I'm not sure if weirdness is a word but that's the kind of day we had.

We got a late start because Leo wanted to go to the bike shop since his bike was a little under the weather. That took longer than expected. We went for coffee but didn't have a good breakfast. Then we altered our route, on the advice of the bike shop dude. He recommended we stay on Highway 50 instead of taking the ACA route out of Pueblo, which would go due west and would take us to Westcliff.

So anyway, by the time we got on the road it was late, and hot, and windy; and the Highway 50 turned out to be an awful road with a lot of traffic. We were both a little disheartened, but Leo much more than me.

After lunch at a supermarket we set off in a howling headwind going up and down rises at around 5 miles per hour--we had 30 miles to go to get to Canon City. After about 30 minutes Leo stopped.

"Why don't we hitch a ride," Leo suggested. I was really surprised. It's not like Leo to want to hitch a ride.

"Let's ride a little longer," I said.

So we went a bit further. I took the lead. I kept going and could see Leo falling further behind.

"I don't think I ate enough," he said. That, and the conditions had him feeling disheartened. Sometimes days are just like that.

I didn't mind hitching a ride but I usually prefer to do that at a gas station, or something, where I can see who I'm hitching a ride with. But there was no prospect of a gas station for hours.

"Okay," I said. And we waved down a van, that happened to be driven by a really nice guy who tiles floors and was on his way home to Canon City. His name was Seth and he piled our bikes on top of his flooring stuff and off we went. He could relate to our plight. He is a mountain biker and knows what we were facing...

"The winds around here can be pretty rough," he said. "You gotta get an early start when they are not as strong." Which of course we didn't do.

We found an RV park and even paid the fee, but when we got to the tent spaces it looked really ratty, with people who looked like they were going to keep us all night drinking and carrying on.

"Let's ask for our money back and get a hotel," Leo said.

And that's what we did. I'm not feeling all that bad, but am a little discouraged about the bike shop guy's route recommendation.

No pictures today. There wasn't much to see.