Grumpy Old Men

Today we traveled 603 miles from Colorado Springs to Ogden, Utah, by way of Denver, Cheyenne, and just past Salt Lake City. As we drove it dawned on me that there needs to be a movie about us. I’ve emphasized the Trail Boss’s age but forgot I’m 61 myself. He’s measured the tire pressure so often, there’s no air left. He back seat drives worse than my wife Millie. He looked over my shoulder and said, “I see we are going almost 75—This vehicle needs to last for 250,000 miles.” I’m always going too fast. He doesn’t like the gas at Conoco because he heard they sometimes put alcohol in it. The front tires were “out of pressure balance” (one was 50 the other 45) so he attempted to fill it and it went down to 44. We switched to another pump (“Thank God they don’t charge for air,” he said) and correctly got it up to 50.

But all of this is part of the adventure. Who else would take me across country on a bike? Millie refused that job. In fact, traveling with Cimarron the Trail Boss is exactly the same as traveling with Millie. I don’t do much right; I talk to too many people; I don’t leave early enough in the morning; I drive too fast and stop to fast; and he doesn’t kiss me good night! I can rely on him to otherwise take just as good of care of me. He is already discussing how he will find our lodging for the nights on the bike ride and what he’s going to feed me. And as we crossed desolate southern Wyoming he said, “I’ll have to stay nearby in stretches like this as nobody should be out here alone!” That’s my guy Cimarron the Trail Boss!

Near Rawlins, WY, we got off I-80 at a Cross America Bike Trail crossing and found four cyclists who are doing our same trip but from East to West. They are about 2800 miles into the 4200-mile trip. Originally a guy and girlfriend and two gals they joined up some 1000 miles ago. They have had a good time and answered a lot of questions for me. They have had all the bike troubles “from A to Z”, every day has been an adventure, it was below freezing one night, they each have had a couple of flats, and two of them have had chains break and destroy the front chain rings on the bikes. They don’t like fenders. Two are pulling BOB trailers and two are carrying all their stuff in bags on the bikes. I’m lucky I will not need to carry all my stuff.

We plan to go to Boise, Idaho, tomorrow only 310 miles and spend the night with new friends Larry and Amy Fisher. Larry has attempted the Appalachian Trail twice and had to drop out for medical problems. That’s how we met discussing the AT over the phone. He has successfully biked across America. I’ll pump him for bike information and Cimarron will tell him how to finish the AT.