Tour de Bocrie
The 2008 cross country cycling adventure of Jerry and Lori Bocrie! ..........began Friday June 13, 2008.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Day 22 - Sunday July 6 - Blanding Utah to Dolores, Colorado
No clock in the room and exhausted from yesterday, we slept in until 7:00. But since Slackin' Zach and Randy had already hit the road, we were out of the door and on our bikes by 7:25 am......we had some catching up to do.
Though we seemed to be biking like we were being chased, our bodies were numb to yesterday's miles and breakfast lay ahead in the next town, Monticello. Luckily the morning was clear and cool...
We should have guessed that nothing would be open in Utah on a Sunday, so we stopped at a truck weigh station and had piece of blueberry bread and a snack bar; not exactly pancakes and coffee, but enough to get us to lunch.
As we crossed into Colorado
Lisa, sorry we could not get pictures of the three foals we saw today, one was camera shy and the other two were on downhill fly.
The houses seemed to change, reflecting cute to grand log cabins.
Our destination was Dolores; a sleepy western ski town along the very picturesque Dolores River.
(some drinking more than others) and listening to the music of the river. Logged 84 miles. Note: Randy's wife, Karen, and daughter, Laci drove in from their home in Eire PA to join Slackin' Zach on the rest of his ride home. We have enjoyed them immensely!
Day 23 - Monday July 7 - Dolores to Telluride, Colorado
It was tough to leave the serene riverbank and campsite, but we were on our bikes by 6:00 am. We had 3500 feet to climb and were not sure what the terrain was like or what weather held in store for us.
The morning was cool as we followed a beautiful narrow valley
Day 24 - Tuesday July 8 - DAY OFF in Telluride!
Telluride...............beautiful, charming, etc, etc!
"Nothing is Impossible, You just don't Know how to do it Yet"
Day 25 - Wednesday July 9 - Telluride to Montrose, Colorado
We took off at 6:00 with the temperatures in the 40's. What we didn't count on was the downhill wind chill..........we have no idea what it was, but it had to be below freezing. Only a couple miles out of town we had to stop at a gas station for hot chocolate, gloves and to try to thaw out Mr. Grizzly.
A half an hour later, we gave the downhill trek another try........still freezing, but it had to be done. The downhill from Telluride was beautiful, but our fingers were too frozen to take any pictures.
The sun finally hit the road around 9:00 and we began to feel a little more human and began to take photos.
Dragged ourselves into Montrose, where we had to say goodbye to Randy
Randy, we really enjoyed your company and riding with you these last few weeks, sorry you had to leave; we will miss you!
We had been offered a place to stay at Jim & Patsy's, brother and sister-in-law of old friends of ours, dave & helen.
We didn't expect such a great home, wonderful company and incredible homemade dinner; Patsy could open a restaurant with that kind of incredible food. Many Thanks and safe biking, you two!
Day 26 - Thursday July 10 - Montrose to Gunnison, Col.
Today was tough!
As Jim and Patsy promised, a strong head wind awaited us as we biked out of town. The 20 mph head wind was not what we needed for our immediate 14 mile, 2000 foot climb to the Cerro Summit (7900 feet)......it took us three hours.
We dropped down (1000 feet) into Cimmaron and stopped at the only place 'in town'
Though it was hot and we were spent, we did enjoy the beauty of the wild flowers
Day 27 - Friday July 11 - Gunnison to Sargents, Col
We biked out of town mid-morning today following the Tomichi Creek
The wildflowers were beautiful, but difficult to photograph. Gunnison might even be a neat place to live if it wasn't for the deserved reputation of being the coldest place in the lower 48 (-38 degrees from one local); might as well live in Prince George.
Though we had a steady uphill climb, we had a nice cooling wind that helped us up the humps. We reached Sargents by 3:00
Stay tuned tomorrow to see if we make it over!
Day 28 - Saturday July 12 - Sargents to Salida, Col.
Yes, WE DID IT!
......and now the gorry details.
I'm not sure why we got up at 5:15 am, since we had agreed the night before that we were not leaving until 7 am, so it would warm up a little. Apparently, Duckie III was ready to go.
The flowers and morning colors were beautiful,
Though it took us three hours to do it, we made it!
Factoid:
Mountains everywhere,