Day 41 - June 13 - Sterling, CO to Crow Valley Campground, Briggsdale, CO - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent

June 13, 2023

Day 41 - June 13 - Sterling, CO to Crow Valley Campground, Briggsdale, CO

The Reign of the Rain

Ed’s Story

Had a great nights sleep. Of course the room was so dark I needed to use my little headlamp to find my way to the bathroom and back. I don’t like turning on bright lights in the middle of the night. Tends to wake me up before I want to.

I did mention yesterday we had a kitchenette. Both John and I were able to cook breakfast without dirtying our own dishes. We were nice though and cleaned the dishes we used and put them in the drainer. They will probably rewash them, but we cleaned them as well as we could.

The one problem with the room was that there was a little to no light. In Mankato, we had more lights that we could shake a stick at. We could get the room really bright there. Here we were squinting in the darkness. Additionally, the light in the kitchen kept flickering on and off while we were making breakfast. Could give you a psychedelic attack if you are prone to one.

We looked outside before we left, and lo and behold it was raining. We actually had to wear our rain gear. Not only that it was a cool rain.

We knew they were little to no services between Sterling and Biggsdale where we are staying the night. As we left Sterling, we saw sign that said no gas for 60 miles. That should tell you something about the services between the two locations.

About 10 miles out, we entered the Pawnee National Grasslands. The Pawnee National Grassland lies 35 miles east of Fort Collins, CO and 25 miles northeast of Greeley, CO in Weld County. Contained within the 30-by-60 mile area are 193,060 acres managed by the Pawnee National Grassland.

We definitely saw a lot of grass along the route today. I guess they meant it when they said we’re in the grasslands.

Not sure what this is but it was a cool picture. It was across the highway from the grasslands sign. [John’s assessment: It’s rocks. You’ll see more in a few days.]

We made a brief stop in Stoneham, Colorado. We pulled in next to a defunct cafe. Pretty much like everything else, the little town and its café had died.

The Prairie Café…gone and probably forgotten.

Shortly after we left Stoneham, we saw a site that every biker wants to see…porta potty’s.

Porta potties everywhere, but non-usable. Sort of like being at the Pacific Ocean and not being able to drink.

If you look closely, you can see the deer and the antelope playing out in the field. It must actually be the Home on the Range.

We arrived in Raymer, Colorado about 35 miles into the ride. It’s interesting all the road signs said New Raymer.

We stopped at the Pawnee Station restaurant for an early lunch.

We asked the waitress why it is called New Raymer. She stated that there is already a town in Colorado named Rehmer that was confusing to the Postal Service. The official name of the town was changed to New Raymer, but all the locals still refer to it as Raymer.

It was 10:45 AM. We actually just wanted coffee and a snack, but the woman behind the counter says nope, it’s lunchtime, so we ate lunch.

While we were eating we started talking to Jesus. He is a truck driver from McAllen, Texas, returning home after having dropped off his load. He has been a truck driver for 25 years. His claim to fame is that he used to drive trucks from Laredo, Texas to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. These trucks were for use by the ice road truckers. He would then fly home and deliver another load.

If you had any doubts that this was a Western restaurant and bar, this should lay them to rest.

Shortly after leaving Raymer, we come across another group of bicycle tourists. I will let John talk about them.

The rain ended shortly before we got to Raymer, New Raymer, ??? It did not rain again the rest of the ride.

Came across a fixer-upper if you’re interested.

The weather started clearing when the rain stopped. As we reached a higher elevation on the ride, we could see the mountains in the distance. They call to me. They want me to master them. And I will get my chance on Saturday.

The mountains in the distance. There is John taking a picture of the mountains.

As we approached Briggsdale, we finally achieved 5000 feet of elevation. It was the first time. We were at 3700 feet in Sterling yesterday so we climbed at least 1300 feet today.

We knew there was no water at the Crow Valley Campground run by the Forest Service. We stopped at a little convenience store just before the final turn to the campsite and filled our portable plastic bottles with water. We probably won’t need them since the weather is cool, but it is better to have them than not.

Just past the convenience store was a liquor store. John bought a beer, and after the one I bought that was determined to be bigger than his, he had to go buy a second. What does that tell you? I will not answer it.

We are at a nice little campground. Right now besides John and I there are only two other RVs. Since we are both seniors and have the NPS senior pass, the cost was only six dollars for us.

The site has no electricity, nor does it have water as I have previously mentioned. It has vault toilets for us to use if needed.

Tomorrow’s ride is 38 miles to Fort Collins. We already have reservations at a Super 8 there. It even has a guest laundry. If all goes well, we should be there before noon, knock on wood. Since the room probably won’t be ready, we will try to just leave our bags at the hotel before we head out for lunch.

Do I hear a Brewery calling me? The nearest brewery in Fort Collins to the Super 8 hotel is 2.2 miles. I’ll let you answer the question.

Until next time, happy biking!

John’s Story

This morning the promised rain finally came. I was afraid it wouldn’t and we’d be in the position of the boy who cried wolf. The next time rain was forecast we would ignore it at our peril.

We finally got to tog out in full raingear apparel. It was 53°or 54° this morning but without much wind. I don’t know what was in Ed’s head this morning, but I ratcheted back the effort expended on cycling to keep from sweating too much in the Gore-Tex. Our average speed before the rain stop was just under 10 mph. Once the rain ended and we could get out of our rain gear we were able to step it up a notch, And at the end of the day our average speed was 10.3 mph, quite comparable to our average over the last 2000 miles.

Given the stormy weather up and down the front range for the past several days I thought I would check out the weather at Cameron Pass west of Fort Collins where we will be crossing the Continental Divide in about a week. It was snowing this morning. The cold-weather gear will be migrating to the top of the pannier when we leave Fort Collins.

