Day 44 - June 16 - Fort Collins, CO Rest Day 2 - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent

June 16, 2023

Day 44 - June 16 - Fort Collins, CO Rest Day 2

Gearing Up

John’s Story

Several days ago we met Jesus the South Texas ice road truck deliverer. Someone commented on the journal that another bike tourist, Timothy Dale, had an encounter with a trucker named Jesus who gave him a ride into Missoula, Montana, a few days earlier and that they must be the same person. I can’t find that comment to place this reply appropriately so I am addressing it here.

The two Jesuses are not the same person. I’ve compared their photographs and the description of Timothy‘s Jesus with ours and they don’t match. Our Jesus is fluent in English. Timothy’s Jesus spoke very little English. Timothy met his Jesus up in Idaho three days before we met our Jesus in Colorado. Jesus just dropped off his load in Colorado and was headed home to Texas. He had not been up to Idaho. Side-by-side comparison of their pictures shows they are not the same person. The good news? There are at least two Jesuses out there on the road driving semis who are friendly to bicyclists!

Probable Communication Outage: Tomorrow we will start riding up the canyon of the Cache La Poudre River for two days and then going over Cameron Pass to Walden, Colorado. The AT&T cell coverage map shows no coverage in the canyon past a certain point. You may not hear from us on this journal for a few days.

Because starting tomorrow morning it will be back to oatmeal, bananas, hot chocolate and orange juice for breakfast, I proposed we go out for breakfast, which we did. Green chile Benedict. For dinner this evening I had a green chile chimichanga. I’ve had my green chile fix; I’m ready to move on.

After grocery shopping this morning my kitchen pannier weighs a ton. I’ll probably have to lean in the opposite direction when I ride to compensate. It’ll make it that much more fun to do a bear hang. We’re not talking raccoons anymore.

The Fort Collins Museum of Discovery is a typical science museum aimed at children, but I enjoyed it, too. They pack a lot into a relatively small space. Aiden and I got into the tornado simulator where fans whip up a wind of about 80 mph. Luckily I currently don’t have much hair to get ruffled. After a couple hours the adults found a sofa to sit on while Aiden continued to play with some exhibits. When we all started falling asleep we decided it was time to go.

Fort Collins is one of the most bicycle friendly cities in the United States. There were some exhibits tracing the origin of Fort Collins’s love affair with the bike.

This is an excerpt from a large photo depicting a Fort Collins street scene in the 1890s. Those bicycles sure look a lot like the ones we ride today.

We went to the Odell Brewery where Stanley had been working while we were at the museum. I had a nice hazy IPA and a sandwich from one of the food trucks outside. The sandwich was called a piadina, and it was very much what you might expect if Italy decided to do its own take on the quesadilla. Or did Mexico copy Italy? 🧐

The beer on the right is the last one I drank in Fort Collins. We didn’t visit as many breweries as I thought we would, but we did enjoy the ones we got to. It may be a dry spell for a while from here.

My daughter-in-law Deneé wasn’t really into beer on this trip, and discovered The OBC Wine Project next door. Looks like Odell is expanding into the wine business. I went with her to do some tasting. We shared a red flight and a white flight and a great conversation. Eventually Stanley and Aiden and Ed came over from the brewery, and we left shortly thereafter to pick up our bikes at the shop.

Fort Collins isn’t only about beer and bicycles!

It was late afternoon before the bikes were ready to be picked up. We said goodbye to Stanley, Deneé and Aiden at the bike shop. They left to return home to Colorado Springs. We rode our bikes back to the motel.

Thanks so much to Stanley and family for coming up to see us! It was a great visit, and made the halfway point in our tour extra special.

Of course, it started raining again as soon as we left the bike shop. It’s still raining at 9:00 PM. The weatherman says the rain will end tonight, and chances are tomorrow will be dry at least in the morning. Fingers crossed.

I’m looking forward to starting into the mountains tomorrow. Carol and I drove the highway from Fort Collins to Walden over a year ago, and it’s beautiful. I hope the sun comes out.

I forgot to share a Pernell Roberts song yesterday, and we may be incommunicado for a few days, so I’m just going to give you the last three songs today.

Alberta

Empty Pocket Blues

Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies

Ed’s Story

There is really not much to say. Went to bed last night, got up, then went to breakfast at the Snooze in Fort Collins.

The restaurant has some unique menu items. I had tofu, portobello mushrooms, and adobe seasoned roasted red peppers in corn tortillas, and coffee.

Afterwards we returned to our hotels so Stanley and crew could pack up and check out of theirs. They picked us up shortly thereafter for the rest of the day.

We headed to the grocery store so John and I could replenish our supplies. There won’t be many stores as we cross the Rockies until Walden, CO.

We dropped Stanley off at the Odell brewery so he could work for a while and the rest of us went to Fort Collins Museum of Discovery. Most of the exhibits are hands on including musical instruments, a tornado wind tunnel, bike exhibits, an area showing Fort Collins in the past, etc. It was a fun visit on a rainy afternoon.

After the museum we met Stanley at the brewery. We had a beer and lunch while he continued working online talking to coworkers about projects they are working on.

John and Deneé went to the winery next door to sample their wares.

Our bikes were ready at the bike shop about 4:15 so we proceeded to Phoenix Cyclery to get them. Work done included new tubes and tires; new brake pads; drive train cleaning; headset and derailleur adjustments. It should be ready for the second half of our trip.

Dinner was at the Mexican restaurant in the parking lot. We ate there two days ago with Stanley and Aiden. This was the best option since we have no transportation except our bikes and it was raining.

Back at the hotel we finished packing and the final load of laundry. Tomorrow will be a early day as we need to hit the road to ride 40 miles and start our climb across the Rocky Mountains.

I’m thinking the first day might be fairly easy compared to some of the other days we have ridden. Sunday may be a different story. We are riding 30 miles and climbing 3000 feet in elevation. No use thinking about it. We just have to do it.

We may not have a journal for a few days due to no Internet signal, so just stand fast and wait for our next report.

Until then happy biking!

Today's ride: 2 miles (3 km)
Total: 1,864 miles (3,000 km)

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