Oh, Give me a home... where the buffalo roam...

From Fort Collins, I headed up to the Black Hills. Eastern Wyoming was flat, boring, and hot - it ranged from low 90's up to right at 100. Later, heading for the Badlands, it would be worse, over 103 (short peak of 110).

A bimmer joined me for a romp part of the way - I'll spare telling you what two BMWs did over the Wyoming prarie.

I took I-25 up to Hwy-20 to Hwy-18 through Lusk and Hot Springs. I came up through the south end of Custer State Park.

Finally, what I came for:



Some prarie dogs have been shown to carry bubonic plague (!).




Getting ready to head into the hills:



The smell of the Black Hills - the forest - is distinctive and pleasant (no - not because of the buffalo chips). I remember this from childhood. It runs from Custer State Park all up to Mount Rushmore. Smell - what a powerful memory. I haven't been back here in 40 years, but I so distinctly remember the smell of the forest in the hills. Awesome.




I wish I would have taken the road up to the fire lookout. I remember climbing up on this one with my father.



Critters everywhere.:



This doesn't look too bad. One biker meandered through the herd, and they parted when he got really close. A little later I would try the same. See that curve at the top of this hill? They were all over the road for another 1/4 mile after the curve!





This is across the road from me. As I moved into the herd, they would get close enough that I could smell them - it was frightening. But they parted. A camper-van followed me. At the top of the hill, at the curve, there was a mom with a calf, and two obviously protective males at their back. They wound up running down the road. The bulls kept glancing back at me. They don't look at you - they look RIGHT IN YOUR EYES! How do I get them to go off to the side, so I can just pass? Finally, I risked getting a little close to the right of one of the bulls, and that moved them all off to the left.

A little further up, I would see a mom - accross both lanes - with a hungry calf nursing, and two more bulls standing guard - between me and mom.

I stopped. Eat away, little one - I can wait. I looked at the herd behind me; ahead of me. My motor was heating up. I didn't want to spook them with a horn (not safe, I thought). I turned off my motor. The camper-van got impatient. I waved them on, but not much room w/ buffalo all around to maneuver. They made it by me, and I followed closely - mimicking the spacing I saw of the calves.

We got through that way.

This sort of looks like not much on the pictures, but you need to get a sense of how big (and far away in these pictures) these guys are. For example, take a look at this video I found online - it rings true to my memory:

http://youtu.be/-ThpSB21hQk

Buffalo head-butt attack on motorcycle:

http://youtu.be/6oUqd9M4JFg?t=52s

Phew!

Later, a pheasant would run in the road in front of me - memories of my hitting a wild turkey. I saw a vacancy sign at the state park lodge. Staff there would tell me they'd heard of buffalo throwing bikes - they were so powerful. I said "bicycles?" "No - motorcycles - clear up in the air."

See this report of Buffalo vs. biker - motorcycle thrown 15 to 20 feet in the air; this is serious stuff.

I thought of an 850 lb K1200LT landing on me, and people watching helpless.

/* that rapid city news article no longer online... */

*sigh*


A resort along the way, just before I stopped at the Park Lodge.

Parting (Fort Collins) - Sweet Sorrow

Stew's daughter is in high school, and makes jewelry and enjoys designing dresses (I have some of her jewelry). We went out to a scrumptious breakfast, and then some of us went off to school, while others to find a buffalo herd.




Even when "gas is expensive" in Fort Collins, it's still a wave cheaper than we see in the Chicago area:

Fort Collins - Home of FAT TIRE!

Artistic Stainless (if it doesn't look artsy to you, it's probably because you need another beer about now):




My favorite brewery / beer - no kidding - had a tasting room open Tuesday through Saturday, 10AM - 6PM.

Tuesday, I had to watch the time - at least at the end. I pulled up to Stew's house at 5:46, and yelled "LET'S GO - THEY CLOSE IN 10 MINUTES!"

Fortunately, they only closed their DOORS at 6. We had some new beers, took home a growler, and I bought some souveniers. Took a few free coaster / postcards too.

Man - I LOVE this beer! And the folks there were really nice. Stew says the founders are neighbors of his, live a few blocks down.

Ah, american entrepreneurship as it was intended to be!






Ah, some corporate mumbo-jumbo is so predictable (and probably created by bean counters) as to make you...... ugh! ...... want another beer!


If only I'd known this is what CHEM LAB is really like, I probably would have done better in chemistry in school!



Trade secrets? Nah - just have another:

Stew's Neighbor Hoods

Jill and Lisa (Stew's neighbors) had some trouble with bikers of their own. This was actually Monday night (a little chronologically out of order), but I wanted to get the pictures up sooner for everyone...

Biker chic (in training? ;-):



Bashful about getting on the motorcycle at the end of the day too, but good safety consciousness for such a young chap. Get a helmet on this guy, and he's ready to take the neighborhood for a ride!




A motorcycle built for FOUR !?! Well, maybe if you could touch the ground this might work better ;-) Time for a model redesign!

Day trip through the High Country

After a scenic ride from Evergreen, I'm in front of Stew's:



Stew talking with a neighbor - her young son expresses admiration for "the motorcycle", but - at least this day - is too bashful to get lifted up for a sit.



In the evening, we walk thru the park - they were having an end-of-summer dog day at the pool:




Along the lake in the park, a young fisherman shows off his catch:



Afterwards, we bicycled into Fort Collins. Stew gave me a tour of Colorado State, and we head off to a pretty good Brew Pub for dinner. This causes Stew to mention the Fat Tire brewery tour - and I must visit - this is probably my favorite beer / brewery.

Tuesday, I head out for a ride - Hwy 14 west out of Fort Collins, the unpaved Gould / Rand cutoff, down Hwy 125 to Granby, and then Hwy 34 through Rocky Mountain National Park towards Estes.

I enjoy the ride more than stopping for pictures (mostly), but here's what I did take.






A couple of really nice lady Rangers ("We're pretty wild" they claimed ;-) suggested the Rand cutoff (unpaved) was better maintained than "some of our state highways" - so I went for it. Stew mentined that I could take it 1/4 mile to check it out, and turn around if I didn't care for it. It is well graded hard-pack earth, and this wide pretty much all the way:





Right off the cutoff (downwind of Rand) there was a tiny little post office, so I mailed some cards from there. Then, down to Granby for a little late lunch - homemade chili and a small salad. The chili was _really_ good.



Around 3PM, I started into RMNP - I was worried about going over the pass after 4PM - didn't want the sun to get low in the mountains, as it could snow.

The rains must have created quite a runoff, as some stretches of the road (which they were working on all over) had maybe 1/4 of the inner (mountainside) lane washed away - just tattered, ragged asphalt. Not a problem for my bike, but made for a bumpy ride for some.



There were stands of dying / dead evergreens everywhere, apparently not from drought but from a beetle infestation.




At the top of RMNP in mid August - snow, sometimes drifting overnight (!). The day's sun would melt most of it.





Note: 3:30 PM, a full day of sunshine. It was maybe 58 degrees up here, but note there is still snow by the roadside:




On the way down towards Estes Park, some little critters are just too tame. Some kids were taking a picture of this guy, so I pointed my camera too:






Everywhere, bikers - most friendly, willing to share a story. This comraderie of bikers accross ages and geography is a big part of what makes a cross-country trip on motorcycle really a joyful experience.





Well - I soaked in too much road and scenery. I needed to hurry back because there are more wonderful roads to traverse.