Downtime in Pueblo Miles = 2158

Tuesday and Wednesday August 19 and 20

Quote of the Day: "Get me out of this state .... who runs this state anyway?"

I took 2 rest days in Pueblo. The Courtyard Marriott comped me one of the days - thank you very much Courtyard.

Here are a few of the photos of the Riverwalk area of Pueblo - very nice:

Mural:

If only I could get these rates:

Regarding the "get me out of this state" comment:

First let me say  that I love the people of Colorado - they have been very kind to me. But the roads in Colorado are the worst I have experienced in the 5 states that I have been in so far. I expect they are the worst in the entire country with perhaps the exception of Alaska.

Here are some example photos of typical Colorado roads:

Notice the zero shoulder in addition to the roughness. This is route 96 that Adventure Cycling has choosen for the balance of CO through to Kansas. People have told me that it only get worse the further out of Pueblo I go. I am considering taking route 50 even though it is a much heavier trafficked road.

These are expansion joints. They occur every 10 to 25 feet in Colorado and have not been properly maintained as in other states which means periodic filling in with tar emulsion.

This one is 6 inches wide and 3 inches deep. This requires you to stand while riding to avoid the bone-jarring jolts which you can only do for so long:

I hit this bridge at about 20mph as I applied the brakes and skidded. The sign at the top of the hill only said "Grooved Pavement". Good thing Sandrine encouraged me to buy a phone protector as the the phone flew off the bike - luckily not into the creek below:

I put my glove into the photo for some perspective. There is a 4 inch lift to the bridge and notice the bent over nails in the wood - yes wood used for the bridge decking:

So yes you Coloradoians are great but how about holding your politicians accountable????

Kenyon, the cross country walker, suggested I add a sign to my rig to help raise awareness - so here it is:

This is my interview here in Pueblo.

Pueblo Chieftain News Article

A repeat from yesterday>>>


OK I've been warning you that someday I was going to switch on the harranging mode:):):) so here it is......

About Soldiers Best Friend ..... If you have been following along you already know that this is a charity that provides service dogs to Vets that are suffering from PTSD. These dogs can literally be life savers for these men and women.

I spoke to Brenda from SBF several days ago and so far we have only collected $230. I happen to know where $140 of the $230 came from and that would be a combination of folks that I input money for when they gave it directly to me. That would be; 1) a man at a restaurant in Ashville NC area, 2) a lady on the street in Portland 3) Kenyon the cross country walker I met coming out of Kremmling and 4) OverMountain Vineyards in Tryon NC (a really beautiful place) 5) My own original donation.

So doing the arithmetic that means that others have donated just $90. Now, Brenda does point out that if people don't insert my name in the "honorarium spot" that they will not know if the donation is associated with my ride effort (if you forgot to tag your donation with my name please contact SBF to let them know). But having said that would you be insulted if I said I'm just a bit disappointed??

The blog averages approximately 175 hits per day. I think that suggests folks are interested in the trip and hopefully are being informed and entertained. I am at the half-way point of the trip at 2151 miles. I consider this my job for the summer of 2014. I am putting in the the "blood, sweat, and gears" to steal a phrase - so would you consider a donation to this very worthy cause?

Here is some additional math.... My entire trip is going to be approximately 4200 miles long. Do you think you could donate $.006 per mile (like about slightly more than 1/2 cent per mile)?? If so then that would be a $25 dollar donation to SBF. Or better yet could you afford to donate at $.012 per mile (1.2 cents per mile) then that would be about a $50 donation. And so on ....  give what you can - I know this sounds like a Nation Public Radio fund drive but come on - what a worthy cause!!

Please follow the link below to donate and include my name - just "Neil" will do or "Neal" if you like that spelling better:):)

It's time folks please.......

  
And finally please remember the cause -   soldiersbestfriend.org  I will go into this in more detail and perhaps some level of haranguing later on, but for now here is the link .... and an additional link for donation   SoldiersBestFriend - Donate Please :):)   Oh and I would be a lot more comfortable if you use the "honorarium" option vs the "memoriam" option - you'll understand when you click on the link:):).   

As you donate please enter my name in the "In Honor of Spot" so the folks at SBF can tally the results to encourage me and let me know WE are getting something done TOGETHER. I recognize we are really trying to honor the Vets but this is the only way SBF can tally the results of this drive (tour).