Thursday

The town of Colby, Kansas is just east of the line between the Central and Mountain Time Zones. Never understood why four of Kansas' western counties are in the Mountain and the rest of the state is Central, but it may be a little clearer now. As we were approaching the town the night before, we could see sunlight on the horizon until well after 9pm. Even close to 10pm the sky was still not completely dark. Anyway, after getting up in the morning, it was less than an hour before we had crossed into Mountain Time Zone, gaining an extra hour in our day. Forty-five minutes after that at mile 6730, we crossed the state line into Colorado around 9am Mountain time.

From that point it was about 175 miles to Denver. Having been to Denver on our previous trip, we bypassed the city and turned north through the city of Boulder. Boulder seems like a very nice town, although maybe a little crowded too with the all the building they are doing. It looks like it's growing quite fast from the looks of things. We stopped for lunch at the Barking Dog Cafe in Lyons located in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains.




From there continued on to Rocky Mountain National Park. The Rocky Mountains were a very nice change from our long drive through the High Plains. We were surrounded by lush, green valleys and high, craggy peaks. The park is also full of wildlife. We saw elk, mule deer, marmots and chipmunks. We took a picture midway through our drive at the Alpine Visitor Center and then a little later at the pass through the Continental Divide. It rained a little bit throughout our drive, but we were still treated to a lot beautiful scenery. Winding our way back to Interstate 70, we returned to one of our favorite areas from last year's trip: western Colorado. Such a beautiful drive. This time however, instead of turning south at Glenwood Springs, we continued west finally stopping for the night in Grand Junction, just short of the Utah state line.

Random Thoughts from a High Plains Highway
Since this was a relatively short post, this would a good time to pass on some observations made during the long drive between Jefferson City and Denver. Driving across western Kansas can lead you mind to wander.

The Hardees fast food chain in the east seems to become Carl's Jr. in the west in this area of the country. It seems that Carl's Jr. bought out Hardees and changed everything about it to look and act like a Carl's. Even the radio commercials are the same with only the name changed. They even both use the "happy star" logo. We saw Hardees up until the middle of Kansas, and then noticed a Carl's in Colorado.

We seem to have left behind the humidity that we dealt with back east.

Starting to listen to a lot of country music and starting to actually like it. Sometimes there isn't much choice. Started listening to it a bit on the last trip, but now actually seeking it out on the radio. Noticing that the lyrics in every single song make sense. Maybe it's the storytelling aspect of the music that makes it conducive to road trips.

Is it just the radio in our car, or do all radios stop at 96.1 when scanning for stations, even when there is no broadcast on that frequency?

And speaking of the radio, when scanning for AM stations, why does it stop only on clear stations during the day, but at night, the scan stops at almost every frequency whether there is a clear signal or not? Maybe it's time to invest in satellite radio.

Dave's Rant
(Editors note: As said on last year's trip, I have been trying to do this blog somewhat from Hapa's point of view, or at least a generic point of view, since it is his blog. But it's time for another rant.)
Why do a lot of cyclists, and I mean bicyclists, seem to think they have some special privilege when "sharing" the road with automobiles. I use the term "sharing" in quotes to denote sarcasm. While I would not consider myself an avid cyclist, I have trained for two triathlons, so I do have quite a bit of experience riding on roads shared with automobile traffic. Even heavy, high-speed traffic. I've always noticed the problem while driving around in Southern California. But after driving across the country, I have seen it happen everywhere.

What I am talking about is that some, not all, cyclists seem completely selfish in terms of the amount of space they take up on the road. Once, on my commute to work here in Orange County, I was flipped off by a cyclist who I had accelerated past so that I could get around him. It was a fairly crowded road with no bike lane, but he made no effort to move over to allow any traffic by him even though he had more than enough space. I had to accelerate past him because I was forced to cross into the lane to the left to get around him, and I was trying to avoid cutting anyone else off in the process. He apparently took my acceleration as an aggressive move and responded with an obscene gesture. If I'm riding in heavy traffic, I have full respect for the cars around me, not only because it's common courtesy, but also because I could DIE! Again, it happened on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. This time I even slowed down and gave the cyclist a wide berth. He made no effort to make any room for me, and gestured as I passed. Although this gesture was tame by comparison, it was clear that he was perturbed for some reason. In Philadelphia, I witnessed a cyclist riding on the wrong side of the street, yell at a motorist for making a right turn in front of him. He was clearly in the wrong, and yet he was upset at the motorist for cutting him off and nearly hitting him. I also saw another cyclist flip off the car in front of me in the city. It wasn't clear why. The driver did not seem to do anything wrong from what I saw. On a relatively deserted highway in the Colorado farmlands, I came upon another cyclist who also did not make any effort to make room. This time I REALLY slowed down, and went around her. In my rear view mirror, I saw her gesture at me by turning both palms upward as if to say, "What the hell?" I even remember reading about a case, in Washington, D.C. I think, about a motorist who got spit on by a group of cyclists, who also hurled racial epithets at her. She was black and they were white. That group illustrates another problem with cyclists who insist on riding two or more across, completely taking up a lane of traffic.

When I am cycling, because my life could be at risk, I am keenly aware of traffic around me, so I don't buy the excuse that they don't hear cars behind them. In fact, it's their responsibility to know what's happening around them. I would try tooting my horn, but who knows how these road enraged cyclists would react to that. Think about it, when someone uses their horn on you, do you really know the difference between a toot, honk or blast? There is no polite way to honk at someone. I think the D.C. case happened as a result of the motorist honking. To me it's about common courtesy.

And what's deal with the fancy colorful jerseys? Am I to believe that ALL these clowns race with Discovery Channel corporate sponsorship? Please, you remind me of those skiers who spend $500 on a new ski outfit and can't even get down the mountain.