Pictures from Evie's camera

Top of Trail Ridge Road.


The long, arduous climb to the top of Trail Ridge Road.

Headed toward Redstone!

Sally and Blanche at a winery outside of Delta.

Outside of Silverton.

Some cool biker guys on Wolf Creek Pass. We grew to love Harley people.

Wolf Creek Pass. AKA "I want to pass out Pass."

With all the rain and snow this year, the wildflowers were so vibrant everywhere we went.

Caley enjoying a local peach in Lake City outside of the library.

Lake City, my new favorite mountain town.




Becky, en route to Lake City.

Me washing my hair in the Taylor Creek!

On the west side of Cottonwood Pass, headed for Taylor Creek. This was my favorite road of the whole trip.
Looking out over the west side of Cottonwood Pass. Whew- that's a lot of dirt road descending! This is where I got my one and only flat.

At the top of the Cottonwood Pass. One of the many times we crossed the Continental Divide.

The last section of the Cottonwood Pass climb. Gnarly!

Within a couple miles of the top of Cottonwood.


Very thirsty on Cottonwood Pass climb. We learned our lesson after this one and planned to climb passes only early in the morning or late in the evening to avoid the heat and traffic.

Cottonwood Pass

Girls in the wild, cookin up some dinner.

Sit down in the middle of the highway and eat emergency! On this day, we had a killer head wind.

Becky and I went to jail in Hartsel.

Grocery store stop in Woodland Park.

On the road to Woodland Park (Day 1).

Day 1 in Sedalia when Caley's mom and dad brought us breakfast burritos and orange juice!

More reflections on our journey

Wow. One full day after our return to home, and I am overwhelmed. First of all, one million thank you's to my lovely friends, Caley and Becky. This morning, I woke up in my bed sad that they weren't by my side getting ready for another day on the bikes. You ladies inspire me every day, not just when we're bicycle touring.

Thinking back through our journey, I feel most of all humbled.

This trip brought me to my knees in so many ways-- physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I never expected it to be as hard as it was. Finding out just how weak I am and how much I need a strength greater than my own was a brutal experience, but irreplaceable.

Like Becky, I, too, felt intense gratitude for all the unexpected gifts we received on the road. I am grateful for:

- Tom and Wendy in South Fork for taking us in their home and treating us like their own children

- Andy and Amy McCoy for a nice plot of land to camp on, hot coffee in the morning, and heartfelt conversation

- Paul at Covenant Heights Christian Retreat Center outside of Estes Park for giving us a warm, dry place to stay and a hot shower on a very cold and wet night

- Ken in Redstone (?) for offering us a cold drink of water on a hot day

- Tom and Linda for showing up in the middle of nowhere all throughout the 2 weeks with coolers full of cold fruit, chocolate and drinks (I will forever love maroon Yukon SUVs)

I was so impressed by these people who shared a piece of their lives with us. I am also full of gratitude for all the simple pleasures we enjoyed along the way-- uncontrollable laughter, random sit-down-and-eat emergencies, running water, toothpaste, super smooth asphalt, sunshine on a cold morning, really strong bike tires, breaks that worked when we needed them, a friendly wave or cheer from people in cars, chapstick, sunscreen, and the health to do what we did. All of these things remind me of a passage from one of my favorite books, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard:

"It is a dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. What you see is what you get."

I hope I will always see the beauty in small things, wherever I am. I hope that I will always recognize a gift from God in my every day life. I hope that I will always remember that my strength is not my own, but that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

Much love and gratitude,
ev.

Reflections upon return

We made it! Door to door - Denver to Denver - 1050 miles - most definitely the scenic route.

Our trip began like a snowball.
Caley rolled from City Park to pick me up at my condo by Cheesman Park and the 2 of us to pick Evie up from her home near Wash Park. The 3 of us rolled out of Denver together to begin a 15-day journey around Colorado that just came to an end last night.
As our snowball rolled back into Denver, we knew we would soon need to detach from one another and roll our separate directions. After Caley was the first to leave the trio near REI and I was getting ready to veer off the Cherry Creek trail toward home, Evie and I discussed how it felt like our snowball was slowly melting. Tears came to both of our eyes as we experienced reintegration into a world where we would soon resume a multitude of responsibilities and societal expectations that had been void of our "homeless-like" lives over the last two weeks. We had grown so accustom to sharing life with one another 24 hours a day, that the thought of living the independent life again felt less than appealing. While most trips like this do have to have an end date, just as seasons change and snowballs melt, I think all three of us would agree that what we gained from this trip together has the power and momentum to snowball and multiply within our individual lives and the communities around us.

