Saturday, May 22, 2010

A Quick Catch-up from the last three days...

When we went to climb on the bike, Thursday morning... it started raining... not a good omen... so we fiddle farted around for a bit... hoping it would quit... and when it seemed to... we jumped on an' split the wind.

Headed out on that good Ol' favorite... Hwy 14, runnin' through Poudre Canyon...

It was tryin' early in the canyon, and the sun finally took over, 'bout half way up to Cameron Pass...

'twas still a mite cool at the top... and Heidi was glad I think that I advised her to put on the bibs and the silk longhandles!... Pulled into Walden to take a late lunch at the Rock River Cafe in the Antlers Inn... I don't believe we've ever ate there before...



Cheapskate me... we usually got a candy bar an' a soda at the shell station! :o) ... but I'll tell you... the chow there was first rate...and the outside don't do the log and stone interior justice...

After lunch we kept on west, past pasture after pasture of cow herds... droppin' their Fresh Calves...


It's the springtime that makes all the rest of the dust and struggle worth the effort, back on the Ranches... Nothin' makes a man happier than a field full of fresh, healthy, jumpin' an' buckin' calves! :o)

... Continued on up over Rabbit Ears pass... the sun was strong up there!... enough to let me see herself... makin' another attempt to swipe my Raider!


It's a good thing for me... she can't get it off the side stand! :o)

Spent the night in Steamboat Springs... Had our Anniversary supper at the Ore House Steakhouse on the East side of town... goooood food!

Got up Friday to sunny slopes! Got our fuel for the first run... figurin' to roll down Hwy. 131 and then catch 24 down through Leadville...

Steamboat sits in just about the prettiest basin you're ever gonna see... but I was so busy gawkin' at the purty... I plumb forgot to take any pictures of it! Pitiful excuse... ain't it?

South of there, around Yampa... ain't too awful hard on your eyes either... Hay meadows just waitin' on summer!



But, back to that Figurin'... You'd think a fella like me would learn to quit figurin'... as many times that such schemen' has left tooth marks on my sittin' parts! ... got as far as the top of the ridge north of Wolcott... where there's somebody that has set up a "Zip Line" enterprise...

They've got a series of Zip Lines, back and forth across a lil' canyon that runs back into the slope... and had a half dozen or so folks... zippin' back and forth, from station to station, across that lil' canyon...













Can You can just see the guy... above the two cars in the lower left of the pic? or... the "Zipper" in the center of the next one?


... Heidi claims she's got lil' interest in such doin's...

But... anyhoo... this right here... or at least, right behind where I was standing, is where our day changed a lil'... as we were pullin' in the Overlook... to have our look... the ground was all humped up and pot holed...

Not sure why what happened... happened... but our balance was off... my foot slipped on the uneven ground and The Red Raider... leaned over hard on the left drivers foot peg...

Didn't know anything was seriously wrong... till we stopped for fuel, 10 miles on, in Eagle... and that peg... which seemed a lil' out of position... snapped right off!... when I tried to push it back to where it should be...

Uh.... OOPS!

Now... don't know how many of you ride a scooter... but let me tell you... runnin' 50 miles or so, back up the Interstate... to a Yamaha Dealer in Silverthorne... who claimed they were willing to sell me a peg off a New Bike sitting in their showroom... becomes an exercise in endurance! :o)

Didn't know it was that hard to keep your foot off the pavement! :o)

But, let me tell you, Mike at Silverthorne Power Sports took care of me! let me have a peg off a brand new bike... to keep me on the road... Awesome!

By that time, it was gettin' on toward late in the day... and since Heidi was gonna have to be down to the store, 'bout noon-time on Saturday, we decided to can Leadville... and head east on I-70 for a while... Turning back north on Hwy 119, and Landing in Nederland for the night.

Now... as far as Motels go... The La Quinta in Steamboat... has it all over the Best Western in Nederland... especially when you add in the fact that La Quinta squeezed forty fewer bucks out of this Ol' Cheapskate!

But... we sat out on their lil' deck for a while... sippin' a Mikes Hard Lemonade and listenin' to the Hummingbirds zippin' up an down the creek...

Saturday Morning we strapped our gear on the bike in the morning wind, under a blue, clear sky, and cruised our way to a breakfast Egg McMuffin' at Mickey D's in Estes Park...

Part of the canyon wall dropped on the road, just south of town overnight... so we had to detour over through Glen Haven... Really tough, I'm tellin' you... can't run down through the beautiful top end of Thompson Canyon... Have to run over through the maybe prettier Canyon that holds Glen Haven... :o) to get down out of the mountains... and our current "Home".

But... all good things must end... so 500 miles later... we're back on the Prairie... east of Fort Collins... schemin' our final, permanent... escape...

OK... that wasn't a real "Quick" "Catch-up"... but you weren't really expecting it to be that-a-way... were you?

Take Good Care
Brian

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3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for taking me along on the ride and seeing (through your photos) Colorado country.

Sharlotte said...

Wow what a fine anniversary trip. Glad you and Heidi had a great time and some "adventure". Wondered why you didn't take the ole tent and camp out, but being a female, I can see why that idea would be frowned upon by herself. Love the pictures, but you got to quit gawking at the sights and remember to take pics for the rest of us.

Don said...

Sounds like a great trip - relaxed; some old; some new; and some really pretty countryside. Hope you have another 31 together!