The Royal Gorge

Have you ever been to the world's highest suspension bridge? Well I have. I am now a member of an elite group of people who have walked across the Royal Gorge on the world's highest suspension bridge. I must say that I feel like I am a better person now. The grass seems somehow greener, water tastes sweeter, and I have a bit of a spring to my step. Ok, I am being sarcastic, but I did walk across the Royal Gorge Bridge today, and it is the world's highest suspension bridge. The bridge spans across the gorge a staggering 1,053 feet above the Arkansas River. I must say that when I was looking at the brochure I didn't think that 1,053 feet off of the ground was that impressive, but when I was standing on the bridge looking straight down at a nearly quarter mile gap between myself and the ground, I was taken aback. To add to the vertigo one feels at such dizzying heights, the wind whips through the canyon and they let cars drive across the bridge, which already has people walking as well as my dumb ass riding my bicycle on it. At times it was a bit unnerving having the bridge swaying to and fro, but I figured that the bridge has been there for 80 years so it will most likely be here for another hour while I am on it.

While a couple of the riders and I sat having ice cream overlooking the gorge, Hans, a Swiss college professor, asked in his literal, Swiss way,"what is the purpose of this bridge? It is only a couple of miles either way to get around the gorge so there is no direct need for the bridge." I looked at Bob, who is from Seattle and fully understands the American way of "If it means we are gonna break a record than build that shit" and we both gave Hans the "why wouldn't you build the highest suspension bridge in the world?" reply. He did not understand and to be honest, neither do I, but it is there and we all paid $12 to see it, so I guess it serves an economical purpose if nothing else.My gripe for the day is Bighorn Sheep Canyon. I love wildlife in their natural environment as I think I have mentioned before I have been vigilantly trying to spy anything I can. Well, today we rode through Bighorn Sheep Canyon so me, being the naive city boy that I am, thought that this would be a perfect chance to see some bighorn sheep. I rode 25 miles through this misnomered canyon spending absolutely no time looking at the road ahead while I scanned each and every square inch for a bighorn sheep. I saw exactly zero. Goose egg, bagel, zip, zilch, nada one freaking bighorn sheep. I am currently drafting a letter to the Governor of Colorado for falsely naming "Bighorn Sheep" Canyon. My suggestion for the new name is "Don't Get Your Hopes Up Because You Probably Won't See Any Wild Animals in This Canyon So Just Keep On Keepin On" canyon. We'll see how that pans out.