August 15th - Day 30 - Florence, CO to Fairplay, CO - 86 miles
The first 45 miles of the ride today were one long, low, constant climb away from the buttes of eastern Colorado and into the real mountains.
The first day in the mountains and our first real breakdown of communication. After 40 miles, I pulled into a small town consisting largely of log cabins called Guffey. I thought that Cynthia was going to meet me in Guffey for lunch, so when John of the Guffey Garage started to talk to me I didn't think that it was a big problem that Cynthia wasn't there. (We had no cellphone reception in that area) John is a retired union electrician who has been housing TransAm cyclists in his historic cabins and bunkhouse since the 1976 beginning of the BikeCentennial route that we are following. Since retirement he has been a welder, craftsman, and scavenger of unique items that now fill his semi-famous Garage and the Guffey museum. He has a great perspective on life and was very generous (offering me a cold beer within moments of my arrival). After some good conversation and sharing of stories with John I began to worry as to why Cynthia hadn't arrived yet.
Once back on the route Cynthia passed and was understandably flustered by her struggle to find me. The climb slowed my progess more than Cynthia anticipated and I failed to communicate where I was stopping for lunch. Not having access to a phone only made the situation worse.
Cynthia rode the next 25 miles as I leap-frogged ahead of her in about 5-10 mile increments. The wind had been a non-issue on the large climb this morning, but by the time Cynthia started to ride across the rolling plateau the afternoon wind was whipping up an annoying cross/headwind. I finished the last 20 miles into Fairplay in the fading light and dropping temperature of the evening. Luckily for me, Cynthia had gone ahead and arranged our accommodations in an RV park and set up camp. We hurried to get showered and get a nice meal in town before getting to bed late.
Quality Water Means Quality Life
1.2 billion people do not have access to clean water. Help others avoid the choice between thirst or disease.
As we passed through the Ozark Mountains, among Missouri scenic rivers, we came to a gorgeous little spot called "Two Rivers." At this convergence of the Jacks Fork and Current rivers, the silt heavy rapids of the Current meet the clear calm of the Jacks Fork river and one can actually see the divide between the two. I couldn't help but think of the divide between our access to clean water and the lack thereof in the villages of rural Ghana.
Troy and I consume on average, about 12 to 20 (20 oz) bottles of water daily. That's 12 to 20 times per day that, unlike the people in rural Ghana, Troy and I avoid illness without even realizing it. Regardless of how many miles we ride, we have no doubt that stopping anywhere along the road for water will be easy and risk-free.
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