Fort Collins thru Estes Park

Stew suggested a nice route from Sherod's - up back highways from Evergreen through Estes Park (Hwy's 119 -> 72 -> 7), then finally down to Fort Collins (Hwy 34 to Loveland). I took a "wrong" turn on 7 near Raymond, so I got a picture of this reservoir:



The concrete on this dam looks aged.









A lone tree:



I didn't need to work too hard to point my auto-timer from the luggage rack on my LT:






Starting down towards Estes Park Valley, there was this stunning church in the mountains (look at it's foundation):




I think this was Echo Lake, and (from the same parking lot) a look down into the valley of Estes Park:




I wanted to plan a day ride from Stew's, so I stopped into Rocky Mountain National Park Info Center. It had been raining heavily the weekend preceding, and you can see the snow peaked mountains. A ranger the road was open, but can drift over night. He suggested coming late morning to avoid possible icing - once the sun comes from above, this is no longer a problem.

He also suggested an unpaved road for next day's trek. At first I balked, but after checking with Stew and rangers close to the cutoff, I took it (see later posts).

This is along Hwy 34 heading towards Loveland:

Downtown Denver

In all the trips I've made to Colorado, I've never wandered downtown.
Sherod, Phyllis and I started the afternoon with a walk around a lake in Evergreen, and then down into the Valley.

I had a head-banger of a headache (because the sun was finally out?); some spicy food cured it.

Here's what I look like in the Mile High City with a head banger:



Here's what Sherod looks like worried I might puke in his car (hehehe):




We visited the Colorado History Museum, and barely saw enough of it - it was fascinating, great exhibits.

We had dinner at Rioja on Joan's recommendation - it was enjoyed by all. Stew drove down to meet us. After dinner, gelato and a walk around Denver downtown. There were leased bicycle lockers at Union Station - not nearly enough to make a green dent.






We ended the evening with a hot drink.

Argo Gold Mine

We wandered down to Idaho Springs, and visited the Argo Gold Mine for a tour. It had ceased operations in 1943.

Closed Roads & Snow Capped Mountains

Saturday, Sherod and I had some fun.


Here it's the middle of August and the peaks are snow covered. It has been raining for 2 days, and the temperatures even down in the valley were down around 48. The high in Denver for Friday was a record low!


We took a ride down some back roads, and when a sign said "ROAD CLOSED" we went for it :-)


It was a little rough in a few places, muddy in others (no pictures of that!).... but at least it wasn't washed out. It was fun!


The rain was making suttle colors on evergreens seem dramatic.

Weekend with Sherod & Phyllis

Saturday morning, after getting my Tourmaster rain Jacket, I headed up to Evergreen. Evergreen was under cloud cover, but rain had mostly stopped by the time I got there.

Sherod and Phyllis have a very nice place, and were wonderful hosts. I so enjoy visiting with them. Sherod showed off his water filtration system.

Golden

Wednesday afternoon I checked into my destination in Golden, CO.

Wednesday Night, I popped in to visit with Jeff Krasnesky. We had a quick dinner down in Highlands Ranch, then headed out for Roxborough State Park.

After the I-Skills Zone Seminar Thursday & Friday in Golden, Jeff, Lynn and I went out for some sea food. It was raining Friday night, and raining really hard Saturday morning (at least down in Highlands Ranch). Jeff made a huge breakfast, and I looked for cycle shops to pick up a rain jacket. The Frogg Toggs jacket that Chicago Cycle sold me (steering me away from a tourmaster set) didn't hold up but for one day. The first time I tried to use it, the zipper didn't hold on initial zip - but I was careful in rezipping, and buttoned all the snaps. It blew up like a balloon during the ride, but at least seemed to keep me mostly dry (it was a bit short - so it would drain onto my crotch - ugh!). It wasn't even a motorcycle set from Frogg Toggs; why Chi Cycle even stocked this I don't know - cheap is what cheap gets. In Golden, it wouldn't hold NO WAY for even a walk for lunch. It was useless for a ride (and useless as well for a walk). I found a Tourmaster jacket the correct size at Fay Myers Motorcycle World‎ a few miles from Jeff, but no one had the right size pants.

Next time I'll trust my instincts - I could have gotten all the right stuff at Chi. Cycle in the beginning.

Saturday morning I put in a wind-break liner. It kept me dry (it seems), but the jacket got wet in the rain. It was 48 degrees, and on the highway that water soaked jacket felt really cold in the wind - dry or not, it was not comfortable. Soon as I put on the Tourmaster, all was better. From there the ride up to Sherod & Phyllis's up in Evergreen was comfortable (rain and weather notwithstanding).

Live and learn.

The Holiday Inn in Grand Island, Nebraska offered to watch my B'immer - I parked right by the front door. Yes, it takes a luggage mule to carry all the stuff I packed.

I'd heard rumors in the lounge the night before that Hwy 6 and Hwy 34 were rough, not well maintained. In the morning, I met a railroad worker from Lake Geneva, WI area who confirmed. Since there was chance of thunderstorms, and he reported I see lots of semi-ruts and potholes, I decided to go the I-80 route from here on to the Denver area.

Classic Signs

Ok - not a problem. (sheesh!)

First Day Out

Motoworks did a last minute fix for me - my glove box lock was binding, so we fixed it. (Naked bimmer!)

First day I left late in the afternoon: I suggest not starting to change your oil at 3AM. I did, and forgot to take the plug out of my oil catch pan - so I wound up with oil all over the floor.

In any case, I made it to Iowa and saw a friend's childhood home.

So - how much are you paying for premium?  3.779?  That's what it was at this stop.

Colorado 2008

I'm off to Colorado - to participate in ICP's I-Skills Zone instructor training. I haven't seen Sherod & Phyllis in some years, so it will be nice to spend some time with them - talking, hiking, relaxing. I'll also visit with Jeff (who moved to the Denver area a few years back) and Stew (who I worked with almost 12 years ago now). I thought about going out to Denver to do day trips in the mountains (and I will do some of that) - but realized I can't remember when I didn't take an interstate out west.

So I've got the cure here - my route goes down Rt 30 through Iowa (Joan's suggestion - thru Ames), and down allong the rolling backroads along the Kansas / Nebraska boarder (Stew's suggestion).

I haven't been to Mount Rushmore and the Badlands since I was a kid, and so I decided to do that on the way back - avoid (hopefully) most of the Sturgis congestion, and really take the back roads there too.

So (finally), here we go! The vacation _is_ a ride! About 2400 miles all told.

Hopefully, there will be public access computers along the way where I can post pictures.

Door County

Went up to Ellison Bay to relax for a few days.

Visited w/ Joan, had some nice motorcycle rides up the northern end of the peninsula - and pleasant dinners & sunsets (what was the name of that restaurant at Gills Rock? We had great fish there!).

We bothered to get off the bike to visit the lighthouse at Cana Island. Thanks for snapping a picture, Joan.

Hiatt at Ravinia

At the John Hiatt concert at Ravinia with Carl & Jody (before the torrential downpour; and after - poor camera!). Great concert, but I didn't have a motorcycle rain suit. Carl did, and he wasn't even on his bike (I was!). I wussed out, and upgraded my ticket to a pavilion one after the rain (soaked and cold as I was). Great concert. I never get tired of John.

Midwest RIdes

Well - there are some good midwest rides.

Carl, Bob, Kim and I had a great Sunday. I personally logged over 470 miles total.
Not much time / interest in picture taking, but after one particularly nice stretch of road we stopped to stretch.

Here's roughly the ride we took.

Carl has some more to say about it, and I think one really lame picture here. ;-)