Heart Shaped Tile #1

On our way out of Fort Collins, just shy of the Wyoming border, we stopped at a little chapel out side of Virginia Dale CO. It was replica of the Virgina Dale Community Chapel founded in 1880. We were quite relived after pilfering much needed water from a residents ground well just on the other side of the highway. We ate and drank, and rested a bit, we could see the climb just ahead of us. Since there were olny four or five miles left in Colorado we desided it was time to leave our first tile. A quite strange cemetry lie ajacent to the chapel, some old head stones, some very new head stones. We found a small rock in the back corner of the yard and tucked it underneath.

Day 1 and 2 or On the Move

We had a heck of a day.  Getting out of denver proved not to difficult.  I don't think I will be able to remember that route again though.  The toughest part was the mileage.  We had a warmshowers.org connection in Fort Collins so had to make it there.  Not as though there are any places to stay between Denver and there anyway. 
We ran into some equipment issues in longmont when one of Lucy's front panniers broke under mysterious circumstances, but we knew there was an REI in Fort Collins so I was able to make the things stay on her bike for a little longer.  This is when time, and miles and stress were building up.  After we bought the new bags at REI, we had to post the broken ones home.  Weren't about to carry that stuff around.  luckily the P.O. was just around the corner.  So that mission accomplished, off to find Dean, our warmshowers host.  So a lovely northerly jaunt through Fort Collins, most on a spiffy bike trail,  got us to Deans house.  What a cool guy.  He wasn't there when we arrived so we called and he said to go on in and make ourselves at home.  That night we had a great and cheap dinner with grocery store stuff and some fresh garden produce fron Dean,  had showers and a bed which made for a great nights sleep.  And then Dean let us make french toast and coffee in the morning before we headed out.  Great guy and good day.  Although lucy and I are both feeling the effects of riding too hard with not enough training. 
Miles ridden...81*
*includes trip to grocery store

Dean, our savior

Lucy and I at our first border crossing.

Day 2 was even harder than the first.  Not quite as many miles but much more brutal terrain.  We continued on hwy 287 north going to Laramie  WY.  Some folks say its an easy road, others say... eh, not so much.  We found it pretty excruciating.  Firstly, its an elevation gain of 2200 feet from Fort Collins to Laramie.  And we got headwinds for most of the day.  It was amazing, We almost never saw double digit speed for the first 5 hours of riding, even on the down hill sides.  And we were in constant danger of running out of water.  There isn't much in between, but really, there is more than most locals know about.  We found a few oasis and made it with extra.  We also had a Warmshowers connection here so we had to make it all the way.  Evan is a nice fella and he and his wife kennedy gave us a nice place to stay.  Lucy and I want to take a day off here in Laramie since we pushed it so hard those first 2 days.  W will head back out on Saturday after some good rest and alot of stretching. 
Miles ridden...72*

a long day is almost over

*includes trip to bar                                                                                                                                            

Yes, Yes it is getting late

One last post for tonight. we have a long day ahead of us. We will not have guaranteed Internet access for an unknown amount of time. Here we are, bikes all loaded, ready to embark on our expedition. So see you suckers some other time.

Hangin' Tough Take 1

Hangin' Tough Take 2

The Story of the Heart Shaped Tiles

It is now time for the sappy romantic bit (see, I'm not a total ice queen!)

Scotty and I moved into together Spring of 2008. There abouts anyway. I had found an old piece of plywood with an attempted Mosaic of interlocking heart and diamond shaped tiles. Who knows how old this creation was. The tiles came right off. A planned afternoon of yard work was distracted by the odd discovery. I became transfixed on removing every single tile. I have no idea why I was so interested in the damned things. I crouched in the mud, under a light late spring drizzle and collected the tiles until Scotty came home from work. It must have been a Saturday. Back then I didn't work Saturdays. Scotty resented me for this.........

I was proud of my endeavours, nobody else really seemed to care of my archaeological collection. That evening I snuck a tile into Scotty's pocket as a hint of my emotions toward him. Though we had moved into with one an other, we hadn't reached "that" stage in our relationship yet. Unfortunately he hadn't really thought much of the tile, or how it ended up in his pocket. He hardly seemed amused at the time when I explained what I had done. I was a little crushed. But being the ice queen that I am, I was able to shrug it off.

