day 6 - hello colorado

i was lucky last night.  i stopped at the rest area to camp because it had good concealment and also a picnic shelter if i needed it.  there was a chance of a thunder storm.  as i waited, i could see some storms in the distance, but it looked like they would slide by to the north.  

then towards dusk, the clouds filled out to the west, coming my way.  i could see the lightening miles away.  i opted to put the tent up under the shelter.  brilliant move, as it turns out.  in the middle of the night i woke up to the wind buffeting the tent, i was the only thing holding it down. gusts would blow, the tent would rock,  then everything would go still.  then the lightening, then the thunder.  finally the rain.  in the morning, the wind was blowing strong, but the storm had passed and me and all my gear were dry.  not long after i got up, packed, dressed, the wind died down, too.  a quick couple of mile ride into tribune and i was drinking a hot cup of tea and eating a chorrico burrito.  washed my hands 3 times, coming, going and in between.

when i left, i switched into lighter gear.  15 miles later, i was crossing into colorado.  before long the jacket was off again, sunscreen was on, and i was rolling again without a headwind.  colorado, of course looks just like kansas.  harvested, tilled and planted fields.  large grain silos every 12-15 miles.  but then 25  miles in it all changed.  no silos, no fields.  all of a sudden i was riding through arid land, gently rolling, covered in sage brush.  dry.  nothing in site, no houses, no grain silos.  right around the location of the massacre at sandy creek, where we lived up to expectations in treating native americans on land we had just given them but decided we wanted back.  about miles further along, the fields are back, looking dry.  one older person i crossed paths with here in eads, he had a mask on, said it hadn't rained here in over a year.  i think he was exagerating.  a bit.

these fields out here are huge, they go on for mile and miles without break.  houses are spaced at varrying diztances, located in islands surrounded by their windbreak trees.  but it occurs to me, if we can make driverless vehicles, house vacuuming robots, and automated grading equipment, how long will it be before or the tilling, planting, harvesting equipment is automated?  assuming it isn't already.

i've been very lucky.  some rain, some cool weather, but i made the entire due west part of the ride without a headwind.  that is luck.  tomorrow i turn south, then diagonal towards the mountains.

after a couple of nights camping and three days riding, 95 mi yesterday, 60 before noon today, i'm taking a break in a hotel.  washing clothes, got air in the tires, going to eat a couple of good meals.  reenergize.  tomorrow i turn south

btw, eads, co, this county, has not had a single case of covid that they know of.  when i walked in with my mask on, they weren't quite sure what to do, but they reached for theirs and put them on.  this hotel has a special rate for cyclists.  for the last couple of hundred miles or so i've been on the transamerican bike rout, rte 76.  tomorrow, i'll leave it and head my own way.