Eastbound and Up

So we had finished the ride!  And of course, the chaos was not over.  We spent the night of June 9th in LA at Chez Shapiro.  Jen had to be at Hellerstein and Brenner's private optometry practice in Denver by Wednesday the 13th.  We got in the car on the 10th  and started driving.  First stop, Jens' parents house in Jackson.   

 
                             
We made it to Jackson from LA in about 6 hours.  We spent the night packing the car while Zoe was jumping in our suitcases and rolling in our folded laundry.  Jim made us dinner and we went to bed exhausted.
It was pretty easy to get up at a relaxed 5:30 am after waking up consistently at 4:30 am for the previous week.  Our goal was to make it to Salt Lake City, Utah by nightfall.  We took the 88 to the 80 East and drove for a full 10 hours.  The scenery was unremarkable, I guess we took the non-scenic route.

                       

 

                       

 

 Salt Lake City is a strange place.  The whole city is on a big slope and it was designed as a nearly perfect grid.  Apparently this makes it very easy to find where you want to go you just have to decipher coordinates like East 2700 and W 1300 and boom, you are there.  They also have interesting alcohol restrictions and a pervasive anti-gay sentiment in Salt Lake City.  Two unfortunate qualities.
Two friends of Jen put us up, Jeremiah and Annie Ray.  I didn't get pictures of them (they are in the background) but did manage to get a pic or their dog Hank.

I have to quickly mention what happened just before we got to Jeremiah and Annie's house.  So, we made great time to Salt Lake arriving a full hour before we expected.  It was hectic, it was rush hour and we wanted to bring a bottle of wine to our hosts as a "thanks" for taking care of us.  While we were getting gas we spotted the sign for a Whole Foods through a space between two buildings.  We got in the car and drove around a tall business complex in the direction of the Whole Foods.  Seeing the sign for the parking lot up ahead on our right we signaled to turn in.  There was almost no visibility at the entrance to the parking lot.  With cars furiously riding our bumper, two tourists blocking their rush hour rush, we hastily pulled into the lot with a loud CRUNCH, SNAP, TUMBLE, silence.  Shit.

There was a low clearance bar, completely without purpose I might add, at the entrance to the parking lot and our nice road bikes that had taken such great care of us on our 545 mile ride took the brunt of the blow.  So much for making great time.  We pulled into the lot, a bystander came over and handed us one of the snapped off bicycle seats with the seat post, still attached, split cleanly in half.  We got out to assess the damage.

All in all it wasn't as bad as we first thought.  Handle bars check, Thule Box Check, Bike mounts 1 broken, bicycle seats 1 snapped, and the rack was pulled off the car but undamaged.  Luckily Jeremiah was AT Whole Foods and came rushing out to help.  We put our bikes in his car, drove to the nearest REI (at the cross of 3100 and 1500 or something like that) and purchased a new bike mount for $140.  The best part of the whole story, in my opinion, is that at Whole Foods, or any other grocery store in Salt Lake, they do not sell wine or any alcoholic beverage of any kind.  Thanks.

Jeremiah and Annie treated us to a delicious dinner and we went to bed.  The next day we made an uneventful 8 hour drive to Denver.

Arrival

We pulled into the Extended Stay in Aurora, just South East of Denver.  The place was nasty.  There was no one at the front desk when we arrived and the office was dusty and full of dead bugs.  An older homeless looking man with a protruding, exposed pot belly was holding a bundle of laundry, waiting for service, just like me.

We finally saw the room.  Depressing.  There were people smoking outside everywhere, whole families poured out of one room suites and hung out in the parking lot as if they'd lived there for years.  Suspect individuals sat in cars and apparently one of them made some comments towards Jen while I was at the office canceling any obligation we had to stay there.

Jen called a friend and at the last minute we were given the basement apartment of an older couple, Jackie and Randy Rein.  Our connection to the Rein's is pretty distant.  Jen's friend from childhood, Hildy, is married to the Rein's son Josh.  Hildy and Josh have a baby (pic below).  The Rein's were kind and hospitable.  They made us dinner, offered to do our laundry and asked around for places for us to stay.  While Jen made it on time to her first day of rotations I started making calls for a place to live.  60 calls later, nothing.

Jen had some very helpful patients and co-workers however.  One woman offered for us to borrow her car (not sure how that would help our housing situation but thoughtful nonetheless) and another gave Jen an IPhone 4 which I promptly sold on Amazon.  Finally Jen's co-worker was able to recommend a basement apartment in her brother's house in a very popular and well-located part of Denver known as Cherry Creek.  It was too expensive but we took it and now, that is where we are.

                              

         Picture of our apartment

                              

 
 There are bike paths all over Denver

                              

 
        Bike path below city streets

                              

 

Jen has been working and I have been hanging out, writing this and other things and exploring Denver.