Day 38 – Deadly Heat

Cheyenne Wells, CO to Eads, CO – 56 miles

Yesterday I woke up in the Historic Plains Hotel in Cheyenne Wells, CO.  Sufficiently exhausted from the day before I took my time getting ready.  Took a shower and packed up.

Seriously though, this place was really cool.  It was a little weird being the only one in this super old hotel that gave me vibes from The Shining or something, but once I got passed it I had a great night’s sleep!

Here’s the entrance to the tunnels under the city from the prohibition era.

By the time I was ready to roll it was almost lunch time and it was almost 30 miles to the next town, so I decided to grab some food at the restaurant in town before I left.  I went to a bar called the Gap and had their special for the day, meatloaf.  While I was there I met Diane who was diagnosed with MS twenty years ago!

Incredible people in Cheyenne Wells, CO.  Her and some of the other people in the bar donated over $100 and paid for my lunch after hearing what I was doing.  They even had a lady from the local newspaper come and take my picture and take a couple notes about my journey.

After my five minutes of fame I went over to say bye to Michelle and Bo.  It’s a small town, so it was only about 3 blocks away.

I’m not sure what time I was on the road, but it was HOT.  It was also some of the most isolated roads I’d been on yet.  There were times where I could look around and not seen any man made objects except the road in all directions.  That combined with no trees, only crops and empty fields, made the prospect of shade slim.  I was so desperate for shade at one point I found a small building next to a track scale by a grain elevator to hide behind for awhile.

I rejoined the route at Sheridan Lake and found a convenience store to hang out in for awhile until it started to cool off a bit.  Finally, I set out to Eads which was about 25 miles away with no services or shade on the way.  While I was finishing up my ride for the day I got a text from Michelle saying that they were going to visit some friends they had in Eads and that I’d be welcome to join them for dinner!

I went straight to the city park to set up my tent and then headed over to Michelle and Bo’s friend, Bob’s, place.  Had a great dinner of pork chops, chicken wings, potato wedges, and asparagus!  I hung out for awhile after dinner.  Bob gave me some good tips about the Telluride area because he lived there for almost 12 years.  Eventually, I called it a night and said bye to everyone.  Once back to my tent I went straight to bed, planning on an early morning today.