Hell to Pay today! Day-8

View from the highlands of Wyoming
Bridge at Flaming Gorge
Bike at cell tower overlook
Self portrait at Flaming Gorge dam.
I took a nap here!
Self portrait at scenic overlook.
Sleet, snow and wind!
More sleet, snow, wind and bad roads!
Finally found a room.
Other bikers at Motel.


No adventure is without adversity, and today was both! It started out great, I got an early start out of Fruitis, a very nice little town out side of Grand Junction. The morning was picture perfect as I headed out at 7:00am. I rode through the Ashley national forest, at my usual speed of 50 mph. Winding through the valleys, enjoying the views, it was open range area, and on a few occasions the roadway was impeded by Bovine interlopers. I took that path less traveled and gained an additional 800' of elevation to over 8500' on a service road to a cell tower.
I headed down to Flaming Gorge, went over the dam and back to the high plains, at around 7500'. Cruising on the ridge line, I saw two moose, I was going to fast to get a pic. I stopped at a deserted camp ground a few miles later and had lunch and a quick nap. I went through the town of Rock Springs around 1:00pm, I decided to head on to Pinedale WY. Once I got out of town the winds picked up from the north, over 60 mph, I was riding right into the storm. The rain started, then the sleet and then the snow!
At full throttle in blinding snow, I was only able to go 50 mph. Thank goodness for my new tires, or I would be writing this from a morgue! This weather was nothing compared to what I experienced a few days ago out of Colorado Springs! Hard core to say the least!!!
It actually cleared when I got to Pine dale at 5:30, but guess what? Every hotel room in town was filled! The skies were clear further north, so I gassed up and decided to make a run to Jackson Hole another 70 miles up the road. The last hotel I stopped at told me that due to the season there were probably no rooms left in Jackson hole. I asked if they knew of any motels between here and there. She assured me there were none. I resigned myself to having to camp somewhere on the way. As luck would have it just 10 miles outside of Pinedale, I came across a wide spot in the road, where there is an RV park, convenience store and a 5 room motel. I stopped in, at 6:30 and they were completely empty, I got the cheapest room, grabbed some food at the store, and a bottle of wine. Over the next few hours, the inn has filled up. A gentleman by the name of Bob, who is taking the summer off and driving around with a bicycle strapped on his care and bicycling as he sees fit. We had a nice visit and shared a cup of wine. Shortly there after a group of 5 guys from Guatemala showed up who are doing a 8 week ride up to Alaska and back, they are driving Harley's and BMW's. While their "English" is about as good as my "Spanish", we were able to communicate well enough and had a good visit. Of course a little, Beer, wine and tequila helps to bridge the language gap, we had a nice visit on the front porch of our little sanctuary from the storm.
The weather forecast for the next two days is for record low temps, with rain and snow. At this point in time, I am not sure where I will go from here. By the weekend things are supposed to be picture perfect in Yellowstone. I think that while there is going to rain and snow tomorrow, I will head up to Jackson Hole, get a room for a day or two, then spend the weekend in Yellow stone.
That is pretty much all for today, without a doubt this day was a true test and example of extremes. I will keep you posted.

Thank god for global warming!!!

Last day in Moab!-Day 7

Sheer rock face in Canyon lands park!
Indian drawing
More Indian drawings
More drawings
Sorry, I just like these Indian drawings
You can see the rock climber in this picture.


Well if finally got out of Moab Ut. today. I was to a certain extent happy to be on my way. Moab is an interesting town, it is smack dab in the middle of some of the greatest scenery around. I think that the Moab of 20 years ago was probably really fantastic. While tourism runs the economy, it is growing to the point where the small town feels lost and everything revolves around making money, and how to rip of the tourists. The town of Buena Vista which I visited a few days ago still retained that small town flair.
Moab has a lot to offer and there is a lot to do, but it is a prime example of a vacation spot that one should research well and be very careful of every deal presented towards to. Just a couple of examples, the first day I got into town, I was hot and parched, I saw this Mexican restaurant with a big sign that said best Margarita's in town, so naturally I stopped. The first thing after I sat down the waiter came by and asked if I wanted a margarita, "they are really good" he assured me, I ordered a margarita, and not being really hungry I just ordered at plate of nachos @ $6.95 I ate my nachos, finished my margarita when he stopped by my table and talked me into another Margarita, sure why not? Well the surprise came with the ticket, the waiter failed to tell me nor did I look up the price of the margarita, they were $8.99ea. Sure they were good, but not that good, so a quick little snack stop cost over $25.00. The same basic thing happened the next morning at the pancake haus, they advertised a cheap breakfast but failed to mention that a cup of coffee was $2.99. That kind of stuff is just playing games to rip of the tourist and is very disappointing.

