Day 38, June 25th 2008, beginning in Colorado Springs, Colorado

I woke up much earlier than Paul, and got my first breakfast. Checking the tracking information for my tires online, it appeared that they would not arrive until the following day, negating the chance of us staying with the hosts 25 miles north. We had already changed days on them a few times, and I began to feel guilty. What to do?

I contacted UPS and they told me that it could be rerouted if the bike sender agreed to it. I called the bike shop in New Orleans who sent them, and they told me that it could result in a delay and it would be a $10 charge. I figured if it would delay it made no sense to reroute it, so they checked for me before going through with it. Turns out it would cause another day delay, so we'd have to figure out where we were going to stay again, as the bike shop was downtown and it would make no sense to go all the way up to sleep and come back. Ugh.

Paul got up after I got off the phone, and got some breakfast. Shortly after he returned, I decided to get my second breakfast. Cost effective eating is what I like to call it. We didn't have a lot planned for the day other than going to the Garden of the Gods. So we hung out by the pool for a bit before we departed for the garden.

The Garden of the Gods was pretty cool. The nicest part about it was that it was free. It was also a very bike friendly park, as the bike lanes were bigger than the car lanes. Excessive? Either way, we snapped some cool pics, and rolled through it in about an hour.

With most of the rest of the day ahead of us we headed back the way we came, stopping in a little sub town of the Springs called Old Colorado City. It was a very cool place full of little side shops and people walking around. We got some really good ice cream from a local creamery that made their own waffle cones. Yum.

After that, Paul decided he would get his haircut, and I would try to find out a less expensive place for us to stay again that night. I called the city, to see if we could set up the tent in any of the parks. No dice. We tried Jenny's friend again. No dice. I was pretty resolved that we wouldn't be spending that night in a motel, yet our options were limited. I spied a nice, empty looking spot on the map that wasn't a park, that might suit. It was near downtown, where we had planned to meet up with Jenny, John and their friend that evening.

So we headed back after a while to scope out our spot. As we were passing Colorado College, we saw a game of ultimate frisbee going on. We figured maybe we could meet some college kids, they'd know the good spot to go out that night, and maybe we could tag along. Paul exclusively, even thought some of the girls were cute. Being the painfully shy person I am, I eventually mustered up enough courage to ask to join in.
Turns out they had just finished their JUNIOR years in high school. Paul mentioned later that when he heard that he felt like he got shot in the chest. It was really funny. But actually, it was pretty cool. They were from all over the country, and were spending two weeks as some art school the college was holding. They must have been pretty talented.

We played for maybe an hour, to an hour and a half. It was a lot of fun, and we both expressed how we felt like we could run forever. It was a good feeling.

After that, we just went downtown, stinky and sweaty we'd be going out to a bar soon. Oh well. Jenny and her friend Alicia called and said to meet us at Phantom, a place we had stopped at the night before. Unfortunately, John wasn't able to get off of work earlier enough, so he couldn't make it.

We got some food there, but it was a little rich for the biking tourist's blood, so we went to the bar of a very fancy Antlers Hilton down the street, which for some odd reason happened to be much cheaper. We had a great time there just enjoying each other's company as we were one of the only groups there.

As we departed and said our goodbyes, Paul and I hung out outside the Phantom for a bit, where our bikes were locked up with everything on them. We would have to set up the tent in near complete darkness in the sketchy plot of land we had picked out.

Nearly pros, we had no problem setting up the tent after we found a spot that was hidden well enough. It was already late, and we would have to be up early so as not to be seen. We would not be getting much sleep. But hey, it was free.

The tire had survived, and the next shipment would be coming in the following day. We would be heading into Denver the following evening.

Life was good……….

…. Until

…… CHHHH CHHH CHH CHHHC HHHH

Blasted in the face by a stream of water, I awoke immediately to the pleasure of a long distance sprinkler stream. 2:00 on the dot, Paul and I quickly sprung into action and put on our rain cover. The soothing sounds of water pressure smacking against the thick canvas of the rain cover would ease us into a relaxing sleep for the remainder of the evening. Living and breathing…

Life was good.