Rockie Mountain Trip - Day +3
Welcome back - glad you could come back to follow our Journey!
Sorry, there are no pictures today. The best part of todays journey was the beginning and the end. At the beginning we just got onto the road and really didn't want to stop. At the end, we where like horses heading for the barn and didn't want to stop.
Leaving Thermopolis WY this morning at 8AM we headed up the Wind River Canyon. This is an awesome drive alongside a fast river, with the road winding its way between two vertical canyon walls. At the end of the canyon, there was a small hydro-electric dam with a great big lake behind it. With the dam producing electricity, it almost gaurentees water down the river unless the lake goes dry. I can't imagine what would happen if the dam burst and the water came flooding down the canyon towards Thermopolis. Steve said it would make a good movie!
The second quarter of the drive was almost 150 mile of straight roads and nothing else. There really isn't anything in most of Southern Wyoming. We came over a hill and saw the road going straight before us with not even a power line or another car in sight. The land is very dry and desert like. Most of the (very big) hills were covered in sand and sage brush. There were also some (again very big) magna like rock. You can tell I am not a mineralogist.
Traveling through Southern WY, my mind drifted back to the gold rush days. I couldn't help but think about the settlers traveling by covered wagon. If the made 20 miles in one day might be a good day. Steve and I were doing that in 20 minutes. We traveled farther today than what they might do in 25 days.
We crossed into Northern Colorado and headed into the city of Craig. Right after crossing the CO state line, we could tell the difference. It seemed that the CO side was greener, and there were homes and even cars on the road around us. After having lunch, we started on the third leg of todays journey. The Western side of the CO Rockies were right around us. The road no longer was straight. Curves, twisties and sweepers - Whahoo! Down the road we went and around a corner we ran into a massive oversize load. It took 2 1/2 lanes of the road. It was a radiactive material shipping container. It had a tractor trailor in the front and a couple of trucks to push it in the rear. The wait was a pain. But it was still interesting.
The fourth and final leg of the trip started just outside of Grand Junction. After riding the superslab for 60 miles, we got off on route 85 and headed up the mountain to Grand Mesa. The lower part of the mountain road is a set to tight curves that follow along a stream. The middle part of the road is switch backs that go up most of the mountain. The top part of the road is sweeping curves that run along the peaks. It started getting interesting as we reached the summit. Steve needed gas and he needed it soon. We had already gone over 275 miles on this tank which is usually the max I take my bike. Amazingly, I still had two bars on my gas gauge which for me means another 80 miles. But I have a larger tank than Steve. Steve led the way down the mountain in a gas conservative mode. Going downhill, he didn't need to use much throttle. We glided into the town of Cedaredge CO, thinking Steve was on fumes. It turns out we did almost 300 miles on less than 6 gallons of gas! Steve thinks that the higher altitude is giving us more MPG. Maybe it was my prayers for him on the way down. Anyways, we traveled about 500 miles today.
After dinner tonight, we stopped at the local car wash and sprayed down the bikes. They were just rude with bug guts. After doing my share to reduce the local bug population, I came to the conclusion that fish don't stink. Their smell is the oder from the bugs they eat. Seriously, take a whiff of a wet motorcycle wind screen. Anyways, for tonight the bikes are clean, and tomarrow we'll cover them with bugs again.
As for stops; Gas in Rawlins WY; Lunch was in Craig CO. Gas and dinner in Cedaredge CO.
Dinner tonight was at the local golf course. Steve and I both had pasta dishes. Again, we are in a small town and the local restaurants are closed.
Tomarrow we head into Southern Colorado.
TTFN - LA I love you - Todd
Sorry, there are no pictures today. The best part of todays journey was the beginning and the end. At the beginning we just got onto the road and really didn't want to stop. At the end, we where like horses heading for the barn and didn't want to stop.
Leaving Thermopolis WY this morning at 8AM we headed up the Wind River Canyon. This is an awesome drive alongside a fast river, with the road winding its way between two vertical canyon walls. At the end of the canyon, there was a small hydro-electric dam with a great big lake behind it. With the dam producing electricity, it almost gaurentees water down the river unless the lake goes dry. I can't imagine what would happen if the dam burst and the water came flooding down the canyon towards Thermopolis. Steve said it would make a good movie!
The second quarter of the drive was almost 150 mile of straight roads and nothing else. There really isn't anything in most of Southern Wyoming. We came over a hill and saw the road going straight before us with not even a power line or another car in sight. The land is very dry and desert like. Most of the (very big) hills were covered in sand and sage brush. There were also some (again very big) magna like rock. You can tell I am not a mineralogist.
Traveling through Southern WY, my mind drifted back to the gold rush days. I couldn't help but think about the settlers traveling by covered wagon. If the made 20 miles in one day might be a good day. Steve and I were doing that in 20 minutes. We traveled farther today than what they might do in 25 days.
We crossed into Northern Colorado and headed into the city of Craig. Right after crossing the CO state line, we could tell the difference. It seemed that the CO side was greener, and there were homes and even cars on the road around us. After having lunch, we started on the third leg of todays journey. The Western side of the CO Rockies were right around us. The road no longer was straight. Curves, twisties and sweepers - Whahoo! Down the road we went and around a corner we ran into a massive oversize load. It took 2 1/2 lanes of the road. It was a radiactive material shipping container. It had a tractor trailor in the front and a couple of trucks to push it in the rear. The wait was a pain. But it was still interesting.
The fourth and final leg of the trip started just outside of Grand Junction. After riding the superslab for 60 miles, we got off on route 85 and headed up the mountain to Grand Mesa. The lower part of the mountain road is a set to tight curves that follow along a stream. The middle part of the road is switch backs that go up most of the mountain. The top part of the road is sweeping curves that run along the peaks. It started getting interesting as we reached the summit. Steve needed gas and he needed it soon. We had already gone over 275 miles on this tank which is usually the max I take my bike. Amazingly, I still had two bars on my gas gauge which for me means another 80 miles. But I have a larger tank than Steve. Steve led the way down the mountain in a gas conservative mode. Going downhill, he didn't need to use much throttle. We glided into the town of Cedaredge CO, thinking Steve was on fumes. It turns out we did almost 300 miles on less than 6 gallons of gas! Steve thinks that the higher altitude is giving us more MPG. Maybe it was my prayers for him on the way down. Anyways, we traveled about 500 miles today.
After dinner tonight, we stopped at the local car wash and sprayed down the bikes. They were just rude with bug guts. After doing my share to reduce the local bug population, I came to the conclusion that fish don't stink. Their smell is the oder from the bugs they eat. Seriously, take a whiff of a wet motorcycle wind screen. Anyways, for tonight the bikes are clean, and tomarrow we'll cover them with bugs again.
As for stops; Gas in Rawlins WY; Lunch was in Craig CO. Gas and dinner in Cedaredge CO.
Dinner tonight was at the local golf course. Steve and I both had pasta dishes. Again, we are in a small town and the local restaurants are closed.
Tomarrow we head into Southern Colorado.
TTFN - LA I love you - Todd
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