Sunday, June 14, 2009

Ness City, KS to Pueblo, CO: One Night Stand and Other Stories



Miles Per Day: Day 43=REST; Day 44=57.66; Day 45=50.20; Day 46=60.99; Day 47=64.17; Day 48=54.35

Total So Far: 2,186.01

Inspiration: Pink Floyd (have a new understanding and appreciation for the “Uncomfortably Numb” track); Billy Joel; of all things, Handel's Messiah (ECO); the unbelievable kindness and attentiveness of some of the readers of this blog (fur ball a.k.a. Fluffy thanks you all); Family Guy on Hulu; public libraries; Plato's Republic

Spirits: emotional; pensive; heartbroken; absolutely inspired

Things Seen On the Road: tons of snakes; wild onions; cacti; rabbits and probably some prairie dogs(?); more and more cyclists passing me on the road going East towards Yorktown, VA.

Favorite Quotes: (1) sheriff of Eads, CO after asking him to help me find the owner of the stray dog that crashed in my tent in the middle of a thunderstorm [paraphrasing] “listen, I've been doing this for over 11 years now...what you need to do is to just go and leave it alone,” (2) operator at sheriff's office who answered the phone the night a stray dog crashed in my tent: “do you mind calling back in an hour? We have a tornado now on the ground and all available resources are occupied at the moment.”

MY ONE-NIGHT STAND WITH FUR BALL
Meeting Fur Ball
I was finishing my dinner at a pizza joint in Eads, Colorado when the waitress mentioned that the county was now in the middle of a tornado warning. I gulped down the rest of my dinner, paid my bill and rushed out to the public park right in front of the sheriff's office.

The rain had already started by the time I took out my tent poles. As I was staking down my rain fly I spotted a fluff of fur out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw the cutest and saddest thing I have seen on this trip thus far: a small, wet, shivering, smelly ball of fur trying to stay dry underneath a bush besides a tool shed. She looked very scared. As soon as I spotted her, our eyes met and it was love at first sight. She rushed over and followed me as I finished setting up camp. All the while I looked around to see if her owner was nearby. “Maybe she got loose while she was being walked,” I thought. But there wasn't a soul in sight.

At this point I considered my options. I could leave fur ball out in the middle of a huge thunderstorm and a possible tornado in the hopes that her owner would find her. Or I could let her in the tent, at least until the storm passed. The latter seemed like the only real option. I quickly got inside the tent and fur ball followed me without missing a beat. Within a minute she was curled on my lap, tittering and asleep:



Reaching Out
Those of you who are following this trip via twitter and facebook know what happened next. I first called the sheriff's office to see if they could find fur ball's owner. The operator who responded basically asked that I call in an hour because a tornado had touched down in an adjacent county. Perturbed, I called, emailed, texted everyone I could think of. In the end, there was nothing to do but hunker down for the night and wait out the storm.

And what a storm it was. It was, by far, the strongest thunderstorm I have ever experienced. There was hail, lightning, thunder, and winds so unbelievable one side of my tent almost came out of the ground. Here's just a taste of what fur ball and I experienced that night:



Doggie Beer Goggles
The next morning I awoke to the sounds of birds overhead and a bright, blue Colorado sky. I immediately started packing up. I figured the quicker I could gather my stuff together the faster I could figure out what to do with fur ball. As I was putting away my sleeping bag it became clear that fur ball was having second thoughts about our one night stand. Gone were the snuggles, the hand licking and the search for warmth on top of my bare chest. She was suddenly more cautious and not all that thrilled about being near me. I guess all that rain and thunder had give her some serious beer goggles the night before. She probably awoke to find that my condo was made of plastic and my Ferrari was actually a Surley touring bicycle.

But hey, all was not lost. I immediately took out a couple of pizza slices and our romance was back on track. Say what you will about Jack...he always takes care of his one night stands:



Decision Time
After breakfast I got a call from the sheriff who basically said that leaving would be the best thing. He felt fur ball would gradually make her way back home now that the storm was over. I now faced a pretty stark decision. If I left I could get out on the road fairly early and make a ton of mileage before the hot sun made riding unpleasant. On the other hand, could I handle the heartbreak of seeing fur ball follow my bike out of town? Besides, who's to say she would even make her way back home? What if she got hit by a car? What if she was picked up by someone who would mistreat her?

In the end, I grabbed fur ball, cradled her in my arms and spent the next hour or so walking the streets of Eads, Colorado, looking for her owner. Eventually, a very sleepy 12 year old girl said she thought the dog belonged to a family who lived two blocks away. Pretty soon fur ball's tail began to wag and I knew I as onto something. I knocked on a door and a very relieved mom answered the door. “Fluffy,” a.k.a fur ball was back home:



THE TRIP SO FAR
Temporary dog napping aside, the stories keep on rolling:

*Setting up my tent near a public swimming pool in Tribune, Kansas I experienced something truly magical. The day had been particularly overcast, something that had made riding all that much easier. But as soon as I stopped to set up camp I noticed that the clouds were parting out towards the west. I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. Right along the horizon, cumulus nimbus clouds were bunched together in a chain of white and gray. Above was a sea of dark, ominous clouds. And through these shone the setting sun. Check out the Photo Roll and Wish You Were Here sections of this post for a little taste of this amazing moment.