The reason I have been in Moab so long is that I had a new set of tires for my motorcycle waiting for me here, I got here early and had to wait until today to get them. When I stopped into the shop they were busy and were not able to get to me until 2:00. I cruised through the canyon lands park, it was quite impressive, there was some nice Indian rock art and impressive rock formations, a lot of rock climbers were out and about.

I got out of town around 3:00pm and headed across the desert, I had hoped to make it to Rangley CO, but just could not make it due to the excessive heat of the midday sun in the high desert. I have ended up in a little town called "Fruitis", it is a really nice place and have gotten my best accommodations for the price thus far. I plan on getting an early start tomorrow and hopefully make it to Wyoming.

Tim

Vacation Rental Warrior!

I am sorry officer, I just rented this for the week, I did not see that motorcyclist, or anyone else for that fact for the last few days, I am really sorry, It is myself and not the person I killed who is the victim here! It must be global warming!


I hope this post does not come off as me being an A-hole, but in these few days on the road, the biggest problems I have had in regards to near death experiences have been from people who are out in rented RVs,. Don't get me wrong, I love RVs in fact I own one. A real "mans" RV, just a few feet smaller than a "Grey Hound" bus, more importantly I know how to drive it. Much like a motorcycle, you have either grown up around vehicles or you have not. My first date was in a K-8 International Truck, it was what we used to haul hay with on the farm. While not impressive to most girls at the time, it had a bed on it that could handle over a hundred bales of hay, it was big and ugly. If it would not start on its own, it actually had a crank that you could start it with, (just like on the TV show "Green acres". So let it be known, I can drive most any vehicle, and well!
The above picture is that of a very common sight on the roads out here, the dreaded rental RV. It is called a class C Motor home, because it is basically a large van with an camper attached. I have a class A which is basically like a big bus. The week or two week travelers rent these because they are told that they drive just like a car! More importantly they can carry all of their crap that they cannot fit into their "Prius". Needless to say, they can't drive them worth a damn. When ever you see one, pay heed and keep a good distance, in just 6 days on the road, I have only had 3 near death experiences and all three where from these rental RVS'.
Figure it out, the rental fee is around $150.00 per day, not to mention you pay for your own gas, ($4.00) per gallon, 9mpg, most RV parks are $35.00 per night, so you travel 300 miles per day, you do the math, just by dead reckoning I figure that to be about $ 250 plus per day!
Back to my point, on two occasions yesterday and one this morning, I was cut off by one of these RV's from hell, I realized that it was the same person on two occasions. While having breakfast this morning at the "Pancake Haus" (no misspelling) these folks driving the RV were the same ones giving the waitress a bunch of BS because the service was too slow, I also saw them at the check out, trying to get the manager to discount their bill.
Twice when I was driving through the Arches National Park, they were improperly parked, and taking up extra room at the pull overs.
As luck would have it when I was exiting the 4x4 only road, described in my following (posts are backwards in blog land) post, this same RVer was at the entrance of the road, the poor soul had no idea that I was one of probably hundreds that he had ran off the road the last few days. I stopped at the trail head to drop off my trash from lunch, he asked me about the road, I told him it was great, nothing like the road less traveled, I told him that sometimes the parks department keeps good things to themselves and if he was a good driver, he could probably make it, or at least make it as far as he felt comferatable with. I did not lie, however I did fail to tell him that there was no possible way that he could turn a 30' vehicle around and if and when he got to a point in time when he had to retreat, he would have to back up all the way!

