As we had been warned, it was a long ride across Kansas and Colorado to Colorado Springs, we wouldn't call it boring and uninteresting, you just need to open your eyes more when you are in open expanses of countryside and you will see the beauty that is out there. We stayed just out of Colorado Springs in Manitou Springs, an area that had suffered sever flooding a week earlier. From here it is a relatively short drive to the top of Pikes Peak, one of the USA's highest mountains at 4300 metres! We had never been so high and both felt the effect of the thinner air, we don't know how people operate properly at these altitudes and higher. On this day they had their annual foot race up the north face, while we watched the competitors come over the finish line they were calling out their names and age on the PA system, one lady was 70 and a man 75, now that is fit!! From Pikes Peak we headed north to the stunning Rocky Mountains National Park, here the scenery was breath taking, we spent a couple of days here riding the different routes and doing a couple of the smaller walks. Unfortunately in recent years a lot of the Pine trees in the park have been killed by a beetle that gets under the bark and eats away at the new growth. It is kind of a naturally occurring event, but scientist think it may be linked to warmer than average winters and climate change.
Then it was down to Denver. For quite some time now Julie's dad had been unwell and in hospital undergoing some major operations, we had been keeping in contact with our family to keep up to date with his progress, which at times had looked good, but while in the Rockies we got news that he wasn't expected to recover from his ordeals and a decision was made for Julie to fly home from Denver while I would ride back to St Louis to leave the bike there with a friend, I would then also return to Australia.
So for 2013 it looks as if our travels are over, there will be no point in returning to the USA this year because the weather will be against us to get up to Alaska. How ever, we will return in 2014 to continue our adventure, and as usual we won't know where our adventure will take us until we start again. Once back in Australia I will post some photos of the US.