We stopped in Boone to each lunch (consisting of sliced salami and cheese) at a little store where they also sold hardware and auto parts. The clerk was very friendly and pretty soon we had heard her life story. As we were leaving I met a guy outside who looked like he played guitar with ZZ Top. After I explained what we were doing, he told me a that girl rode through town last summer on a similar cross-country trip - only she was riding a unicycle while wearing a backpack! Proof positive that there are people out there dumber than us.
We are spending the night in Ordway, on the eastern plains of Colorado. This is cattle and ranch country where people wearing cowboy hats don't look phony. There is a large feed lot just east of here (which we'll ride by in the morning) and when the wind is out of the east the smell is pretty potent. But the people are extremely nice and even the tavern crowd have genuinely wished us a good trip.
Tomorrow will be another long day - 60+ miles to Eads and virtually no civilization between here and there.
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