The Soul of a Town

There are many small towns scattered across Colorado -- some houses so remote I'm not sure where the nearest town is. The first town we stayed in, population 1,000, was almost tripled when we showed up. Some towns are rebuilding, some are just hanging in there, some have become booming tourist towns. But everywhere we went it was the same.

There is a different feel to the towns we stayed in, the towns we rode past.

Our presence wasn't easy in any town. We clogged the restaurants, tied up the streets, interupted their routinue, left behind 34+ tons of trash (but 60 or so were recycled!), smelly portajohns, and of course some money spent eating, shopping etc.

But everywhere we went we were welcomed. They waited on the side of the road with their young children, clanging bells and waving -- for hours! (It takes awhile for 2500 people to pass!). There were signs up on fences, lemonade stands. Without fail as we came into each town there were "locals" sitting alongside the road cheering us on, welcoming us to town.

The soul of a town is it's people.

The communities made each town special. By and large the folks seemed excited to see us, interested in why on earth we'd do this, and -- well -- just happy. The home cooked meals at the community dinners, all the work they put in to throw us a party each night -- it was so special. Each town had various fundraisers they were working on, collecting tips, outright charging and etc. From the bike security to internet access and etc.

The Denver Post Charities selects a winner from each town and presents a $5,000 check. As you can imagine for some of these groups that meant they could survive another year. There were really some great programs and I'm glad we were helping to contribute to each community.

We passed an older man -- walked to the end of his drive to watch us go by. Seemed it was a struggle just to get there -- looked a bit stern and maybe not one of those so happy to see us taking up their roads. As I went by I said hello and waved. He registered -- flashed a huge smile and gave me a big THUMBS UP. Gotta tell you -- instant shivers! What a rush.

But my favorite story -- we had passed some lemonade stands and kept saying we really needed to stop at one. So coming in to town one afternoon I spot 2 little girls jumping up and down and screaming to "advertise" their stand. Had to stop!

They were ADORABLE! They were taking donations. They poured Jim and I a cup and brought it out to our bikes. And then started screaming and yelling for the next bunch of cyclists. They offered free refills and really didn't care if anyone paid them (but everyone was quite generous!).

We helped them make a few "sales" then I started chatting with their Mom. They had come up with the idea on their own, picked Limeade because they thought it would be better for us, and even cut and squeezed all the limes and etc. themselves. They'd been out on the street since 11:00 am (screaming and yelling I'm sure the whole time) and this was 1:30 ish and there were TONS of folks yet behind us. But they were still energetic and having a blast.

That was the spirit we rode through all week. Some of the towns were small, some were struggling -- but the soul of each town was never more evident than that Limeade stand.