My Bad!!!

June 8th day 6-Arches National Park

The general landscape of arches national park
Balancing rock
Entrance sign.
Me in Park, yes once again for you that think otherwise, this trip is not a front for me being in jail!
Courthouse rock
One of many arches
This one is called delicate arch
These are called window arch
This is the outer park boundary, ten miles off the main hwy, very few people see this sign!
My bike on a slick rock trail.

This is an example of the rough back road, the picture does not show it well, but the white marks are where vehicles have bottomed out, there is a 3' drop here, I almost did not make it on my motorcycle!


Talk about a day in paradise, I was truly humbled by Mother nature today! Arches national park was a major stop on my to-do list and it did not disappoint. About 10 years ago I went to the Grand Canyon, while not as big as the Grand Canyon it was much more enjoyable. Especially from the seat of a motorcycle, with the wind whipping through my hair, it felt as if you could just reach out and touch the grandure with your hand.

I started the day out early, at 8:00 am had a light breakfast and packed a small lunch. The entrance to the park is only a few miles from Moab. I stripped my bike down to the basic necessities, loaded up a 1/2 gallon of water and headed off. Without the side boxes and extra baggage the bike was like a nimble stallion, it was a good thing because I would need the performance later in the day. Imagine walking around in a heavy pair of combat boots caked with mud, then trading them for a pair of light sneakers, that was the difference in the feel of my machine.

I entered the park about 9:00 am and road about 30-40 miles on the paved roads, and stopped at the typical turn out points and tourist related areas. It is Sunday and while it was early the traffic was beginning to build. After a couple of hours on the paved roads, I found a turn off for a limited access road, the sign indicated rough terrain ahead and only off road or 4x4 vehicles were permitted, the sign also indicated the park boundary was 10 miles a head. The first couple of miles were not too bad, the were like minimum maintenance roads we see in the farm land of Kansas. Another mile in things started to get pretty rough, A big jeep, the kind with the big tires that you need a ladder to get into came from the opposite direction, they stopped and a couple of young guys in dreadlocks, the real hardcore out door type, said a few miles up it got really "Gnarly" and they had to turn around, they thought that I might be able to make it on my bike, but were not sure as they had only made it 5 miles in. I hesitated for a moment, then thought what the "Hell" this is what I was here for, to take the road less traveled, or in this case, very rarely traveled.
I have owned or had a motorcycle since I was 10 years old, and have ridden many miles off road, but this was a challenge like I had never experienced before. Deep sand in areas, while there were no large climbs, there were a number of steep technical type areas that while no more than 4 or 5 feet, they were hardcore. It took me over an hour to make it 10 miles, I lost the road a few times, as this is rock country and some times it would just disappear. I finally made it to the outer park boundary. I cannot imagine how a 4-wheeled vehicle could make it, it was tough enough on two wheels.

After I got to the park boundary. I parked my bike and got out my day pack and put in my lunch and water. I thought I would take a little hike and eat my lunch. I had walked about 100 foot then decided to grab the GPS off of my motorcycle, this turned out to be a good decision. I walked for about 1/2 hour, sat down ate my lunch and looked off in the distance thinking about the people fighting traffic and jostling for spaces at the scenic over looks 10 miles away. After lunch, I took a little nap. I got up and headed back to my bike, after about 100 yards, I realized that everything looked the same and I was not sure where I was at, or going. I took the GPS out of my pack, turned it on, and It showed me the way back. It was interesting because I did not see my motorcycle until I was about 50 feet from it.
You see reports on the news about how people get lost for days and days and you wonder how this could happen. Well believe you me it can, while I was only 10 miles away from the tourist hub bub, I could have taken off in the wrong direction which goes for hundreds of miles. Thank you GPS, thank you Garmin.
I got back to my bike and after being a little scared, I was off again. The return trip was more enjoyable as I new what to expect, another hour later I was back to the paved roads. I put me earphones in, turned on my XM radio, once again thanks to Garmin, as it is part of my GPS system. Put my feet on the pegs and headed out of Arches National Park.

