Pueblo, CO (Again!)

The last 36 hours have certainly been eventful.We left Pittsburgh Wednesday morning and arrived in Louisville about dinner time. (Read: rush hour) Some traffic on I71 kept us immobile for almost two hours. After the initial confusion of finding our way around and to the motel, we took the desk clerk's recommendation for dinner and enjoyed an excellent meal at the Fifth Quarter Steak House. Soon after dinner we were climbing into bed, since our alarm was set for 4:00 a.m.

Our flight out of Louisville went smoothly and when we arrived at the Denver airport we found our way to the gate for what we knew would be a small plane to Pueblo. (The Pueblo International Airport, six miles from the Marriott we stayed in, was unknown to the desk clerk when we made our reservations a couple of months ago.) We wound our way through to the farthest corner of the airport where the lounge was filled with people flying out to places like Fargo and Crested Butte.

Eventually our flight was called, and all three of us lined up to board the plane. The copilot went through the safety instructions, including "If we happen to find a puddle to land in in any part of southern Colorado, your seat cushion will act as a flotation device." The good news was we actually got to watch them put our panniers in the luggage compartment, so we knew it was making the trip with us.

Pueblo International Airport was like a scene from the tv show Wings. We walked off the plane, picked up our panniers on the runway beside us, and headed into the terminal. It turned out that the third passenger was an employee of Great Lakes Airline, (we still can't figure out the name) the one who got us to Pueblo. We had told her the story of the desk clerk at the Marriott and that we figured we'd have to call some sort of taxi service to get us into town. She said, "I have a rental car. I'll take you there." And she did.

It really does speak well for the hospitality in this part of the country that she just offered us a ride. It turned out she really didn't need to get to town until later, but she had an hour to kill until her meeting back at the airport, which was only about five miles from our hotel. She half-jokingly talked about picking us up again for dinner. We told her we'd recommend Great Lakes Airline to everyone we know. So consider all yourselves recommended.

It is a strange sensation to be in a place we were in two years ago. We are used to returning to vacation spots again and again, like Wildwood NJ. But it feels odd to be where we were with Chris, Roger and Rick and be without them. It is also a sobering thought that two whole years have passed since then. As we headed into the lobby to check in, we expected to see them waiting for us. That made us really yearn for their company again.

We were lucky that there was actually a room ready for us to check into at 11:00 a.m. We were able to get our first "shipment" of luggage settled. Then we set out to find a place to eat and to pick up our bike and trailer at the bike shop. At the recommendation of the bike shop people, lunch was at a Mexican restaurant across the street. Then came the time to put the bike together, make final adjustments and head back to the hotel. We settled that shipment and then came here to the Pueblo Public Library to use the computers.

We remembered this library as one of the best on the last trip. Twenty-eight computers are available for one-hour shifts, so we are able to check and clean up email boxes and finally start this section of the blog.

Tomorrow our goal is Ordway, CO, about 50 miles away. They had a fairly serious fire this spring that took about 14 houses and other buildings. A woman who lives there recieved a Trail Angel Award from Adventure Cycling for her hospitality to cyclists. She lets them camp in her barn and use her showers, etc. Word has it that even though she was affected by the fire, she is operational again, so we plan to look her up. If that doesn't pan out, there is a motel in that town. The first few days are usually spent ironing out the bugs in our "system." We will probably spend some time tonight repacking and redistributing things, since the box with the trailer was just packed with stuff we knew we wouldn't need while we got ready to come out here.

So, here we are. Missing our friends from the last trip, but happy knowing we have them. (You, too, Charlie!)We've already spent some time telling people we've encountered about all of you.

We last rode flatland along the dikes in Holland last summer in a misty rain, and about 15 years ago through the steamy heat of North Carolina's Great Dismal Swamp. Starting off with 500 miles of the hot and windy flat farmlands of Kansas will be something new! We miss our friends and family, too, but are looking forward to this part of our great adventure.