Making dreams come true...
Day 178
9-1-2006
Started: Near Lamar, CO
Finished: Outside Lamar, CO
Today's Miles: 21.0
Total Miles: 2448.0
We wish we could say that the only thing to disrupt our sleep last night was the sound of the horn from the nearby train tracks, but the combination of the wind, hail and rain that hammered our tent, made for pretty poor sleeping conditions. However, our new friends at the Ray's residence were more than gracious hosts. Unfortunately, last nights festivities were cut short when the large bolts of lightening that illuminated the skies set in above us and raised havoc most of the night bringing loud roars of thunder, downpours of rain and even stints of what sounded like golf ball size bouts of hail. When the boys left early this morning in route for a day full of dove hunting, we decided to get an early start as well because we had some pretty big plans ourselves. Dad Wiest and Lynn left New Jersey two days ago and have been making their way west to come visit with us for a few days. We spoke with them yesterday and they were in Kansas City, Kansas and are hoping to meet up with us sometime later this evening. So, after packing up a dripping wet tent and a couple of hours of hiking we made it into Lamar, CO just in time to enjoy a couple of hot breakfast croissants and a cup of joe. Lamar was established May 24, 1886 and is the county seat of Prowers County with agriculture as its main industry. The city was named after Lucius Quintius Lamar, Secretary of the Interior under Grover Cleveland. We took advantage of a nice long break and caught up on some journal writing as we watched the remainder of the clouds from the front that came through last night continue to push off to the east, unveiling the sun's bright rays. Our first attempts were unsuccessful in making contact with Dad Wiest and Lynn so we continued our pursuit west as we continually peeked over our shoulders looking for the " Blue Bullet". However, since Dad Wiest and Lynn visited with us last, they actually have upgraded to another RV, still known as the " Bullet", and we have no idea what it looks like, so we were in search of New Jersey tags on every RV that passed us by. We walked by yet another Cattle Feed Yard today, taking in the wonderful aroma as we tried to get upwind from it as quickly as possible. Sheri is enjoying the millions of sunflowers that seem to line the roads here in Eastern Colorado and we are admiring the small rolling hills that have made their way under our feet again. We decided to take a break while the sun was still hot so we could lay our wet tent out to dry and were finally able to catch up with Dad Wiest and Lynn. To our great surprise, they were less than thirty miles away. They still would not reveal what the new "Bullet" looked like, so we continued our search for New Jersey license plates. About thirty minutes had passed and finally our eyes could see the words we were searching for all day. As we turned our heads to look behind us we saw the "bullet" coming up and over a hill then descending it's way down toward us, while Dad Wiest and Lynn beeped the horn and waved excitedly. We shared warmed hugs and hellos and instantly noticed their matching T-shirts that read, "Treckusa.com". When they turned around the back of their shirts had a graphic of two backpackers reading a map, standing next to a tent that read, "I met Randy and Sheri on their journey walking from Delaware to California, Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Ocean." How cool is that! We quickly packed up our gear and jumped in the "Bullet", admiring its spacious and beautiful décor. We actually felt bad being dirty hikers now as we took off our smelly shoes and plopped our sweaty bodies down on the "bullet's" new furniture. Of course Dad Wiest and Lynn told us to make ourselves at home, and that was certainly easy to do with such plush accommodations. We have reservations at a KOA in LaJunta, CO, about forty five more miles west, so we are headed there for the night. We are excited to have Dad Wiest and Lynn with us for a week and are certainly looking forward to enjoying some of Lynn's homestyle cooking! Tonight we will enjoy the comforts of a nice bed under a dry roof while we enjoy catching up with Dad Wiest and Lynn. When we left from the east coast we began putting miles between us and our families, we did not however put any "distance" between us and our families whatsoever. We cherish our families now more then ever and appreciate the support that they have all shown to us while on this journey. It seems that no matter how far away we get our hearts and minds bring our loved ones closer and closer. Our advice to everyone is to embrace your families, we know first hand that the support of your family makes goals possible and can make dreams come true.
Your Friends on the ADT,
Randy and Sheri
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