Horses or Cows?

We are 1500 miles into this thing and are waiting patiently for our first bear sighting. It will be a super thrill whenever it happens. In the meantime, we see plenty of Pronghorn antelope, elk, one coyote, deer, and beautiful wild horses. 

And cows. Lots of cows. They express their stupidity by watching us nervously as we approach, but instead of running away from the road before we meet them, they act completely startled as we are 5 or 10 feet from them, and only then do they run off the road. 

A few days ago on a paved road outside Pinedale WY, we came upon 250 cows and calves being driven to summer pastures. We could do nothing but stop and wait until the cows, cowboys, and cowgirls passed. It was better than a John Wayne movie. 

RE: Do I Know You?

It is a small world after all. 

John Knowles

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

-------- Original message --------

From: John Dickson <johnkdickson55@gmail.com>

Date: 6/20/21 22:00 (GMT-05:00)

To: Adriel Holmes <holmesa7557@gmail.com>, Atle Nesheim <atlenesheim@aol.com>, Bart Holmes <bartb59holmes@gmail.com>, Beau Parks <beaumparks@gmail.com>, Becky Linford <beckyrlinford@yahoo.com>, Betsy Nothom <betsy.nothom@gmail.com>, Bill Niedringhaus <wniedrin@gmail.com>, Brian Morris <jm.brian@gmail.com>, Brian Page <bladerunner7@comcast.net>, Brinton Jones <brinton.jones@gmail.com>, Bruce Hunter <brucehunter@frontier.com>, Calene Hall <calenehall@hotmail.com>, Camilla Hallows <camillahallows@gmail.com>, Carson Otto <carsonsjotto@gmail.com>, Chad Green <chadtgreen@gmail.com>, Cindy Layton <clayton1920@gmail.com>, Clay Hunt <claynheidi@gmail.com>, Curran Johnson <curran.johnson@clarkconstruction.com>, Darrell Hineman <Mtnlife4UVA@gmail.com>, David Odiorne <dwoiii03@gmail.com>, Diane Hamilton <dphamilton92@gmail.com>, Dixon Holmes <dixon.holmes@gmail.com>, Dominick Guarino <dominick.guarino@clarkconstruction.com>, Don Hiatt <dhiattcw56@gmail.com>, Duncan Higgins <dhiggins0205@yahoo.com>, Ed Johnson <erj8100@gmail.com>, Ellen Parks <parksklan@comcast.net>, Faye Otto <fayejotto@gmail.com>, Gloria Otto <caribbean4two@gmail.com>, Holly Hunter <hollygooss@gmail.com>, Jeromy Humpherys <jeromy.humpherys@gmail.com>, Jim Kinkead <jim.kinkead@clarkconstruction.com>, Jim Layton <moappeals@gmail.com>, James H <frozenrope123@gmail.com>, John Dickson <johnkdickson55@gmail.com>, John Knowles <jmknow@gmail.com>, John O'Keefe <john.okeefe@atkn.com>, johnkdickson55.pappy12@blogger.com, Kaplin Jones <kaplinjones@gmail.com>, Karen Jones Eagle Project <sadiqi53@aol.com>, Kim Pearson <kimpearson51@gmail.com>, Lesley Jones <jones222@att.net>, Leslie Lewis <danielcollector@msn.com>, Lindi Jones <lindi@nalj.com>, Marci Green <hbmarcig@gmail.com>, Mike Miller <mike@mwpost.com>, Nam Nguyen <quocnam314@gmail.com>, Nathan Jones <nj@nalj.com>, Page Otto <pagedickson@gmail.com>, Randy Monk <emperormonk@gmail.com>, Reagan Holmes <reaganholmes@gmail.com>, Rick Nielsen <rick.nielson@rm.edu>, Rick Otto <rsjotto@gmail.com>, Robert Kipp <merc74rpk@gmail.com>, Rushton Jones <jabbas80@msn.com>, Salem Morin <morinsb@yahoo.com>, Sally Michaux <smichaux5@yahoo.com>, Sam Otto <eldorado.dr@gmail.com>, Shanna Hansen <redrock777@msn.com>, Shannon Hineman <teamhineman@gmail.com>, Sharon Hiatt <yo5mama@hotmail.com>, Tehya Green <tehyahorsegirl@gmail.com>, Theresa Lehmer <tlehmer@comcast.net>, Tim Layton <timothyjlayton@gmail.com>, Tim Pritchard <tim.pritchard@clarkconstruction.com>, Tristram Jones <trisjones04@gmail.com>, Troy Lerwill <troythewildchild@gmail.com>, Tyler Holmes <tylerdholmes@gmail.com>, Will Hunter <hunterrun16@gmail.com>

Subject: Do I Know You?

