Day 37, 7/5/07, Alexander, KS to Nickerson, KS 110.4 miles!

Wow, we added more miles today to combined some days! I was surprised I was able to make it, especially being on the "BRAT" diet. I knew I could do it as long as I could take in enough calories, since I was still staying away from most solid foods. We did it! It's the longest I've ridden and I'm happy. By the end of the day I was able to eat, whether I should have or not, but I was pretty hungry by the time we finished. IT was also the longest time in the saddle we've had. We had one flooded section we had to re-route around, but other than that it was a good day to ride 100+ miles. (Pictures to come)

Day 36, 7/4/07, Scott City, KS to Alexander, KS, 76 miles

We were only planning on going 56 miles due to places to stay, but we added on another 20 to finish up the map and we SAGed to LaCrosse, KS looking for a place to stay, we found a very nice place. Lucky we did, because the thunderstorms came rolling in. I ended up getting a little ill after riding and not able to have a Fourth of July dinner more than gatorade and crackers. Not too many pictures today, we saw more grain, corn and cows, a nice sunrise and some writing on the "hillside".

Day 35, 7/3/07, Eads, CO to Scott City, KANSAS! 105.5 miles

We got an early start today, which was good because the day turned out to be a scorcher. We crossed into Kansas today and right before that Skip got a flat and nearly sat on a snake! All the towns here-if you'd call some of them towns, have a grain elevator and usually not too much more. Once in a while, if you're lucky, they'll be a store or post office associated with a town. The truck traffic-usually hauling grain have been very polite and courteous, usually giving us the entire lane! We split up the day and road about 80 miles then had a couple hours to cool off and finished right around sunset.

Day 34 7/2/07 Boone, CO to Eads, CO, 92.85 miles

Yesterday we had a rest day and biked from Pueblo to Boone about 16 miles. Today we had a long day. Not steep or any notable climbs, but I'm not used to pedaling constantly with no chance to coast. I'm glad we did some of the miles yesterday so we didn't have 16 more to bike today. The wind was constant out of the south, so it gave us a cross wind. We went through a town called Sugar City, CO and a place called Haswell which is home to the smallest jail in the US. Grain and grain elevators are what is located in Eastern Colorado. There isn't much else here.

Day 32, 6/30/07, Canon City CO to Pueblo, CO about 43.5 miles

Not a bad easy half day ride. We had a 2% climb for about 12 miles and then it seemed to decline or roll until Pueblo, CO. In Pueblo, I was able to get a tune-up at Great Divide Hike and Bike and they did a really good job! I'm happy I got my bike fixed up. We said goodbye to the mountains today as we head to flatter terrain.

Day 31, 6/29/07 Fairplay, CO to Canon City, CO, 76 miles

This day was mostly DOWN. We're dropping out of the higher elevation. The wind definitely threw us off towards the end of the day, but I'm certainly glad we weren't headed the other direction for this day. Canon City and this area of Colorado has a lot of prisons.

We had a lovely sunset outside of Canon City and we ate at a really nice little Cafe there too.

Day 30, 6/28/07, Heeney Dam to Fairplay, CO. 67.35 miles

Today we climbed over 4400 feet! We climbed up to Silverthorne and Breckenride, Colorado and there was actually a bike path in between that ran for about 16.5 miles although part was closed due to cutting trees. We biked a slow and steady gradient up for about 56 miles to the highest continental divide crossing we have at 11,542 feet-Hoosier Pass. It's the highest point on the entire TransAmerica route. By the time we made it up it was dark and cool on the top and thunderstorms were rolling in. We went about 12 miles down to Fairplay CO where we stayed at the South Park Lodge and RV park!