About an hour into the ride this morning it sounded like my bike was falling apart. It was creaking and groaning and making the most awful noises. I stopped to figure out what the heck was going on. The noises did not stop. It was a chorus of frogs of every size and shape singing in the flooded fields on either side of the road. I was relieved.

As we rode today I harked back to the first day of a bike ride across Nebraska that I did a number of years ago at about this time of year. It was cooler that day, about 51°. There was a headwind. 10 to 20 mph. It rained constantly. It hailed occasionally. Thunder and lightning. The length of the ride was about the same as today. I did not have rain pants. I wore a regular short sleeve jersey, a lightweight long sleeve fleece jersey, a rain jacket and cycling shorts. I was one of only about 30 bikers out of 600 who actually rode the entire day and did not sag in. Today was nothing like that. I was grateful. I enjoyed my ride in the rain today by comparison.

I figured when I saw this that we were in the Denver-Julesburg Basin. I’ve heard about it as an oil and gas producing province, but didn’t know much about it. My first impression was that it must be on its last legs. This old location looked like an antique

I was disabused of my impression when I started seeing locations like this. Many very new looking producing locations with multiple flowing oil wells on them. Some ranchers are getting very rich.

I’m not sure why I took this selfie, except perhaps to demonstrate that I was wearing rain gear.

I’ll see Ed’s fixer-upper, and raise him a fixer-upper with outbuildings

Eventually the rain stopped, and the sun started to peek through here and there with occasional views of blue sky between the clouds. The piper had to be paid, however, so when the rain stopped and the sun came out the wind came up in our face. I thought the last 27 miles would be a lot easier than the first 27, but that was before the wind changed directions. I should have expected it, because on the radar forecast of the rain it showed a low pressure circulation in our area this morning. So long as we were on the north side of the circulation we had an east tailwind, but once the circulation moved north of us the wind switched directions.

For the first time in four days we encountered other bicycle tourists. Luis and Liliana left Seattle on May 23 and arrived in Fort Collins, where they live, a day or two ago. They must’ve averaged something like 85 miles a day on their tandem. They left Fort Collins this morning headed east to Annapolis, Maryland. They plan to average 100 miles per day to get to the East Coast. No more camping for them as they continue east. They plan to “credit card camp” the rest of their transcontinental voyage. They’re carrying no camping gear or cooking gear, and have paed their load down to just 16 pounds. They are my heroes.

Luis and Liliana are going to put the word “express” into their voyage to Annapolis!

Today was no doubt our greatest elevation gain on a given day. We made it to over 5000 feet elevation a couple of times before we got to Briggsdale. We have ended up this evening about 900 feet higher in elevation than we left this morning, almost at the same elevation as Fort Collins.

I caught this milestone on my GPS. I’m not sure we’ll get to over one mile elevation until after we leave Fort Collins.

At last! The view we’ve been waiting for! The Rocky Mountains in the distance! I was almost certain we wouldn’t see them today because of the low clouds, but there they were. I’m guessing that we are in the Crow Valley, given the name of the campground. We lost as much as 200 feet elevation coming down into the valley.

The Crow Valley Campground is a peaceful place. It is almost empty, just a few small RVs scattered about. Because there is no water here at all we filled up our extra water bladders at the convenience store about a half a mile away. That was followed by a visit to the convenient liquor store for a couple of beers.

I went walkabout to try to visit some of our neighbors. I didn’t find any at home, so I just continued walking.

Jennie, if you’re watching, pay attention to the sign. Over 300 species of birds have been identified here on the Pawnee National Grasslands. Just imagine the photographic opportunities!

More work for Bill.

Look, yellow flowers without a black center!

There were fields of this flowering plant along the way today.

I think you identified this yesterday, Bill, but this is a much prettier picture.

I found this while gingerly walking through the tall grass trying to avoid rattlesnakes.

I think it’s time to graduate to mega flora. Any idea what this tree is?

A not very informative display at the “Farm Museum” in the campground.

Apparently if you toss a bunch of old rusted farm machinery into the tall grass around here without any explanatory material whatsoever you can call it a museum.

I’m planning to hook this on to the back of my bike in the morning and bring it home to put it in my front yard.

Personal Note: Accents and Immigrants

After we ran into Luis and Liliana the bike tourers and Jesus the South Texas ice road trucker today, a few thoughts occurred to me. It seems when we encounter someone with a Spanish accent we automatically assume that they are recent immigrants to the country from Mexico or Central America. Luis and Liliana are from Argentina. Jesus was born and raised in McAllen, Texas. His family may have been there long before there was a Texas. A woman I knew at Phillips Petroleum has the maiden name of Vallejo, and comes from New Mexico. Her family came to the New World from Spain hundreds of years ago, long before most of our families came across the Atlantic from England or Ireland or Germany or Poland or wherever.

My maternal grandmother was a first generation American born in 1903 in Fredericksburg, Texas, of German immigrants. Her first language, even though born in the United States, was German. She had the tiniest bit of a German accent, often confusing the pronunciation of “v” and “w” in English. My own mother, a second generation American, grew up speaking German in the home. She didn’t learn to speak English until she had to go to public school. Did that make her less of an American?

We need to be careful about putting people into pigeonholes because of the way they look or speak.

More Pernell Roberts

A Quiet Girl

Today's ride: 63 miles (101 km)
Total: 1,968 miles (3,167 km)

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Kelly IniguezSpeaking of nationalities. We have been in Spain 24 hours. Jacinto (born in Mexico) says that most of the people we have interacted with have some sort of South American accent. Only the older man running the restaurant (who shook Jacinto's hand and said thank you for coming), had a Spain accent. Jacinto thought both of our waiters were from Venezuela. The bicycle shop owner's wife is from Venezuela.
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