Day Seven - Denver
The first part of the day brought us to some more beautiful scenery. It is hard to explain just what it feels like to be in the middle of all of this. The only thing that I can come up with is "Everywhere we go is the most beautiful place we've been". I don't know if that makes any sense, but it is wonderful to see our Creator in his creation.
We got up early and left Hot Springs to take route 385 north to Deadwood and Spearfish. This took us through parts of the Black Hills National Forrest. The speed in the park is 45 miles per hour and they have a warning sign below the speed limit that says "LARGE WILDLIFE ON ROAD". There were bison everywhere! We watched them for a while at several locations and took a few pictures. At one point while I was taking pictures of bison, I heard a "chirping". My bike was still running and I became concerned that something was wrong/loose/whatever. I turned it off and still heard the chirping! Looking over I saw about 100 holes and mounds between me and the bison and most had prarie dogs sticking out of them barking at me! I tried to get a picture, but I guess that they are camera shy!
The signs also warned not to approach the bison. Evidently they do not have very accomodating personalities and will take pleasure in stomping you into mush. Where they were a safe distance from the road, or where there was some physical barrier between us and them (hill, guardrail, etc) we turned off the bikes and took pictures. In situations where they looked as if they could pay us a visit rapidly, we kept the bikes running and took pictures while still saddled up. The park was beautiful. After leaving the bison, we continued northward on route 385 to Deadwood. There were almost as many bikes there as we saw in Sturgis. Our goal was to find a UPS store so that we could ship a bunch of stuff home. It was too much of a zoo in Deadwood to even look for somethng, so we continued on to Spearfish. There was a UPS store in Spearfish and we were able to lighten our load considerably.
From the UPS store we took route 14a which winds around Spearfish Canyon. There are 300 to 400 foot high rock outcroppings right next to the road. The route has many twists and turns and is a lot of fun to ride.
About half way through the canyon road, we stopped to have breakfast. It was kind of expensive, but you could not beat the setting.
I had originally scheduled oil change and filter services for all three bikes about a month ago at Thunder Mountain Harley-Davidson in Loveland, Colorado. I tried to call them after breakfast and let them know that Rick's appointment needed to be cancelled. I couldn't get cell phone coverage, so that would have to wait.
We continued on the canyon road until we came to Cheyenne Crossing, were we turned southwest on route 85. By accident, we saw the Crazy Horse monument from that route. It was several miles away, but we could clearly see the head. Actually, the head is all that is completed. They sort of ran out of money and are scrambling to find anyone who cares enough about it to contribute dollars to continue with the rock sculpture.
This has been such a wonderful trip for scenery and the variety of topography and scale. Remember what I said earlier about "Everywhere we go is the most beautiful place we've been"? Well you know what happens when you make a statement like that.....you usually wind up eating it in short order. That is exactly what happened. Route 85 southwest took us to Wyoming. Almost as soon as we crossed the state line near Buckhorn, WY, everything changed. Eastern Wyoming is a furnace this time of year. We had 100+ degree temperatures with very strong crosswinds. No sooner would I get the bike leaned over to deal with the crosswinds, they would change directions and I would have to overadjust to allow for the change of direction. It was a constant fight. It is kind of like trying to ride a pogo stick on the beach during a nuclear attack.
Because of the winds, it wasn't safe to take pictures. Not that there was anything to see. It was flat with no interesting topography.
My AAA map indicates that the area is pretty desolate, so we gassed up more frequently than usual. We did not want to run out of gas here! We got gas in Lusk, WY and the gas station was justs full of bikers. It was kind of funny. When it is very hot it is common to see cows all huddled under the sole tree in a field. At the gas station, bikers were occupying every piece of shade under the canopy.
We were burning up, but it wasn't over yet. By the time we got to Torrington, we hit a dust/dirt/sand storm. Visibility was at least 20% down and it was a question of how many times you can blink and still be able to see where you are going. We would have stopped, but it didn't look like it was going to be ending anytime soon. Fortunately, we rode out of it in about 7 to 10 miles.
We spit grit for several miles and then received some cloud cover that helped with the heat. We could see rain all around us. It seemed as if it was about 5 to 10 miles away. We always seemed to thread our way around it. We finally arrived at Cheyenne, WY and were in drastic need of a rest. We found an Outback Steakhouse and took an hour or so to eat, relax, and recharge.
Continuing south on Interstate 25, we could see the Rocky Mountains just before we crossed the state line into Colorado. The wind had died down and the temperature was several degrees cooler. It was almost as if Wyoming just didn't like us.
We continued to Louisville, CO where we had a room reserved for two nights. We have to get up early tomorrow morning ( hahaha....by my watch it is already 0200 in the morning....eastern time ) and get our bikes serviced about 50 miles north of here.
This has been one of our most challenging days. We have spent 12+ hours on the road and have traveled over 500 miles in blistering heat, blast furnace winds, and finally the dark of evening not knowing where to find the hotel that had our reservation. We have two nights here and will try and take it easy a little. We need to save our energy for New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. I suspect that we don't know what heat is yet!!