*About half an hour after crossing into Colorado I noticed that the vegetation along the road had changed dramatically. Grasslands had been replaced by cacti and other desert plants and flowers. It is amazing how a change in altitude and terrain can completely alter the landscape. Check out samples of the vegetation I encountered in the Photo Roll section of this post.

*Right on the edge of the Colorado border I noticed several funnels south of the highway. These were localized dust funnels that were probably less than 10 yards in diameter. Throughout I kept hoping that they wouldn't grow into something much bigger.

WISH YOU WERE HERE
Watching a sunset in Tribute, Kansas. This video does not do the experience justice. Note that the background sounds are from a girls softball game nearby.



Colorado terrain.



PHOTO ROLL














17 comments:

Julia said...

Amazing, amazing photos. How can one not be changed after experiencing all of these beautiful places?

...wish I was there.

Anonymous said...

So lovely. The story brought a huge smile on my face! Thanks for sharing. Fur ball is a cutie. We experienced a major storm this weekend also, seems to be going around.

Cindy Lee Jones said...

Great video's so glad Fluffy made it home safe and hiliarious quote of the day- "Say what you will about Jack...he always takes care of his one night stands". hahahaha that was good.

Jerry Critter said...

You are a kind soul, Jack. I am sure the fur ball and her owner are very grateful.

Linda said...

It's perfectly beautiful!

microwave said...

Totally agree with Cindy Lee Jones: "Say what you will about Jack...he always takes care of his one night stands"

That is legitimately funny.

Also, I trust you make all of your one-night stands eat the morning-after pizza off the floor too.

:)

Jack said...

@Julia,

I wish YOU were here. It is definitely unbelievable.

@Anonymous,

Yes, fur ball was definitely a hottie. Glad you enjoyed the post.

@Cindy,

My one moment of blog brilliace I guess :)

Jack said...

@Jerry,

Still working on being kind. But I do think I passed some sort of test that night...

@Linda,

I totally agree.

@microwave,

Only the furry ones.

Christie said...

I can't believe you've made it to Colorado already!

I'm living in Oklahoma (for grad school), and you are making me appreciate the big sky even more. I've been carving out time to watch the sun set lately.

And if you're looking for more things to listen to, there's a Public Media podcast called Speaking of Faith (about ethics, ideas, religion, etc) that is has an ongoing series called "Repossessing Virtue" about the economic downturn, and oftentimes the conversations revolve around generosity, the poor, and living simply. All that to say, you might enjoy it. Or not.

I'm still greatly enjoying your journey!

Debbi said...

Those dust funnels you saw in Colorado sound like dust devils to me. They're pretty common in the SW and usually harmless, but cool to watch.

Great photos and video. So glad you found the dog's owner. And going the extra mile to find her--that was true generosity.

Sara said...

All of this is just great!

SF Kid said...

You provide great reading. Thanks.

This is nothing to do w/ your journey, but it said "Simplicity" so I thought it appropriate.


SIMPLICITY AT IT'S BEST


This is from an article in the St. Petersburg Times
Newspaper on Sunday.

The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix
the Economy?"



Dear Mr. President,

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America 's economy.

Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the
money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following
plan. You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. - Pay
them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the
following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered - Auto
Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing
Crisis fixed.

It can't get any easier than that!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in
Congress and their constituents pay their
taxes...

Susanne said...

You sure know how to keep your female readers interested! Lovely furry dogs, I'm sure you'll soon come up with some cute babystories! :))))

Grtz,



Susanne

Jack said...

@Christie,

Thanks for the tip, though I think I heard it once as a stand-alone program on my iphone NPR ap. It was very interesting. I hope Oklahoma is escaping some of these crazy storms lately.

@Debbi,

That's exactly what they were. Not being a local, they did make me do a doubletake.

@Sara,

Thanks. Glad to hear you like it.

Jack said...

@SF Kid,

That actually put a smile on my face. Creative to say the least.

@Susanne,

Just doing my job mam' :)

Anonymous said...

Aside from the many other things you've accomplished for yourself in your adventure in voluntary simplicity, you've now reunited people with their lost dog. In doing so, you saved the dog from living on the streets and saved a family from dealing with the pain of a lost canine companion. If that family has kids, you are their unknown hero. The stranger who searched their town and came to their door to give them back their dog. This is how lives are changed, Jack. This is how worlds are changed. Well done.

Josh

Jack said...

Josh,

Thanks for your kind words. I just think it's amazing how spending just a little time and energy can change so much.