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.
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