June 11, 2019
Colorado, home of the Rocky Mountains, and our lowest elevation change yet! This was also the last full state we would unicycle on this family vacation, getting the American southwest taken care of.
We wanted to camp near the Great Sand Dunes. National Park & Preserve Colorado. They are the tallest sand dunes in North America. Its hard to state just how vast the sand is. Our plan was simple. We were camped at Sand Dunes Swimming Pool and RV Park. Danelle was going to drive us out on the highway and we would ride back to our campsite. Unfortunately, we learned that one of the roads we were going to ride was gravel. We had enough gravel back in California with Mustard Cannon and decided it was best to re-route.This put us out on Colorado highway 17. It isn’t a huge highway, but it is a 65 mph speed limit and the largest highway around. Add that to the fact that sunset was upon us and Danelle wasn’t excited about our plan.
Fortunately for us, I had a flashing red light in my bag that helped identify us to oncoming traffic. With the light, Danelle reluctantly left us to start our ride. Being out on the larger highway had a benefit, we were near a UFO watchtower. We of course rode over and met Lucas Fox. He got photos and video of us riding on the highway and coming into the watchtower. If you’re into the UFO stuff, its cool, otherwise it all seems silly. I think our 7 feet of elevation change on this ride came strictly from climbing up the tower. Boy was it flat out here!
Even UFOs ride unicycles!
Corvin also comes in peace.
Talking with Lucas on top of the watchtower. We even got him to try the unicycle up there.
An epic sunset shared between father and son!
Corvin’s journal entry
Our Strava entry.
Our map of completed states.
Stats:
Total Trip Miles: 34.6
Total Moving Time: 7h 26m 36s
Total Elevation Change: 1,055 feet
Total Hogan UPD: 7
Total Corvin UPD: 2
Hogan Haake