Safe Return Doubtful

50 miles (81 km) – Total so far: 1,417 miles (2,280 km)

I had breakfast with an English woman from Oxford on a road trip from Denver, and on the dinosaur trail. Breakfast at these motels isn’t really very much, just a few bits of cereal, bread and a pancake maker.

The road leaving Naples and heading east soon quietness down, but as it does after about 5 miles, the shoulder disappears. Shoulder on these sort of roads is key to a good cycling day. Though quite they do have trucks, pick ups, and still some holiday traffic. It wasn’t until after Jensen that it returned. There’s nothing at Jensen other than a Welcome Centre to Utah for traffic headed the opposite way and the Dinosaur quarry where those first bones were found in 1909, now a tourist attraction. Shortly after Jensen the road crosses the Green River and starts heading back up again, it has lost 200 metres. Entry into Colorado is just before the town of Dinosau, 300 metres higher. There is a Colorado Welcome Centre here and the town tries hard with various dinosaur attractions, but this morning it was very quiet. I turned south here on on 64 and rode the 18 miles into Rangely for my earliest finish yet this tour. There isn’t a lot of sense in going further today as my route now heads up over the Douglas Pass, a mission for tomorrow, besides, it’s into the 30s at 12:30 pm in Rangely so a good time to get some shade.

Heading out of Naples

Briefly into Colorado

Uphill 3 miles into the town (village) of Dinosaur for a break

And a steady downhill to Rangely

Looked okay from the outside, but much less so from the inside

Storytime:

I mentioned before about those first years that Nigel was in the US and trying to follow the sport from England. This is something that has changed so much over the years. He and the Houston United team used to descend on the Ashford Arms after their game and watch the match from the UK that had been video recorded earlier. The pub would pay the large fee to get this by satellite. Steadily one game became several, until now of course, every game can be watched live at home for a more manageable fee.

Watching other sport, chiefly cricket and rugby, was more difficult. One a reasonable speed of internet was available illegal streaming meany viewing was possible. We would always do this on Christmas Day with the Test Match England were paying in. If it was in Australia it began in the late afternoon, perfect to settle down and watch – but there would be buffering and broken signals as the illegal stream was discovered by authorities. Nowadays it’s possible to watch most sport, either legally through the American channels or by that illegal stream. Stuck though for an option in the last Rugby World Cup, Nigel resorted to calling me on Skype and me positioning my tablet to relay my TV picture. It worked fine, and also we could have beers and chat throughout.

Skype certainly changed that feeling of distance from family that expats used to get. Lily’a generation has grown up with it. She sees grandma and grandpa on the screen and they talk, when she is in the right mood, for long periods of time. My parents generation has taken to the technology much slower.
“We must go, this must be costing you a fortune”.
My parents have friends who won’t speak on Skype until they are changed into their finest clothes.
My mother is looking the caller up and down and ascertaining their health, or if they have any facial marks, and will always comment. You can imagine she did this with Nigel especially.
I called my parents yesterday actually. It was at a time when I was doing my first proper laundry of this tour, so everything except a tshirt and a pair of speedos were in the washing machine. The camera therefore was solely aimed at my head. Immediately my mum was inquisitive.
“Why can’t we see the rest of you?”
Despite my assurances of why not, she remained deeply suspicious.