August 3, 2014 – Arlington, CO – no population listed
Post date: Aug 3, 2014 8:07:48 PM
There are only a couple houses here in Arlington and no services – gas/food. But, surprisingly enough, Arlington has gone to the effort to welcome cyclists. There is a pull out area off the road, with a picnic table, trees for shade and a ‘comfort station’ (outhouse). As we entered Colorado we read a sign saying 12 communities have adopted a 140 mile stretch of the route. They came up with a logo and symbol to mark their participation – Their signs say ‘Welcome cyclists, with a picture and ‘Prairie Horizons Trail’ – which is not a new trail, but the part of the route they have adopted.
We will eat lunch here before heading on to Ordway for the night. Jon would like to go ahead and finish, but that would make for a very long, hard day, and we already made plans to meet some friends from Colorado for dinner in Pueblo, before starting the long drive home.
Thank you to everyone who entered my contest! Great answers everybody!
The first person to answer correctly was Jill Rosette with the winning answer of: places to pee and navigation!
There will be a little something in the mail for you after I get home!
When I asked Jon what he thought I would say, he said ‘facilities’ and bugs, since my Benedryl stick was one of my favorite items. The bugs were a close 3rd. He said he thought I would say navigating, but that he thought I was fine with that. You probably can’t know unless you were in the car with me the whole time. All the times I went back and forth down the same road looking for the route, or driving 11 miles the wrong way in Virginia, until the highway headed into the mountains and started getting a little more remote, driving up a steep, curvy mountain in Ashton, VA, just to discover that there is NO place to park and wait. I tried the little post office parking lot, but it was Sunday morning and a couple people pulled in for church in the adjoining room, so I went back down to the bottom of the mountain to wait and come back later. Having NO sense of direction did not help. When we are together in the car, Doug will often say, I feel like we are going the wrong way. And I will say, “I don’t feel anything.” I can never tell which direction I am going, or take clues from the environment like Doug does. He will say, well, the river is flowing this way, or the mountains are over here, so that is north. I tried using the mileage markings on our maps, but each panel ends with a “matchline”, which is basically a spot on a road. If we don’t stop at that exact spot or start at that exact spot, the miles will be off. All this will not make my dad and brother very happy to hear… they didn’t want me driving alone anyway! I have to say, I was never overly concerned and I had a great time. I figured it all out eventually. I felt like I was on the TV show Amazing Race. I had my map and a time to be somewhere and I was off – like a little daily challenge. At least I didn’t have to deal with airports and international countries.
The bathroom issue was by far the number 1 challenge. When you are staying in a city park and the bathroom is a ways away or only certain hours, or really unpleasant, I am not a happy camper. In Booneville, KY outside at the UMC Church, Doug was on the phone with his parents, it was getting dark and I hadn't tried the outhouse yet, so I asked Jon to open the lid for me. Doug had already warned me that I was not going to like that one. It was either that or the corn field next door. At the Hartville, MO courthouse, we could buzz the sheriff's office at the back door up until midnight. They weren't going to open again until 7:30 or 8:00am. Luckily, there was a Subway across the street opening at 7am. Guess who was there at 6:45am waiting to buy a breakfast sandwich! Last night the challenge was that the Eads, CO rest area restrooms were a short drive away. It worked better if I could have the whole inside of the tent packed up for Doug before I drove to the bathroom. Every morning we were under time pressures to pack up, eat breakfast and get on the road. So, it was very challenging to wake up, wait for Doug to get up and out, let the air out of the air mattress, fold everything up and put it away, then head to the bathroom.
Another challenge was not locking myself out of my car. I kept my keys on a lanyard and I wore that around my neck all the time, especially if the car was off and I was sitting in it.