A Gimp Goes Forth
Read MoreThis tick. My backpack was just outside my tent before being loaded up onto the bike. Usually I let all kinds of creepy crawlies live, but for blood suckers get my best to kill it, but this was one tough bug.
I'm grateful it didn't find a way into the tent nor a way to jump off the bag onto my clothes.Work called. There was a very important issue and they would need my availability in another few days. So I blitzed over to Moab, Utah where I knew I could easily camp and work. Unfortunately, on the way come I found out the need for my time was a bit exaggerated, so I went into Colorado, hoping to ride through Wyoming and Idaho on the way back.
This was a great stealth camp at a campground closed for the season.Before heading to South Dakota, I had booked a flight out of Denver to spend Halloween with my girlfriend at the time. I had assumed my trip there would only need a day, but a snafu with a 10 year old license put me in a hard spot.
The license couldn't be fixed for a few days, but that was over a weekend. My flight left on Monday evening. There wasn't a way to fit it in, so I was forced to go from Rapid City, to Denver, then back to Rapid City.
Sigh...License all sorted, I head back, but only to be troubled by another issue. A hurricane called Nuri in Alaska was pushing unseasonably cold air from Canada all the way down the Rocky Mountains.
In South Dakota, I had to take a gamble between taking the plains side or the Utah side. One, or both might trap me in with snow and ice.
I decided the Utah side, through Wyoming. Every day the below freezing temperature nipped at my heels.