To open this blog post, I will borrow one of my favorite expressions oft used by our president,

MY FELLOW AMERICANS…

I’ve received news from Xenia our warrior princess (code name: Garrett) and things are vastly improving along their trans-Colorado challenge! Let’s cut straight to the chase.

Departure date: Wednesday September 17, 2008 (six days ago yesterday, which is when we spoke)
Miles completed: roughly 310
Miles remaining: roughly 290
Current location: Some town in Colorado, of which I forget the name. 
Amazingly picturesque views: This is a tough question to answer because according to our fellow American Garrett basically everywhere he looks throughout this trip is amazingly picturesque. So is the answer infinity? No. You see, I think this comes down to simple mathematics: say the eye moves X times per day during one’s waking hours. So the maximum number of amazingly picturesque views is simply X. Hooray Algebra!
Mishaps: Everything that went poorly before has been reversed.
-they’ve dried their sleeping bags from the relentless rain
-the replaced their faulty stove
-Garrett is overcoming his cold

-I did however learn that Frank’s rack somehow stopped working properly, but with some MacGyver-like resourcefulness, they’ve alieviated the problem. Same with his derailleur and Garrett’s brakes, which were both working poorly.
-I also learned that they’re finding it hard to climb consistently at 12,000′ with heavy bikes. But they’re loving it all the same. 

Wheelies: dammit, I forgot to ask him. So the answer is unknown but I’d still put my money on none.

And to end on a positive note here is a picture of MacGyver. And the Red Sox earned a spot in the playoffs last night. The Yankees did not. Ha.