various times in May because the weather there was good. I started in late May in Oregon and ran into snow and unprecedented rain.

We are wheeled hoboes. At each encounter we trade information about what lies ahead, where to stay or not stay, where to eat, how to fend off the infamous attacking dogs of Kentucky, how to negotiate the short but killer hills of the Ozarks and Appalachians.  

Yesterday I met a young man from Virginia Beach, today a guy from Pittsburgh.  There have been English, Dutch, Tasmanians, Germans, Australians, and Canadians. Ted and Steve, one from Las Vegas, the other from Long Island, stared in Yorktown with two females and a male/female couple. Soon the two females were asked to leave the group because they were too bossy, the guys said. “They treated us like children and we’re in our sixties,” said Ted. They separated from the couple when they realized the couple wanted to do a prescribed amount of miles a day and had booked a motel room for every night of the trip, not wanting to leave anything to chance. “Too uptight for us,” said Steve. Josh, from Tasmania, declared, “I love this country. I want to come back and take other routes to see more of this country.’

I wouldn’t be having these experiences if I was sitting behind a window doing 65 m.p.h.