TOP: Karen begging for water...or maybe she just saw another flagman
2nd: Jerry ascending near Flaming Gorge. Checkout the road ribbon off in the distance
3rd: Overview for atop Flaming Gorge. A stunning vista and downhill into the reservoir.
4th: Believe it or not, we were in Dinosaur, CO when we came upon this fine piece of Americana.
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Well, Cliff and Karen finally crested Douglas Pass, and the downhill was a doozy. We were still chasing (if you can call it that at 10mph) in the RV, and they were descending at 50mph. (NOTE: STILL....not breaking my trip speed record I might add...). Hours later, and hours after we were supposed to rendezvous, we finally caught up to them, just outside the town of Dinosaur, CO.
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Now, you're probably thinking, why the heck is a town called dinosaur? It's apparently a combination of the dino bones found there, and the progressiveness of the town. I can only compare it to Roswell, NM with their alien stuff, except tackier. Pink dino's everywhere, dino bar, dino hotel, dino used car sales, etc. John "Marco Polo" Coble had the road as we cycled through Dinosaur, and, true to his namesake, he blew yet another turn and ended up on Route road-to-absolutely-freakin'-nowhere southbound. You think that would have been a clue (as we were headed to Canada), but noooooo, he just put the hammer down and sprinted for miles. Good average speed though, even if it was in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION of where we were headed. Not finding his switchover rider, he finally stopped for a beer and waited until the sag was able to track him down. We're now going to make him wear one of those prisoner GPS alert thingees so we can track him.
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Meanwhile, I put down on the northbound road and started the next monster climb. It was a doozy, and given my climbing prowess, I figured it would be 2-3 days before I'd get all the way to the top. I had good legs that day though, and made a pretty good ride of it. A hour or two later the group finally caught up, marco in tow, and switched me off just before the summit. I think Cliff was behind this, as he didn't want me to get a monster summit when he didn't get one. I'm taking credit for mine however, as measured by pounds per vertical foot.
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I would be remiss if I didn't make note of a fascinating US phenomema..the Wal-Mart RV park. Seems that nearly every wal-mart we cycled past had dozens of RV's in the parking lot. Apparently, there is a whole cult of people who sell off their houses, buy an RV, and just drive around the country staying in wal-mart parking lots. This was utterly fascinating to me, and I can't wait to get there when I finally retire. Imagine, a greeter every morning, and cheap chinese goods. What more can you ask for!
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"Alpe de Huez's got nutin' on me" Lumpy out
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