What a crew we've become!

7/20
As we left Shay's Inn my mood was much better than the day before. The plan was to cycle to Tribune, Kansas and take a dip in the city pool, take a little nap and cycle another 30 miles to the first town after the border of Colorado. By 2 pm we were looking good, sat pool side for an hour or so, then of to the library for our nap. Our plan was working and the wind was going to be in our favor at night. The guys, Chris and Gary, were also in Tribune but they were ending there for the night. It's become a contest almost between the four of us to see who will ride further and it kills the guys if we make it passed them which just fuels us to go on.
Unfortunately the weather in western Kansas and eastern Colorado tends to change at the drop of a hat. We hopped back on our bikes to push out 30 miles, around 8pm and maybe made it 5 miles before the sky became a lightning show. Lil foot looked over at me and saw I was scared, I told her I'm turning around and finding a house to camp on, so we did. A couple miles back we knocked on a door and asked to pitch our tent on the lawn, they said sure! We put the tent up and laid down to try to sleep right away so we couple make up the time in the morning. It must have been about an hour when it began to rain, but rain we can handle, at 11 pm that's when the fun began. The winds of the plains are hard enough to ride in, sleeping in them is a whole other experience. We went from sleeping beauties to blowing around bodies. Our tent actually moved a couple feet at one point, then we spent almost 2 hours holding the tent praying it wouldn't blow away with us still in it. The lightning continued and the thunder was shaking the ground, so its plain to say we didnt sleep more than two hours tops. After the winds calmed down a little we attempting to knock on the door and ask for some shelter. At this point we had been sitting in a puddle and the temp dropped to the 60s so we were also freezing. Noone came to the door, but I noticed the door was open so we let ourselves in and stayed on the floor in their mud room. I guess you can say we had our first night of squatting!
7/21
By 4:30am the sky cleared up and we hustled off the lawn back a few miles to a gas station. As if the night of no sleep wasn't enough, lil foot got a flat tire on our way to the gas station. She also ran over an already dead snake which freaked her out because she HATES snakes. Haha. Our day wasn't looking all too bright at this point.
Back to riding and hoping the day would get better. The winds were against us to start of but we pushed and made it to the border, hello Colorado! Another 15 miles later we stopped for a little break, mainly to give my tushy a break cause my shorts were done for. During our first break the guys caught up and informed us they planned on doing 120 miles in an attempt to top us, but at that same moment we decided to keep up with them and make it just as far! We rode on while they took their break and that's when it happened... 10 miles later an 18 wheeler came up behind us and beeped so lil foot began moving over but the truck drive didn't want to wait. He came plowing through, there was no traffic coming the other way but he didn't move over, instead be wizzed by and clip lil foot's back bag causing her to lean into me and causing me to hit the edge of the road and I wiped out. The 18 wheeler went on his merry way not even a tap on his breaks to each if we were ok. Luckily not too much harm done, I have a scratched up left shin and knee and a few bruises on my legs. But no bike damage and now we can add near death experience to our list. What a mess of a morning this was turning out to be. Tue guy caught up and we rode on, they were shocked to hear about the truck.
We made it 60 miles and sat down in a diner for lunch, Gary's family joined us. It was time for the second half of our day and the weather was amazing, mostly cloudy and only the low 90s!

With 10 miles to go a storm hit us hard. LITERALLY. The guys had gotten a bit ahead of us when the winds picked up. We were riding on a 45 degree angle and rain was hitting us hard. There were tumble winds flying across the road and by the looks of things we were royally screwed. That's when Wendy came into our lives! A beautiful sight at just the right time. Wendy pulled up next to us and offered to give us a ride to our final destination. We packed our bikes in the back of her suv and chatted our way to Ordway Colorado, 10 miles! The guys were a bit stronger and toughed it out, but it was probably a little easier without bags and they didn't want a ride when offered. We were dropped off at the Ordway hotel where the guys were staying for the night and we would be sleeping on the floor of Chris' room. Saved from the storm, which never made it our way.

Once everyone made it to the hotel we showered up and hot the local bar for a few beers and had some DiGiorno. The place was pretty interesting and the bartender as well. It should have been an early night but we drank until 1am and had a blast. Unfortunately this morning was not a happy one for us. Haha.
7/22
Only 50 miles til Pueblo Colorado and for the first time lil foot and I were bagless! Gary's wife was kind enough to take our bags for us and we would get them back later. It was a bit weird at first but I sure can get used to riding without them. The ride was a quick one as we had a lovely tail wind the whole way!
Lil foot's boyfriend's sister offered to put us up for the night at the econolodge. Amazing, night two of the beds for butts foundation! Thank you Lindsay and hubby for the night! You guys are amazing! :-)

Tonight we are heading for some food and drinks on the town with Chris while Gary has some family time. So off for food now, hopefully talk to some crazy locals that way tomorrow I'll have something good to blog about.

I'm outtie!
Sasq

Also, lil foot witnessed an insane car crash right before lunch. An 18 wheeler loaded with cows cut off a woman in an suv when he turned into a gas station. He ended up crushing the side of this poor woman's car. Noone was hurt and I believe the cows are ok as well!
It was a crazy 18 wheeler driving day indeed.