Day 50: Royal Gorge to Guffey

June 29, 2006

Today was either gonna be 20 or 70+ miles. No thinking about that one given that it was ALL uphill. Plus, based on Mike Riscica's recommendation, I wanted to stop at Guffey. The AC group had stayed at the Schecter's hostel just beyond Guffey and hadn't been too impressed with the facilities, so off route to Guffey it was. I also thought the short day might give me a chance to go rafting through the gorge in the morning, but it was too cold for that when I woke up, so I just rode on my way. Uphill. Pretty much all the way.

That's ok. I got here in time for lunch, where I had the best Rueben of the trip and wondered what I was going to do with myself for the rest of the day in tiny Guffey. I hadn't pre-arranged anything, so finding a home for the night should have been first on the agenda, but my mind hadn't made it that far yet. Thankfully, Bill of the famous Guffey Garage, home to bikers for 30 years, came into the Bull 'N Bear to drop off brochures and told me he'd hook me up with accommodations after I got done with my sandwich.

Now Bill looked a little scruffy around the edges (and around the middle, too, I guess), but everything I'd heard said I'd have wonderful hospitality and indoor accommodations before the afternoon was through. First I made my way to the post office to get a box to send some things home before climbing Hoosier Pass, and just as I was getting to Guffey Garage, the heavens burst forth and dumped buckets and buckets of rain all over the place. Bill didn't want me to leave my bike outside in that, so we carefully maneuvered it through piles of old metal, around an old skeleton, and set it up under an antique Minnie Mouse head. I was welcomed to sit on an old stool, handed a can of something stuffed in a spinach can, and asked to stay for a week since obviously I was the one that brought the much-needed rain. Pooh.

Bill welcomed me to Guffey with a can of ... spinach!

Typical of the things you'd find around the Guffey Garage...bones and something to make you smile!

Incredulous that I was traveling alone, Bill started telling me about a few of the Adventure Cycling riders that detoured to Guffey on their way to a hostel down the road and really wanted to stay at the Garage instead, but arrangements had been made. When I told Bill I'd ridden with that bunch for a while, he started calling them the Dirty Dozen for leaving me behind. I tried to tell him it wasn't their fault and that I had to get off route to meet my mom, but he wouldn't hear of it and called them the Dirty Dozen all afternoon.

Bill showing me one of his, uh, creations. The horse skeletons are real.

I heard a hundred stories that afternoon while Bill talked and cut glass and fixed a tire and downed a few beers stuffed in koozie-lined cups, but Guffey is a place that would take me pages and pages to write about, and after the Cookie Lady, Bill is by far the most memorable character of the trip. And anyplace that fires real live chickens out of a mail box with the power of a plunger for their July 4 celebration just to see how far they'll fly has got to be fun. I just wish I would have been there for the celebration.

Hours of stories and a detailed tour of the grounds and Bill's creations and his wife's antiques finally led Bill and Colleen home. Not wanting to spend the evening alone in my cabin, I headed back to the Bull 'N Bear for some evening snacks and ended up talking to Brian, a realtor who'd just moved to Guffey. He lived right across the street (I guess you'd call it a street) and invited me to come meet his giant dog and watch a movie or relax or whatever. We had a pleasant evening of wine and conversation while he sat at his table preparing for the next day of work and I sat on the floor holding his dog's head in my lap.

Since I hadn't called Bill ahead of time to let him know I was coming, he hadn't turned on the propane tanks needed to heat the shower, but that was ok. It had been a short, not-too-warm day and the evening was rapidly cooling down, especially after the soaking rain, so I crawled into warm blankets and slept hard.

I almost missed Bill since he'd just gotten back from an electrician's conference and vacation, so it might be best to call ahead. Guffey just wouldn't have been the same without him there.

http://www.guffeycolorado.com/ (NOTE: I would call this a must-stop if you're passing through. Bill made this EASILY one of my top five places of the trip)

Bill's a welder, so bikers, if you need that service, here's the place to stop. He welded someone's frame a couple of years ago and is getting an aluminum welder, too, for those of us on THOSE bikes. And the rest of you, if you need an antique tub, wheelbarrow, or whatever else, it's probably lying somewhere around Guffey! The tubs are neatly lined up...everything else you'll have to dig for.

Mike Riscica slept here... (and that's Colleen, Bill's wife)

Bill is really proud of his outhouses...and some of them are pretty cool. I guess some of them are featured in The Outhouse Book or something

I found his horseshoe and other artistic creations a little more aesthetically pleasing, though :)

Bill is really proud of his Bikecentennial certificate and has it displayed in the local museum/city hall

Who else is going to have a rocket man quite like this?

The mailbox used to launch chickens at the annual July 4 Chicken Fly

View of almost all of Guffey from the Chicken Fly platform

Best Reuben sandwich of the whole trip here. Yummy!

Today's ride: 25 miles (40 km)
Total: 2,408 miles (3,875 km)

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