Over the course of the trip, we seemed to develop a new vocabulary amongst ourselves, such as "dropping PSI", "going to fetch a horse", "we're the river people". We had started finishing one another's sentences and could sensitively understand and tend to one another's needs without even speaking. Adjectives such as "amazing", "beautiful", "breathtaking", "incredible", "gorgeous", and "stunning" were probably overused, but could simply not be used enough to describe the sights we experienced along the way. We all noticed our gratitude-o-meters go off the charts on this trip. We were grateful for the truck who slowly passed us by with 3+ feet of clearance, for fresh produce from a grocery store, cold water from a bathroom sink, coffee in the morning, tents that kept us dry, a hot shower, locals who stop to say hello and take interest in what we are doing, people who offer directions, the couple who offers us a spot in their lawn to set up our tents, toilet paper and q-tips, hu-ha ride glide, orange juice and fig newtons, laughter, a tree to shade us, and probably most significantly - for a good tail wind.

Many people might go on a bicycling tour or other trip in search for an experience that will bring them happiness. While it's safe to say there were many "happy" moments both on and off the bicycle the last 2 weeks, there were also many other emotions experienced that we all had to sift through.

One of my favorite moments on this trip involved a discussion the three of us had while we were cooking dinner on a rock in the woods between Redcliffe and Carbondale under the light of a full moon. We were talking about the possibility that the common aim in life to find ultimate happiness or peace will likely always end in disappointment....because perfect happiness and peace are simply impossible to attain here on this earth. What, then, if our aim was to take in all of our experiences - the painful ones, the exciting ones, the difficult ones, the shameful ones, and the joyful ones - and to invite God to use them to teach us, refine us, and show us more about Himself. If we reorganized our lives this way, out goes any room for disappointment and welcomes only hope for something greater than what this world has to offer. If we keep trying to straighten the crooked roads in our lives instead of traveling them with open eyes and open heart, we would probably miss some of the most incredible scenery created on this earth...but even more, we would miss the refining and growth that only comes through taking the door to door route that lasts 1050 miles.

"...we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." - Romans 5:3-5

Nearly home!

We've had lots of fun over the last few days and we'll tell you all about it eventually, but just so you know we're nearly home!

We hit 1000 miles in Nederland this morning.








Becky got her first flat.




And now we're celebrating with drinks at Golden City Brewery.




See you all soon! Thanks for your love and support.

Location:12th St,Golden,United States

Gypsum to Steamboat

As we pushed off from the top of Rabbit Ears Pass this morning, I thought about all the beautiful places we've seen in the last few days. We left off in Gypsum. From there we proceeded up the more desolate road to Wolcott. Of course we had a little fun along the way.





Somewhere between Wolcott and State bridge, we made the impulsive decision to tag Steamboat. So we rode as far and as hard as we could to get lots of miles under our belts. Out in the middle of nowhere, we stopped for water at a ranch and made a new friend named Matt. We were hoping that a place like that would serve us some BBQ but sadly they weren't cooking that night. So Matt sent us on our way with a box of granola bars to help get us over the big hills.






I decided to name the nameless slog of a pass that followed '20 granola bars and no BBQ pass.'





We found a sweet spot to camp outside of a little town called McCoy just before the sun went down.






The next morning we got up super early and were on the road by 7. We all felt a bit foggy but we were so determined to get to Winona's in Steamboat for a cinnamon roll.






At around 12, we rolled into Steamboat and indulged.













After lunch, we all felt so tired that we decided our only option was to take a float trip down the Yampa.







Refreshed and clean after bathing in the river, we stopped at the store for dinner and snacks. We are quite a spectacle in front of grocery stores.






From there we began the long slog up Rabbit Ears Pass. I find that bike touring gives you a lot of time to really sit with the thoughts in your head. Rabbit Ears Pass was no exception.












Thankfully the pass did not claim our lives as it did this poor soul. We had a nice little celebration at the top and found ourselves a lovely camp spot amidst the amazing wildflowers.













Turns out we met all sorts of folks on the road between rabbit ears and Kremmling.



















Now we're leaving from Big Shooters in Kremmling woth ice cream in our bellies headed for Grand Lake!





Love,

Ev

Location:County Road 11,,United States

Delta to Gypsum

Since our coffee shop stop in Delta yesterday morning, we've ridden through the fertile fruit-filled towns of Hotchkiss and Paonia. We stopped by Hardin's Natural Foods which holds special memories for me as the owners (Scotty and Lisa) provided great hospitality to my brother and I during our bike trip 5 years ago. The kind woman working there yesterday was equally hospitable and loaned me her bowl to eat cereal. Evie enjoyed a raw cucumber!



We climbed up beautiful McClure Pass.





A happy hour soak in the penny hotsprings of the Crystal River was our reward. (Whoa, tan lines!)






We camped in a crafty little spot up the hill from the river.



After stopping for breakfast in Carbondale, we rolled down to Glenwood Springs. Since the I-70 bike path took quite a beating from the high waters this year and our bicycles aren't very skilled at swimming, Blanche, Sally, and Mr. Wigglesworth all got to go for a ride on a trailer.



We are happily rolling along towards Wolcott with nice stops along the way.



Perhaps we'll make it to Toponas tonight.

Location:Red Table Mountain Rd,Gypsum,United States