It was a great day, full of beauty, great scenery, and a little bit of being scared. That is what I call adventure!!!

June 7th 2008-day 5 On to Moab!

Welcome to Utah
Rough roads ahead!
I had lunch next to this lake
I am herding these cows
High mountain grazing land.
Drop off at edge of road!
Bike on high mountain road
GPS reading, 9309 feet highest point on dirt road


Well I was right about the El-D-Rado motel, about 1:00 am things started to pick up, I had taken an ambien as I have not been sleeping well, but things were going on next door! It wasn't too loud, but the couple of times I did wake up during the night, some moaning and groaning was going on.
This morning as I was loading up my bike around 9:00 am a young attractive girl in a robe came out of her door, smoking a cigarette and drinking a cup of coffee. She apologized if I was bothered by the noise last night. I asked her if she had a good night and she smiled and said "Yes", she went on to explain that her and her sister are strippers at a nearby bar and make extra money after hours with some of their customers. I said "cool" she asked me about my bike and where I was going, she seemed genuinely interested, she was well spoken and very nice. We sat out front and talked for about 15 Min's. I gave her an orange that I had in my tank bag. As I took off, she yelled "have a good trip" and flashed me her "Boobs" What a fine way to start the day!
I did not think the scenery could get any better, but I was wrong. Aside from the nice view this morning, I did not think the views would be better than from yesterday. I was wrong again.
I headed the back way out of Delta CO, I rode old forest service roads across the Uncompahgre National Forest. It was some hard core riding! There were a few times, that I wondered if I was making a mistake. In the end it all worked out fine. What is a grand adventure without risk! I rode 90 miles in 4 hours, some times due to the terrain, it was 10-15 mph, and a couple of good hill climbs. The effort was worth it. I ended up in the high grazing meadows. I saw many cows and they had the right of way on the roads. If you have every watched old westerns and the cowboys talked about rounding up the cows in the high mountain grazing lands, that were I was today. I made my highest mountain pass on dirt roads today at over 9000'. The scenery was out of this world! I finally hit pavement at Nucla CO, then crossed into Utah and made it to Moab at about 3:30, that is where I am at now.
Today was the epitome of the reason why I am riding the motorcycle that I am, sure I could be riding a Goldwing or BMW, but I promise you that the those bikes would never have been able access the back country like I did today. Granted I cannot cruise down the highway at 100mph, but at 60mph I see more things.
I am staying here until Monday, I have a special set of tires waiting for me at a local dealer, I may have them shipped ahead as my rear tire still has good tread on it. I found a nice hotel, and treated myself to the suite rather than a regular room, the price difference was only $15.00 so I figured after last night it was worth the price.
When I first started out on this trip I had planned to spend the first week in hotels until the rhythm of the road set in, from here on out, I will be camping more often, so my updates will not be as regular.
While I am here in Moab, I am going to write a couple of there posts to answer some questions that have been e-mailed to me, and to give you greater insights on the crazy mind of.

"Vienna"

June 6th 2008-Day 4

High country cattle round up
That it were I am heading first thing this morning
Monarch pass, still plenty of snow
Me at the top of Monarch pass, no that is not my motorcycle
View of Blue Mesa Reservoir
We are in Mesa Country!
Black canyon


