Day 32: Leoti, KS - Haswell, CO (73/150)

This morning I woke up, packed my stuff and set out before my hosts were awake. The weather was sunny and cool in the early morning, but someone had again turned on the south / southwest headwind. There were only 80 miles planned for today, so I wouldn't let a little headwind bother me. Not long after setting out I rode from the Central time zone into the Mountain time zone.

A while further I passed the "leaving Kansas" sign (including bullet holes!) and after that the "welcome to Colorado" sign. I'm thrilled to have finally made it to Colorado, cause this is where I'm gonna be riding through the awesome Rockies and also where I'll be visiting a friend in Boulder. I'll first have to pass through eastern Colorado though.

After riding into Colorado the landscape started to change significantly. It soon almost felt like I was riding through the landscape of a Western movie: A very arid landscape, with almost no trees and green grass; practically unlimited view; corresponding vegetation including cactusses; dust clouds sweeping over the plains and even those dry grassy bushes (how do you call these?) being blown over the road. The landscape was just awesome and it was joy riding through it (especially after the monotonous Kansas part). The plains are also starting to gain elevation towards the foot of the Rockies. Yesterday and today had both well over 1000ft of climbing spread over the day. The maps marked a section of 58 miles as limited services so in a small town I used a very primitive restroom, only to find out a few hundred yards later that they did have a convenience store there. Ah well... part of the experience right?

I planned to stop in Eads, but after a short visit to the library, I realised it was still quite early, also due to the switch of time zones. I therefore decided to continue some 20 more miles, which would allow me to reach Pueblo tomorrow (4th of July) and watch the big fireworks. The wind had turned in the afternoon to become a tailwind, so that also made the decision easier :) In Haswell (population 86) I'm staying in the simple city park. Here I again met the group of Biking the US for MS, which was good for some evening conversation. Unfortunately clouds came in on the last stretch, so I haven't been able to see the mountains yet. As they are now only some 100 miles away, they should pop up sometime tomorrow... cannot wait!

One more thing, based on mileage I passed the halfway point (2100 miles) today!