FCBA Day 30- Lamar to La Junta Colorado

Today was a quick ride. Landon and I did most of our traveling at 18-21 mph with a day's average of 17.7 over 56 miles. We stopped for breakfast along the way and then arrived at La Junta at 10am along with Kert, the first rider. Total trip time was 4 hours including stops. Lamar to La Junta CO ride stats.

I had difficulties with my camera so didn’t film the first half of the ride, but no matter- terrain doesn’t change much out here. It’s dry and flat with a few patches of green near settlements or towns. Water is very precious, for Colorado sold its water rights long ago; land owners cannot pump water from the Arkansas River, nor drill a well on their own property under threat of lawsuit from the state of Kansas. “Whiskey’s for drinking; water’s for fighting” is how it’s expressed. Water is the most valuable commodity to mankind. On that note: the water we’ve been finding available along this part of the trip hasn’t be especially pleasant tasting, but La Junta has a reverse-osmosis plant to provide theirs. I would imagine there are extreme conservation and recycling efforts in the area.

We are staying in the pastoral quarters of the Holy Cross Lutheran Church, a 70 year old structure not accustomed to the water needs of 17 sweaty bicyclists. There has been a plumber arranged to arrive tomorrow for it seems we’ve overloaded the sewer lines. Not a crisis situation yet, but in the basement where the washing machine is I am draining it into a garbage can and hauling it out to the lawn to dump. Laundry wasn’t a scheduled task today but I hate to not take advantage of the facility, so we’re using a garbage can to haul the effluent upstairs to the lawn. We’re just doing two loads of cycling clothes.

Everyone showered and most headed into town to see what it has to offer. We’re trying to find a hair clipper; a number of us are going to shave our heads just for fun. Yeah, we don’t have internet here and it doesn’t take much to entertain some of us (I’ll have to go somewhere else for Wi-Fi to get this out). Someone else suggested a toga party and that might just happen too, for we found a bunch of tablecloths.

Tonight the church is providing dinner. This church is shared by Episcopalians as well so we’ll have to watch our table manners. I was raised Episcopalian and it’s a sin to use a salad fork to eat meat. I’ll inform the others.  

                                    The bleached bones of commerce out on the Colorado prairie.

                                       Ever-ready for adventure, one must prepare accordingly.

                                                             This is a shared church...

                                                 ...and now they're sharing it with us.