Colorado

July 20, 2008
Today is Sunday and we get to rest our weary bones. When we came in last night, we were a little disappointed because we had so much distance between our tents and showers and gear truck. But it all worked out fine and it is a beautiful place. I spent a little time down at the marina just watching the boats and people. There was a small boy there catching quite a few fish right off the dock -- nothing very big, but he was having a good time. In the evening the local church put on a potluck for us, and boy what a meal it was. I really don’t think there is any better eating than a church potluck. Actually just before supper a small storm came up and we weren’t sure if we would be able to have supper and the celebration rally, as everything was basically outside. The storm dissipated as quickly as it had come up and we were treated to a wonderful double rainbow. As for the celebration rally, it was wonderful as well. The main speaker was a man who had grown up in a very poor family and had got involved in a street gang as a teen, but a Christian man came to his neighborhood and just started cleaning up empty lots and buildings. The kids all made fun of him but eventually they saw that he had something they didn’t. Today John is a corrections officer in Salt Lake City, and also runs a fairly large program to help kids like he was get their life straightened out.
Odometer reads 9240 miles

July 21, 2008
Monday, we head for Duchesne, UT. Our map doesn’t have the elevation plots because when Ed drove the route last Feb the road was closed as the pass was snowed in. I wanted to be in camp fairly early as Sweep Team B (which I’m in charge of) is up for duty. I was hitting it pretty hard, but it was a slow uphill grind. The scenery, however, was again spectacular. Climbing in the mountains is always deceiving, as you think you are level but you are actually climbing or descending. A few of us have even got off the bike to see what is dragging. At about the 30 mile mark is a sag stop and Walter informs us that it is only 7 more miles to the top. However that 7 miles turns out to be at an 8% grade, which is quite steep. So it is grind grind grind to the top, which is over 9,000 ft elevation. On the way up I was treated to the sight of a moose crossing the road. I got a couple pictures but they are not real good. The descent down was great as was the rest of the trip to camp -- most of it was downhill slightly or only small climbs. It was the kind of terrain where my little bike really shines. I was in camp by 1:00 pm, ½ hr before another rider showed up. Duchesne is just a very small town and we stayed at the city park. Sweep team is always a hard day -- you start when you get into camp and are on again / off again through about 10:00 pm and then on duty again at 5:30 in the morning. Then a few of the sweep are the last to leave camp and the last to arrive at the next camp.
Odometer reads 9334

July 22, 2008
Duchesne to Dinosaur CO. A long day, as I was up by 5 to start setting up breakfast and we didn’t get to camp till 6:00 pm and then we still had to set up our tents. We did make it before supper was served, which doesn’t always happen when you are on sweep. It went very well though; the scenery here is best described as desert -- there's just not much but scrub and heat waves. Dinosaur is a little town about the size of Leighton, for those who know that town. It is very near Dinosaur National Park. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to check it out. The city park we stayed in had prairie dog in it.
4 states down and into the 5th.
Odometer reads 9424

July 23, 2008
Today we headed for Craig, CO. It was another long, hot day with very little change in desert scenery. We did get to see several antelope, though. It was a lot of climbs and descents. Our camp tonight is at Moffat County High School -- a modern facility with great showers.