July 17- Ordway to Eads, Colo.

The day's terrain was flat with probably a 50% cloud cover to keep it from being too hot, so you'd expect it was a chance to get some serious miles. But we were blessed with a crosswind of 10-15 mph in the morning which kept us on our toes, and 20-25 mph in the afternoon, which made every mile an achievement. Sometimes it was hard to keep moving forward at all.

The area is marginal for grazing and farming. The last year has been the driest single year ever, and as a result the ranchers have mostly sold their breeding cows. The winter wheat planted last fall was mostly a failure; we spoke with one farmer/rancher who said he is harvesting wheat now and getting about 5 bushels per acre vs an expected 30. The railroad we've been riding beside since Pueblo is almost abandoned. They send one train per year to a couple of the towns with grain elevators, but last year there was no need for a train. Interestingly, the old telegraph line along the railroad is disused, with some of the crosstrees askew and wires mostly hanging down on the ground. It's a wonder no one has stolen the wire for the copper. Anyway, what the dry fields mean to us is that the wind picks up clouds of dust and puts it all on us. Dust plus sunblock makes a combination somewhat like stucco. At the end of the day we had a job washing ourselves, never mind our jerseys, shorts and socks.

We met several riders heading westward during the day including a pair of young twin brothers, a solo man from Ireland, and two couples, including one from Portugal on their honeymoon trip from Boston to- get this- Ushuaia at the tip of South America. Sure puts us in our place. I told him any woman who would go along with such a venture was a keeper; he replied that it was her idea. We'll try to keep in touch with them. They expect to take a couple of years on their trip. We also caught up with our friend Dave at Eads, before he hit the road again for another 30 miles. I doubt we'll see him again.

We were pretty thoroughly beaten up after 63 miles, and we aren't anxious to repeat tomorrow; if the wind keeps up we'll cut back on our mileage.

So ends our sixth week of the trip, having logged 2004 miles and 87056' of climbing. Our mileage for the next week may be below average. The amount of climbing will be below average- that's for sure.