Kiki Bikes Across America

Today and the past couple of days I have met lots of really interesting people – it makes me want to stay here and keep talking to the locals and the others passing through.

If you talked to me, please drop me a line at kiki@transamericancyclist.com as you may have given me some contact info, but I may have lost it. But regardless, I’d love to hear from anyone who I have met along my journey – so please drop me a line.

Wednesday:

• Met Mike at the library – very cool person and we’ve hung out for three days now. He’s led me up my first 14er, Mt. Elbert, and I’m now hanging out with his dog Cal while he’s at a drag racing event in Denver.

Thursday:

• Met Andy and Veronica when climbing Mt. Elbert – hope you guys will drop me a line or find me on facebook. I have more pics of you guys if you want me to email them to you.
• Met Wilderness Bob on the trail as we were hiking down – he’s hiking the continental divide this year and has hiked many other long trails as well. Hope to hear from you if you find yourself near internet before you forget about bumping into me and Mike on the trail.

Friday:

• Met some really interesting folks (Michael and Jane) outside of the library today as I was leaving. They were curious about the cal cruiser and were checking it out. Their son is a professional climber and only 23 years old! I unfortunately already forgot his name.
• Met Steve down by the river who’s traveling around a bit now and doing some dirt-biking, kayaking, and mountain biking. He’s apparently quite a traveler and has for the past 15 years or so traveled for 3+ months every year. He’s doing Asia and South America and lots of other places – a lot of traveling by dirt bike. Sounds very fun and interesting.
• Met another couple tonight down by the skate park with their kids – Bill Smith and Jen Orr, I believe their names were. They told me they have a friend (Lael or Laer?) in San Francisco that I should look up – I hope I didn’t lose the paper they wrote it on, but if I did, I hope they’ll contact me (kiki@transamericancyclist.com).
• And lastly, I’ve been sitting at the Simmering Cup Coffee House and have had a nice time chatting with the owners, Doug and Delinda Crinklaw. They’re from Colorado originally, he’s from Grand Junction, and she from Durango area.

So as you can see, I’ve met a lot of really cool people thus far in the past couple of days since being on my own and here in Salida. I really like it and wish I could stay longer, but unfortunately need to crawl up the Monarch Pass and on to Pitkin so I can meet Chase before he wonders what happened to me! I was supposed to be there Thursday, then I told him Friday, and now it’s going to be Saturday before I get there.