What a difference a day makes! My evening in Buena Vista CO was very enjoyable, other than an over priced Chinese dinner which was horrible. I left Buena Vista at 9:00 am it was beautiful weather in the valley and you could see for miles. I had intended on taking at secondary road out of Buena Vista that would cross Cottonwood pass at over 12000 feet, I soon found out that the pass was closed until mid June. Normally it is open at this time of year, but I guess global warming is making things colder in Colorado this year!
I took 291 hwy to 50 hwy and headed west, I crossed the Continental Divide at Monarch Crest pass, 11,312 feet. It was a fantastic ride, yes it was cold and there was snow on the top of the mountain, but it was out of this world! I stopped at the gift shop, picked up a sticker for my gear box and took some pictures.
After descending the other side of the Continental divide the the landscape began to change. While the elevation remained high, it was more of a desert type landscape, rather than lush forests. More high mesas were noted. The ride into Gunnison Co was really nice.
I got into Gunnison around 12:00, it was a really nice town, but I decided to continue on. I took 92 hwy through the Gunnision National Forest. It was 60 miles of a motorcyclists dream, long winding ascents and descents. Passes at 10,000 feet and descents down to 7500, feet. There were very few other cars, a few motorcyclists and more importantly no "Trucks". The pictures I took cannot begin to give the beauty justice.
At about 4:00 I drove through the town of Delta CO. I was intending on camping but as I passed through town, there was a nice big Elks Lodge, with a sign that said open. A block down there was a little hotel, it was kind of seedy looking, It was called the El-D-Rado hotel. I think if I would have asked I could have gotten an hourly rate, if you know what I mean. I thought what the hell, I has stayed in worse places and I figured I would share some camaraderie with my fellow Elks, have a few drinks and crash for the night.
The hotel room was passable, the Elks Lodge was a disappointment. I took a shower and put on clean clothes and was ready for some fellowship, it wasn,t like I parked my bike out front and walked in with a bug covered grin. It was what I call a grand old lodge building, it had been there for many years, the number was 1235 so it has been around for a while. It had a nice big lounge area, there were probably 20 people there when I got there at about 5:00pm, I sat a chair down from of group of three younger guys in their 30s there was a spattering of other people seated at the bar and at tables. There were two bartenders on duty, as they were expecting a big crowd. I thought this was going to be a great time.
The bartender looked at my membership card, had me sign the register and gave me a 2nd drink free card the usual stuff. I sat there and drank my beer, It was not busy and the other bartender was talking to a member and my bartender went to the far end of the bar and started filing her nails. On a couple of occasions I tried to strike up a conversation with the group next to me, and while they responded, they took no interest. I introduced myself to the guy closest to me, he shook my hand and did not even offer his name. During my second beer a man and his wife sat next to me, we make some small talk about weather, politics etc. I told him I was riding my motorcycle to Alaska and was an Elk From Kansas City, his next story was about how he had gotten screwed from an equipment supplier in Kansas city that he had bought a backhoe from. I asked him about his lodge and how it was doing. It was the same old story about how membership was down and how they were having some problems attracting new members, the old members were dying off etc...BLAH,BLAH,BLAH.
I felt like telling him, "You lodge cannot even be nice to passing through brothers, how do you expect to attract new members"? I am sure that there are many fine members in lodge 1235. Their lodge is a microcosm of the problem with the Elks nation wide. I have traveled and visited many lodges in my 16 years as a member of the Elks, those of you reading this that know me, know that I am an affable and interesting person, as well as generous to the cause. There were a number of fund raisers going on at that lodge that I would have been glad to have donated to if someone would have just asked.
I find it disappointing that the above experience is all to common at Elks Lodges. On the other hand I have been to many lodges that fall over themselves to greet you as a visiting member. My own lodge is one of the best! It is rare that a traveling Elk who visits our lodge in not brought into the fold of everyone there within a few minutes of arriving. Hats off to our lodge.
I don't want to berate that point, but as a business man and from a business perspective, the Elks is a nation Brand, just like McDonald's, Wal-mart etc. It is a shame that more time and money is not spend on simple things like customer, or should I say member service. Every bartender should be trained how to handle all situations, as well as visitors, make sure they know, who they are, were they are from, what they are doing in the area, and them introduce them to others. I would also implement a mystery shopping type of program. Grand Lodge could send out visiting Elks at random and see how they are treated, if they are treated well, the lodge and the bartender gets an award, and prize. If they fail, they are admonished for their poor treatment of their Brothers!
Enough about that. Tomorrow I am heading to Moab Utah, I will keep you posted.

Tim

June 5th, 2008---Day 3

My trail angels, Delmar and Sharon
I hate snow on a motorcycle
I really hate snow on a motorcycle!
Snow in the Rockies in June!

