Tim is done

It's true. My homey Tim is quitting the trip here in Salida at around mile 950. It just became too much like work for him -- even though he was loving the country out here, he wasn't loving spending 8 or more hours a day on the bike. I'll miss him.

I thought about cutting off the route myself and heading back to Wisconsin instead on the road, but I don't think riding solo will be such a big deal after all. CO has a lot more people, and either way I was going to have to do some less than pleasant riding (on the Divide, Wyoming, and on the road, Nebraska and western Iowa).

Plus, the one great thing about this route is that there's no traffic. I rode about 10 miles on the highway yesterday and that was enough for me. The bottom line is that this route is just too good to jump off of. So I'm going to stick with the original plan and finish the route.