Just pulled into Orange Peel Bikes in Steamboat Springs, CO at 3:30pm. They had maintenance work on our bikes completed by 5:30. The way bike shops drop everything to give us immediate, excellent service makes us feel like rock stars. Gila Hike and Bike in Silver City NM, Sendero Bikes in Del Norte CO, Absolute Bikes in Salida CO, and OPB here in SS have all been most excellent.

Since we were able to have the maintenance work done so quickly late on a Saturday afternoon, we had all Sunday morning to thoroughly enjoy a 2 hour church conference zoomed from Ashburn VA to the Rabbit Ears Motel. What a great way to spend a Sunday morning worshipping Jesus Christ. Love it. 

You know how blown away you are when you meet somebody that you have a one in a million chance of meeting? Well, how about this morning when I approached a couple getting ready to head out on their Victory motorcycle. As I was oogling over the bike I noticed the Utah tags. I asked where in Utah they came from and couldn't believe it when she said Spanish Fork, the town of my wife's heritage. I excitedly asked them to hold on while I summoned Shauna.

I knew Shauna would about pee in her pants when I told her a couple from SF was in the parking lot. But when Shauna asked the lady's name and found out she was her cousin, but not just any old cousin, but a cousin Shauna regularly babysat, including feeding her a bottle, it's a wonder Shauna's pants remained dry. 

Another time we were on a long, long climb out of Salida CO. After about a third of the way up this climb we heard an approaching rider. Before we saw him we heard him ask, "Are you friends with Paul Vaughn?"  "Well, yes we are, but who are you and how the heck do you know that?"  Turns out our friend Paul Vaughn is buddies with this mysterious rider (Brian Steele) and gave him the link to our GPS dot. Brian, who lives near Salida, is a super cycler (he raced the 2,750 mile GDMBR in 27 days a few years ago) and had been dot stalking us until he could ride with us for an hour or so. Wonderful company up that long, long climb. Thanks Paul and Brian. 

We happened upon Papa Rojas, a CDT hiker taking a break beside a dirt road. As the conversation sometimes goes, I asked where he was from. Virginia. Wow, us too. Where in VA? Arlington. What?!? I was born and raised in Arlington. Where in Arlington? Ballston. This is really too much. Okay don't tell me where in Ballston, I'll tell you where,  because there is a decent chance I was the superintendent building the apartment you lived in. Let's try 851 N Glebe Rd, a 21 story, 412 unit high rise behind the Westin Hotel. Nailed it. On top of that, he worked for BF Saul, a developer with close ties to Clark Construction. No way. Unbelievable. 

I've got a few more of these that I'll save for another time. But I'll certainly let you know if tomorrow we run into Donald Trump. Now that would be one big fat chance encounter. 

Settling In

After finishing our third week on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, we feel like we are figuring this thing out. We've ridden 780 miles so far, which works out to about 37 miles/day including two zero days. 

The landscape and camping have been off the chart good and diverse. Sometimes tenting in a cow pasture, other times in stunning forests. And even other nights sleeping in one type of accommodation or another. 

We typically get up at 5am, and will be riding by 7:30. We usually start looking for a campsite around 5pm unless we know a motel is an hour or less away. If we start setting up camp by 5 or 5:30, we will be in the bags by 7:30 or 8. Most nights it is cold enough at 8 that we are in the bag, rather than laying on the bag. 

One example of how accommodations just work out for the best happened in Horca CO. We pulled into the tiny community of Horca at about 6:00 tired and hungry and spotted what I thought was an RV park, although there were small cabins mixed in with the camper trailers. Certainly we could tent somewhere there.  In the park, I flagged a man down driving a side by side 4×4. 

When I asked where the RV park office was to ask permission to tent,  he said there is no office, these were all private residences. He referred me to a public campground a mile away that we had just passed. I'm sure he noticed that his answer didn't set well with me, but we rode off anyway, back, uphill to the campground. 

After using the camp privy and unloading a couple days of trash in the bearproof dumpster,  we made our way to the self check in station. As we studied the check in procedure, we heard a side by side 4x4 approach. It was the same fella who directed us to this campground. He said he came over to check on us because, "I couldn't get you out of my heart".... and asked if we wanted to sleep and shower in his 5th wheel camper trailer next to his summer cabin.

When I'm tired and hungry, and about to embark on 45 minutes of camp setup chores, and just then some stranger opens up his home to us, emotions are sometimes close to the surface. We answered that we would be forever grateful to sleep and shower in his trailer. 

Almighty God is good.