Today was a day of extremes to say the least, while I only covered 100 miles they were very hard fought! I started this morning with the intention of riding to the top of Pikes Peak, then going over to Cripple Creek for a little gambling and fun.
After a very good nights sleep it was ready to go at 6:00am. I had been watching the weather forecast the night before, and while they were predicting some bad weather, I thought I might get lucky like I did yesterday.
I packed up the bike and did my usual check over, It had burned some oil the day before, probably from me hammering it, with the 2 guys from Ohio. The hotel had a continental breakfast so I had a quick bowl of cereal and coffee, and stuck a bagel in my pocket for later in the day. The weather looked a little iffy, but it is hard to tell in the mountains, and I figured that if I had to endure a little rain, it would probably not be long lasting. I stopped at an auto parts store about a mile from my hotel and got some oil. Just as I finished adding the oil it started to rain and I mean rain! I quickly rode back to the hotel and parked it under the front awning. The Inn Keeper was really nice and she invited me back into the breakfast room and told me I could stay as long as I needed.
At about 10:00 am it subsided to a moderate sprinkle, I figured that over the next 10,000 miles or so, I would be seeing weather much worse than this, so I put on my rain gear and headed out. By the time I got to the entrance of Pikes Peak it was a just a drizzle, I did stop and put the fleece liner in my Motorcycle Jacket and water proof gloves as the temperature was hovering at 40 degrees.
When I pulled up to the toll booth at Pikes Peak the lady looked at me like I was crazy, she told me that they had gotten 5" of snow last night and only the first 5 of 19 miles to the top was open, she indicated it would be 2-3 days before anyone would be allowed to go to the top. Rather than just going 5 miles I turned around and headed for Cripple Creek, When I got to the turn off, I saw that a large storm front was hovering over the direction I needed to go, however I did see it was clearing to the west and I figured I would skip Cripple Creek and go west as I was planning to go towards Gunnison CO in a few days anyway. Traveling west on HWY 24 things cleared up for a while, there was snow everywhere, and it was wet and slick but as I got to Wilkerson pass (9500') things got bad again, as luck would have it there was a rest area and information station at the top of the pass. I pulled off and was able to get myself and my bike under shelter. It was raining then sleeting and snowing. I went into the information station and was fortunate enough to meet Delmar and Sharon Lankford, they were volunteers at the information area, they are a retired couple who travel in their 5Th wheel and do volunteer work. They were really nice and helpful and allowed me to wait out the storm. You could see it roll through the valley, I can handle the rain, but it is the lightning that scares me.
after a couple of hours it showed signs of clearing, I ate my bagel that I had stashed in my coat pocket and bid Delmar and Sharon good bye then headed off.
The ride across the valley was nice, it was over cast but no rain and the roads had begun to dry. One the other side of the valley was another range of mountains, on the way up it was not too bad, the scenery was out of this world!
On the back side of the mountain range things when to Hell in a Hand basket very quickly, to make matters worse highway 285 merged with highway 24 and the traffic was very heavy. The roads were wet and icy in spots, yet the truck drivers still want to go 70 miles an hour one the winding mountain roads. I pulled over a couple of times to let them pass when I could, there still were two occasions when I was doing 60 in a 45 mph zone and I had trucks on my back so close that they would not completely fit into my rear view mirror.
I finally made it to Buena Vista Co, It is a little town along the Arkansas River. This town caters to the white water rafters and is really nice, the kind of place I would like to live in someday. I found a little Mom and Pop hotel right on the main strip, nothing fancy I parked my bike right outside the front door, to the south is a liquor store, to the north is a Mexican restaurant, across the street is a hardware store and a Chinese buffet. It is 4:00pm the sun is shining it is 75 degrees out and I write this with a beer in my hand as my clothes are drying on the rail outside.
The weather forecast for the next couple of days is supposed to be "Perfect". Tomorrow I plan to head towards Gunnison CO, It should be a spectacular ride! Within 30 miles from where I am right now there are 6ea 14000 foot mountains all of them are taller than than Pikes Peak, should be great scenery. Two of the mountain passes I will be taking will be at 12,000 feet.
I will be curious to see how my bike will handle the elevation, my GPS shows elevation and I noticed that when ever I get to around 9400 ft the bike starts to miss out because of the thin air. This is due to the fact that it is carbeurated rather than fuel injected. It will be interesting to see what happens on the high passes tomorrow. I think before I leave in the morning I will take the cover off of the air filter housing to see if the added air flow will improve the situation. I noticed that my bike did not burn any oil today, probably due to the fact that I did not burn off 450 miles at top end.
Will talk to you soon.