Time passed. Scotty was becoming restless with his job. Our relationship was not going well. There was infidelity going on. I met some one else, I moved out. I broke Scotty's heart. He broke mine first.

One day returning to my new apartment after a heart wrenching visit with Scotty, I emptied my pockets and was sadly delighted to find one of the endeared heart shaped tiles. Scotty had not forgotten. He had snuck it threre.

It didn't take long before things with "the other guy" went flat. I rode the most miles that season than I ever have, with Scotty. I quit my real job, moved back in, and returned to the wonderful world of line cooking. Scotty's resentment lifted some with my sporadic restaurant hours, and we began to save our money to one day take 6 months off so we could ride our bikes into the sunset....(and out of the sunrise)

As to commemorate the struggle in our relationship and all the efforts we committed to following through with our goal, we have decided to bury a heart shaped tile in every state and or country that we manage to conquer.

How Sweet. Awwwe

A Gluttonous Feast and a Pleasant Suprise

My (Lucy) very kind and generous grandparents took my lovely mother and I to dine on unlimited offerings of pit fire roasted meats at Fogo De Chao in downtown Denver. We all had a delightful experience. I love that place! My family happens to be very supportive, proud, and worried for our excursion. We will be safe, we will be aware, we might get wet and cold, but we will have the time of our lives. Thank you Larry and Charie! Thank you mama!

Before I left to meet for lunch, I received a message from my ex husband. He had just found an extremely sentimental artifact from my youth that I thought I had lost forever. An old "Keroppi" Sanrio Brand frog character wallet that I purchased when I was sixteen. It contained an old prison ID of my father that he had given to me when I was in the hospital recovering from a near fatal throat stabbing. Since my father had passed away, it had become EVEN more sentimental. So my ex offered to bring it down to me after I got home. What great timing, seeing as though we are leaving first thing in the morning. Mark and I had a puppy that he was "granted" custody of in the divorce. I have only seen her once in the last year and a half since Mark and I reconciled. Conflicting schedules, conflicting locations etc.....Sooooo, to top off an already great afternoon, Mark graciously brought Dumpster (the puppy, now 5 1/2 years old) over for a visit! What an awesome last day! Thank you Mark, it was also nice to chat with you too!

Good Bye Gritz (aka Mo)

Precious Mo, she is so squirmy this morning, I cannot get a good picture.

Thank you little brother Aaron for taking care of the babies while we are away.

Good Bye Guido

Here he is, nestled on my goose down sleeping bag. His eyes absorbing the color perfectly.

Leaving Tomorrow

We would Like to formally thank Mark and Kristy Dym, owners of Marco's Coal Fired Pizza, for all of their support and encouragement. Don't forget to try their incredible wood fired pizza and unique coal fired lemoncello chicken wings. Colorado's only Associazione Pizzaiuoli Napolitana!

2129 Larimer Street

Denver, CO 80205

(303) 296-7000

So this is it. Our last farewells. Pack our panniers, load the bikes and head in a north westerly direction. It should now get more interesting from here on out. First stop, about 67 miles out, Fort Collins. We opted for fast over scenic, since we have both been to and from Fort Collins via cycling before. Pecos, to Lowell, to 120th to Highway 285.

some pictures

                                                    Lovin' Denver

 Our toolkit.  Believe it or not, with these near complete disassembly is possible

 everything in a pile

Lucy's stuff in a pile
The cat, Mo, is not coming though ) :

moving day

well, today we bot most of our stuff out of the house.  I had to drive.  shudder.  And I feel for the other road users too.  Anyway,  It's getting close.  By this weekend we will be living out of our panniers,  then I have to help out at work on tuesday, and we should be outta here wednesday or thursday.  Lets just hope
nothing explodes.

So Things Have Changed. As They Often Do

So both of our work environments have become encouraging to our decision. We have both prolonged our stay with a promise to return. After concluding the return to Denver, that is. It has cost us less money and physical labor to do so. Inexpensive storage and welcoming arms is all it took. Thank you jobs. Once you agree to sponsor, then we will mention you with larger gratitude. Haha.

We must retreat by September 1st. We hope to be in Vancouver by October. We have not trained. Just doing it will be our training. ( Hint hint, any other sponsors...)

A shake down, and other preparation photos  will be included once we figure out how to use our new camera. Thank you helpful staff of Wolf Camera!