Day 35-36 The only easy day was yesterday

Day 35 Journal

Today is the day I was to ride into Colorado, with no apprehension on fear, I rode on into the state I was never supposed to leave. I stopped for a workout in Fort Collins and Dropped a 50lb weight on my foot. It hurt, bad. I am still not sure if the foot his broken… but alas, I continued on.

In Denver my bike wouldn’t start again, but I managed to fix it (sort of) I realized I needed a new air filter. So I made an appointment to have mine serviced at a local place. I got my oil changed while I was there and met up with a friend I met that day.

I got to his place early and we hung out and talked a lot of about psychology and philosophy. I had a really fun time hanging out with him. His girlfriend called a bit later and told him that I had to leave at 5am the next morning (when he left for work) because she was uncomfortable. It was really disappointing, because I had an 11am appointment for my air filter.

When she got home at 9pm, the three of us hung out for a bit and then went to bed. My friend's girlfriend and I stayed up and talked a lot about art, children and the mysteries of life. By the end of the conversation, I was allowed to stay as late as I wanted and invited to stay until the end of the week. I must have made a good impression. In any event, I went to bed on their couch…

The girl I love and I faced timed that night for the first time in a long time… I realized how much I missed her… made my heart ache so bad that I felt compelled to get home as fast as I could.

Day 36 journal:

Still not out of Colorado, I packed up in the morning and left, fully accepting that this could be my last day alive. I road out at 10:30 after I got my air filter serviced and said goodbye to my new friends.

I road through Red Rocks, outside of Denver heading West into the Rocky Mountains, and then South. The mountains were beautiful and I enjoyed my ride until it got cold and started to rain. I rode through 4 rain storms and many summits on my way through. 

Then the moment came, the one I had ridden fearlessly to meet. Coming down through the freezing rain in the mountains, a truck pulled out in front of me. I hit my breaks hard and began to slide... life or death in the balance, I laid down my bike. I slid to a stop short of being crushed and watched from my side as the truck pulled away, leaving me alone on the cold highway. 

I pulled myself from under my overloaded bike and tried to lift it off the highway... I couldn't It was facing downhill and I couldn't manage the strength to pull it out of the middle of the road. I calmed myself quickly and began unloading the entire thing as quickly as I could... fearing that any car or truck coming down the road wouldn't be able to stop in time and I would be dead. 

Angels were watching over me that day as I finished unloading and throwing my gear off the road so I could pull my bike up and move it over. No major damage, no major injuries... I loaded it back up in the rain on the side of the road. Fighting an overwhelming sense that every second beyond that moment is now time I wasn't supposed to have in this life. 

The ride afterwards was incredibly rough and, though amazingly beautiful, I flew through Colorado like a man possessed. I rode well into the night and stopped at Kayenta Arizona… where I was set upon by the Hopi people, begging for money. Feeling very uneasy, I continued on into the night until I got to Tuba city… where I was set upon again! I fed a homeless veteran there, who was clearly crazy… and talked to him a while, feeling nearly insane myself. We talked about life and death, I bought him a meal in the middle of the night just to have someone to connect to. The girl sent me a message asking if I was okay... I played it cool, before continuing in the dead of night.

I rode hard into the night through the cold of Flagstaff, watching an amazing thunder storm off in the distance, until I arrived in Phoenix at 2am, after 800 miles of riding. I found my cousin's house where his daughter left a key for me under the mat and I let myself in.. ate some food and fell asleep.

I didn’t die in Colorado after all…