Tim

June 4 2008--day 2

They love "Fred" in the bible belt!
Nothing but Kansas Prairie
View from Mt. Sunflower
Me on Mt. Sunflower, No I am not in jail!
Mt. Sunflower, highest point in Kansas, Lets all rush out and make a pilgrimage!

I got and early start out of Greensburg this morning and started off on a leisurely pace. I stopped and had a great breakfast in Ford Kansas and stopped by Boot Hill in Dodge City, I poked around for a while and picked up a state of Kansas decal and added it to one of my luggage boxes. Originally I had planned to Summit Mt. Sunflower, (the highest point in Kansas,) ooh aah!
It was a little anticlimatic, there was nothing there other than a little marker in the middle of a cattle pasture, it was about 14 miles of dirt road to get there. I did sign the register and it appeared that 3 or 4 people a day make the pilgrimage. My original intent was to camp on top, but there were storm clouds rolling in and I thought better of it. Mt. Sunflower is just a mile east of the Colorado state line. I decided to head across the boarder and look for a hotel, as luck would have it I ran into a couple of other Motorcyclists from Ohio, they were heading to Utah, one of them was riding a Valkyrie and the Other a Gold Wing. Even though their engines were 3-times the size of mine, I decided to ride with them to Colorado Springs, where I am now. Talk about one hell of a ride. I was impressed that my little 1 cylinder 650 could keep up, but it was giving me all it could. We road across a back highway doing about 80 most of the time. We stopped outside of Colorado Springs at about 4:00pm they were going to go another couple hundred miles, I bid them goodbye and started looking for a room. I managed to hit rush hour traffic, right when the air force base was getting out. I got lost a couple of times, then finally found my way back towards the mountains.
Right now, I am at the base of the mountains and can see "Pikes" Peak outside of my window. I am at a hotel that has wireless Internet, however this mini computer I have uses a "Linux" operating system rather than Windows or Apple, I have yet to figure out how to up load my pictures, I do apologize and hope to add them in a few days, I have some good ones!
I road 450 miles today, that may not seem like much, but on a one cylinder motorcycle, that is a bunch, every joint and bone in my body aches, I am going to get a good nights sleep tonight then take my much anticipated assault on "Pikes" Peak in the morning, I am not sure where I will end up tomorrow, or if I will have access to the Internet. If I am not to sore, I may camp on a mountain somewhere. Take care I will update you as soon as I can.

Tim

June 3rd 2008---Day 1

Greensburg Thanks the world
Fema Trailor park
Thank you Elks!
Signs of devastation
Motorcycle ready to Go
Leaving Dad with his Tractors!


Well, I finally got everything done and was on my way from the farm at 11:00am, it was hard saying good bye to my father knowing that I would not see him again for some time. We have been working together as adults for over 20 years, and I will really miss him!
I rode 250 miles today and made it too Greensburg KS, the town that was devastated my an F5 tornado last year, May 4th 2007. There has been a lot of activity going on in this little town. Even a year later it is apparent that there is still a lot left to do. I would say it is maybe 30% re-built. The signs of destruction are everywhere. I could see that the entire residential area had been completely leveled. There were many new homes, but just as many empty lots with nothing but a hole in the ground. Even for all that these people have been through, someone had took the time to make and hang signs of thanks all over town for those who are helping with their recovery. I Know that the Elks' helped quite a bit, and you can see from one of my pics attached above that they were noted.
I did manage to dodge bad weather all day, I am a bit tired and sun and wind burned but am looking forward to a good nights rest.


Tim