I am very tired and need to get to bed before it is time to get up and get the bikes serviced.
We got up early and left Hot Springs to take route 385 north to Deadwood and Spearfish. This took us through parts of the Black Hills National Forrest. The speed in the park is 45 miles per hour and they have a warning sign below the speed limit that says "LARGE WILDLIFE ON ROAD". There were bison everywhere! We watched them for a while at several locations and took a few pictures. At one point while I was taking pictures of bison, I heard a "chirping". My bike was still running and I became concerned that something was wrong/loose/whatever. I turned it off and still heard the chirping! Looking over I saw about 100 holes and mounds between me and the bison and most had prarie dogs sticking out of them barking at me! I tried to get a picture, but I guess that they are camera shy!
The signs also warned not to approach the bison. Evidently they do not have very accomodating personalities and will take pleasure in stomping you into mush. Where they were a safe distance from the road, or where there was some physical barrier between us and them (hill, guardrail, etc) we turned off the bikes and took pictures. In situations where they looked as if they could pay us a visit rapidly, we kept the bikes running and took pictures while still saddled up. The park was beautiful. After leaving the bison, we continued northward on route 385 to Deadwood. There were almost as many bikes there as we saw in Sturgis. Our goal was to find a UPS store so that we could ship a bunch of stuff home. It was too much of a zoo in Deadwood to even look for somethng, so we continued on to Spearfish. There was a UPS store in Spearfish and we were able to lighten our load considerably.
From the UPS store we took route 14a which winds around Spearfish Canyon. There are 300 to 400 foot high rock outcroppings right next to the road. The route has many twists and turns and is a lot of fun to ride.
About half way through the canyon road, we stopped to have breakfast. It was kind of expensive, but you could not beat the setting.
I had originally scheduled oil change and filter services for all three bikes about a month ago at Thunder Mountain Harley-Davidson in Loveland, Colorado. I tried to call them after breakfast and let them know that Rick's appointment needed to be cancelled. I couldn't get cell phone coverage, so that would have to wait.
We continued on the canyon road until we came to Cheyenne Crossing, were we turned southwest on route 85. By accident, we saw the Crazy Horse monument from that route. It was several miles away, but we could clearly see the head. Actually, the head is all that is completed. They sort of ran out of money and are scrambling to find anyone who cares enough about it to contribute dollars to continue with the rock sculpture.
This has been such a wonderful trip for scenery and the variety of topography and scale. Remember what I said earlier about "Everywhere we go is the most beautiful place we've been"? Well you know what happens when you make a statement like that.....you usually wind up eating it in short order. That is exactly what happened. Route 85 southwest took us to Wyoming. Almost as soon as we crossed the state line near Buckhorn, WY, everything changed. Eastern Wyoming is a furnace this time of year. We had 100+ degree temperatures with very strong crosswinds. No sooner would I get the bike leaned over to deal with the crosswinds, they would change directions and I would have to overadjust to allow for the change of direction. It was a constant fight. It is kind of like trying to ride a pogo stick on the beach during a nuclear attack.
Because of the winds, it wasn't safe to take pictures. Not that there was anything to see. It was flat with no interesting topography.
My AAA map indicates that the area is pretty desolate, so we gassed up more frequently than usual. We did not want to run out of gas here! We got gas in Lusk, WY and the gas station was justs full of bikers. It was kind of funny. When it is very hot it is common to see cows all huddled under the sole tree in a field. At the gas station, bikers were occupying every piece of shade under the canopy.
We were burning up, but it wasn't over yet. By the time we got to Torrington, we hit a dust/dirt/sand storm. Visibility was at least 20% down and it was a question of how many times you can blink and still be able to see where you are going. We would have stopped, but it didn't look like it was going to be ending anytime soon. Fortunately, we rode out of it in about 7 to 10 miles.
We spit grit for several miles and then received some cloud cover that helped with the heat. We could see rain all around us. It seemed as if it was about 5 to 10 miles away. We always seemed to thread our way around it. We finally arrived at Cheyenne, WY and were in drastic need of a rest. We found an Outback Steakhouse and took an hour or so to eat, relax, and recharge.
Continuing south on Interstate 25, we could see the Rocky Mountains just before we crossed the state line into Colorado. The wind had died down and the temperature was several degrees cooler. It was almost as if Wyoming just didn't like us.
We continued to Louisville, CO where we had a room reserved for two nights. We have to get up early tomorrow morning ( hahaha....by my watch it is already 0200 in the morning....eastern time ) and get our bikes serviced about 50 miles north of here.
This has been one of our most challenging days. We have spent 12+ hours on the road and have traveled over 500 miles in blistering heat, blast furnace winds, and finally the dark of evening not knowing where to find the hotel that had our reservation. We have two nights here and will try and take it easy a little. We need to save our energy for New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. I suspect that we don't know what heat is yet!!
I am very tired and need to get to bed before it is time to get up and get the bikes serviced.
posted by George at 12:51 AM
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