Before I forget, yesterday's trip from Hays Kansas to Denver Colorado was 357 miles. I'm trying to keep that logged somewhere, so here works.
Anyway, I forget what day number this would be, but today I rode 489 miles from Denver Colorado to Salina Utah. It was a very pretty ride, crossing the rockies west of Denver, coming down into the desert at Grand Junction. Crossing one of the peaks east of Vail, Colorado I was freezing my butt off. I stopped to put on a long sleeve shirt on under my mesh jacket as that was all I had. It was over 10,000 feet. I dont know how cold it was, but enough that with the wind on me, I was close to shivering. Then when I came down into the canyons the temps went up, until finally, on the the other side of the Rockies in Grand Junction it was 100 degrees. A low humidity 100 degrees though, and that really does make a difference. That means that it IS actually cool in the shade.
I stopped for a late lunch in grand junction, then headed out to the west, still riding route 70 which I've been on since St Louis. The road went through no mans land, with one 100 mile interval where there was no gas, lodging, or food. It was beautifull.
When I saw the sign which read there was nothing for 100 miles, I looked at my gas gauge and it was almost full. I figured I was set. But then, as i pressed on, the winds picked up, a LOT. It was blowing me all over the road, and took a major toll in my gas mileage. When I still had 50 miles to go, my gauge was reading less then an 8th tank. That is where I came upon two cars in the middle of nowhere with thier hoods up. I passed them and saw a middle aged spanish woman, and older woman probably in her 70's, and a girl about 10 or 12. I looked at my gas gauge knowing that turning around was adding a few miles to my trip since I couldnt cross the median without going rather far. But I decided it was worth a try, as it looked like they needed help.
I went back, and it turned out the older woman and young girl's car had overheated, and the other woman had apparently also stopped to help them. She had a license plate that said she was from New Jersey! A long way from home. There was no cell phone coverage here, and no anything for 45 miles.
I looked at the older womans car and the anti freeze looked like there was dirt in it. It was the color of chocolate milk. I have no idea why.
I tried both of my cell phones, but nothing worked. No police were around of course, since we were not speeding, but in need of help.
They had been driving the car for 30 miles, then stopping when the car would overheat. They had done this a few times. They were headed for a town another 200 miles away.
There was really nothing I could do and I felt bad. The older woman scribbled a message and a cell phone number on a peice of paper, and I took it and called the number when I got to civilization. I told the woman on the other end that her mother and daughter were going to be late. When i finally did reach civilization and the gas station, the FJ took 4.1 gallons of gas. It holds 4.2.
I decided to stay in that town, as in an hour it would be dark, and there are a lot of Deer and Elk in these parts.
That brings me to where I am now. Salina Utah at a motel 8. I've been too lazy, and its been too hot to camp. Seems I've carried all this camping stuff across country for nothing
At the very least its security had anything happened, or will happen to me in the middle of nowhere.
Turns out, a 50 something year old ex cop on a Concours is in the next room. I caught him checking out my POS wondering how it made it this far and we got to talking. He showed up later at my door, and offered me a beer. So we stood out in front of our rooms drinking beers and talking about the places we'd been and where we were going. Later another guy in his 50's or so showed up on a loaded up BMW, and joined the party. The ex cop looked very similiar to the father guy from Orange County Choppers, and for a minute, I thought he was going to rip my hand off when he shook it. He told me how he had been in the Philly area in 1965. I said I hadnt even been around then. He called me a dickhead for pointing out that Im young. i didnt mean it that way, but we both smiled at each other like we could throw insults at each other like we'd been friends for years.
We shot the poop for a bit, then the old guys had to retire.
They were nice guys.
It was nice to socialize with some like minded people on bikes. This was really the first time that happened other then some quick conversations at gas stations.
So with that, I give you some pics of todays events. For the most part, I'll let them speak for themselves. Maybe, one of these days, I'll be able to actually get a picture of myself on the bike so I can show it to my kids someday. Thats quite a feat though, alone in the desert...
leaving denver, entering the rockies. Iforgot to mention that the FJ didnt like the altitude, and at one point above 10,000 feet i couldnt get it to go over 65mph. That corrected itself when I got lower though.
then you come out of the rockies into desert.
the sign here is hard to read, but it says "Welcome to Utah" or something like that. Notice all of the skid marks? I think its because everyone is going 80, then suddenly in the middle of nowhere there is this sign, and people want to take pictures. I know I did, and i accidentally added a skid mark of my own when I locked up my rear tire. Sometimes you forget you're going 80, then you suddenly want to be stopped and things come up faster then you thought. At least I'm not the only one.
So as I mentioned, tomorrow its 300 miles to Vegas. I might go through Zion National Monument since its on the way, depending on how sore my butt is and the time. Then just one more day and this part of the adventure will sadly be over
But not yet
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there are only 2 kinds of bikes: It's a Ninja... look that one's a Harley... oh there's a Ninja... Harley...Ninja...
