Bowling By Bike: Driving 'Cross Country

After a wildly successful summer spent living and riding in the breathtaking Colorado Rocky Mountains, I recently made my pilgrimage back to Ontario, Canada. There, I reunited with many dear friends, attended a county fair with my young nephews, competed in a bike race, took in an all night public art extravaganza, received a couple of vaccinations and made a very large purchase.

Being of no fixed address for the past few years, I've spent a goodly amount of money on housing and transportation. In order to reduce my expenses and facilitate travel, I purchased a 2006 Dodge Sprinter van with a 2.7litre, 5 cylinder diesel engine. It's tall enough I can stand up inside of it and has enough space that once outfitted, I'll be able to live out of it with a few of my bicycles.

After an early morning road ride with Kt Wednesday, I began the 1815mile/2912km drive from Bloomfield, Ontario to Salida, Colorado. Passing through Toronto and lunching with a dear friend, I crossed the Canadian/US border at Windsor/Detroit. While friendly enough, the border guard asked me lots of questions about my destination, the van, why I'm going to Peru etc. After passing this mini-interrogation, I drove about ten feet where I was stopped by two more border guards. While the surly looking one stood at my window and ordered that I turn off the engine, the friendly one climbed into the van, rummaged through a few of my bags and asked why I had so much gear with me. Eventually he was satisfied I was neither a terrorist nor a smuggler and let me on my merry way. A short while later in west Detroit I found a Walmart parking lot where I stayed the night, sleeping in my van for the first time.

Day two was a thirteen hour slog that started at about 6am on the I-94 interstate highway. Leaving the state of Michigan, I passed briefly through north-western Indiana then on to Illinois, skirting Chicago to the south. For the next several uneventful hours, I drove across the rolling hills of Iowa farmland along the I-80. The weather was sunny and warm and the van was driving very well. Shortly after 6pm and about 30miles from Omaha, Nebraska, however, I suddenly and unexpectedly began to decelerate. While I could push the gas and return to my previous speed, the cruise control seemed to have stopped functioning.

Just as this happened, I noticed a sign advertising the Shelby Country Inn & RV Park at the next exit. Fortune was telling me to stop for the night and so, I listened. The RV park was more of a parking lot with spaces cut in the grass where one could park next to a picnic table. Since I didn't need water or electricity hook-ups, the manager Kim was happy to let me stay the night for free. Sweet! After a hot shower, I walked across the road to enjoy a pizza dinner at the Corn Crib Restaurant, which doubles as a BP gas station.

A little concerned about the cruise control issue, I sent a message to veteran Sprinter owner, Reilly, who assured me that in all likelihood, the cruise would resume working once I restarted the van. And he was right. Friday morning at 6:09 I pulled back onto the I-80 and was pleased to find the cruise once again functioning as it should.

Soon enough I entered the state of Nebraska, passing through Omaha as the morning traffic began to swell. Beyond Omaha the wind picked up and would remain a very strong cross-wind all day, forcing me to fight to stay in my lane. Eventually, I reached the Colorado border and turned onto I-76. Within a few hours, I was circumnavigating Denver along the north and west. Being about 3:30pm, the rush-hour traffic was heavy but moving well.

At 4pm I hit route 285, the road that would take me through Fairplay [also known by its famous TV identity, South Park] then on to Chaffee County. At 6pm I arrived in Salida, tired and hungry but happy to be back in this lovely mountain town. After a bite to eat at The Fritz, I was soon fast asleep, exhausted from three days driving across country but ever so happy to be back home.