#23-There's No Place Like Home...

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Well, our one mile at a time became one state at a time and today (Sat.) at 6:30 pm after a total of 5,600 miles, we arrived safely at our home in Wisconsin. Yuma, Colorado, Grand Island, Nebraska and Ames, Iowa were our nightly stops on the way and the trike ran flawlessly.... until about 200 miles from home. The noise came back with a vengeance in the little WI town of Dodgeville and neither of us thought it would get us the rest of the way....but it did. Clunking all the way... but it did.

We are so grateful for so many things. The experience we had will be remembered forever. The fact that we were never stranded or broken down on a mountain top. The unbelievable beauty we saw around every turn. The renewed realization that we really like each other in addition to loving one another and most important...the never ending support of family and friends. Thank you for being with us on this adventure. Your likes, comments and support along the way has meant more than you know. We wish all of you, very 

Happy Trails.

P.S.  These last pictures are just some of my favorites.

#22-The Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

One ride we definitely wanted to do before leaving Colorado was the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park located between Montrose and Gunnison. Two different groups of motorcyclists we talked with said it was a must ride....a low traffic road with some of the most beautiful scenery the state has to offer. 

We started the day under cloudy skies but the views were still breathtaking. Just as a point of information, it's called the Black Canyon because some of the deepest, most narrow parts of it get only 33 minutes of sunshine a day. With it being in shadow all that time, it appears 'black.' The road rises above the Gunnison River and twists and turns around corners that always give a surprise. Our most fun one was a mother bear and her two cubs! It happened way too fast for a camera but we both got a good look at them. Before mother hustled them away, one little guy actually stood on his two hind feet, with his shoulders back, looking right at us. He was almost asking, "Who are you guys and what are you doing here?" What a thrill for us. 

On the way back down the mountain, in the rain and around the twists and turns, the trike started making a terrible grinding, clunking noise. We had this one other time early on in our trip, but it went away after a very short time and never returned until now. We had no cell service, no internet so Rick slowly started taking us down. After about a mile, the noise went away. We held our breath the whole way back into Gunnison and the trike ran perfectly the entire time. Regardless, we stopped at a motorcycle service shop the first chance we got and the very kind serviceman there dropped everything he was doing to check out the trike. Rick didn't think he would find anything and after a good 30 minutes with it, he came out and told us exactly that. He could find nothing wrong. Without going deeper and starting to take things apart, there was not much more he could do for us. If he did start tearing it down, getting parts could be a problem and we might be looking at a couple of weeks downtime. He was fairly sure it wasn't going to leave us stranded. So.....we headed back over Monarch Pass to the campground and decided then and there that it was time for us to head for home. The logistics of getting the trike and trailer home if the trike went down were pretty complicated. So, our mantra became....we'll just take it one mile at a time. 

Nervous trails. 

#21-A Perfect Day

Monday, September 14, 2015

Before leaving on our ride yesterday, we decided to pack up for a few nights out and away from our camper. We had taken it about as far West as we could and we still had places to go and things to see. If we had to stay in a hotel for a couple of nights, we could suffer through it. Yeah, right. I was so ready!!! (Remember Ames, Iowa, back in August when we were stuck in a hotel for three nights because of rain? We haven't been in one since!) Anyway, after talking with Dick & Bonnie yesterday, we made plans to meet for lunch in one of my all time favorite towns in Colorado ....Ouray. It's a small town in a box canyon, just north of Silverton (of the Silverton/ Durango Railroad) and on one end of the Million Dollar Highway. It's just a beautiful place to meet and I'm so excited to see them. Rick and I stayed at The Black Canyon Motel in Montrose last night so we were only about 40 miles away. As a result, we got to Ouray a little early and decided to stop at the Visitor Center. We were there about a half hour, heard someone come in and guess who?? Dick & Bonnie!! So fun to look up and see their faces! Well, we didn't have long to talk before we needed to make a decision. You see, the Million Dollar Highway, between Ouray and Silverton, was closed south of Ouray from 8-12 and 1-5 and Dick & Bonnie needed to go 80 miles south to Durango, to get to their B&B that night. Any other route was way out of their way and about a 3+ hour drive. So, given the 15 minutes we had left in the 1-hour window between noon and 1:00, we hopped in and on our vehicles and headed over Red Mountain Pass towards Silverton. Despite rain and road construction, it was still a beautiful ride. Interesting and a little scary, but oh, so beautiful. We laughed a little when within about a mile, we saw signs that said; Blasting Zone, Road Construction, One Lane Ahead, Open Range, and lots of S- curves. Yikes!  

We had a great lunch and fun conversation together at a place called Handlebars in Silverton. Recommended by the guy at the Visitor Center, it had a perfect western atmosphere; noisy, lots of stuffed wildlife and great food, especially the Green Chile Soup. Rick and I caught up on news from home and all was right in life.

The four of us parted ways later that afternoon after a nice little stroll through town. Then, Dick & Bon headed south to Durango and Rick and I north to Montrose. With the road closed until 5:00, we took a slow ride up with absolutely no traffic. It was even more beautiful the second time. Clouds were hanging low, but the sun was trying to peek through. We had a short wait for them to open the road and then were on our way. A perfect day and perfect

Happy trails. 

Stu & Lynn...wish you could have been with us! 

#19-A Ride Through Central Colorado

Friday, September 11, 2015

I'll never forget this day and what happened 14 years ago. May God continue to bless America.

*****************************

The first big day in our new surroundings and off we went to explore!  We headed north with the intent of doing a big loop through some of the more well-known cities. Some we have been to before, some not. Buena Vista, known for its hot springs, Leadville, (has changed so much since the last time I was there), a short stint on I-70 (beautiful, but so fast and busy for us back road folks), Frisco, Breckenridge, over the Continental Divide and then back to Salida. It was a very interesting day, split between city and beautiful colorful country, (the leaves are turning!) but an awful lot of traffic for us. It's hardest on Rick when he can't really look at anything. We have quickly come to the conclusion that we are just in a very busy area. Maybe most of Colorado is busy these days. My memories are of quite some time ago.
The nights are definitely cooler now. Glad I brought a down comforter along! We had a nice campfire when we got home and called it a day. It was busy, beautiful

Happy Trails.

#20-Crested Butte, Pitkin & Family

Saturday & Sunday, Sept. 12 & 13

It was a weekend full of taking on the recommended rides from our book and scouting out our new surroundings. We did over 200 miles on Saturday and about 150 on Sunday. Our new campground location is about 8 miles from Monarch Pass which is between us and Gunnison to the west and that's where we headed Saturday morning. It's a pass that goes to about 11,300 ft. but we did well with our climbing in the cool morning air. We checked out Gunnison for a bit and then found a road going out of Gunnison to a town called Crested Butte. I remembered that very quaint small town from my Colorado days...oh, oh... almost 40 years ago. I guess I better not expect it to be the same, huh? It wasn't. They've actually split the town into two cities. One called Crested Butte and the other Mount Crested Butte. "Mount" is located further up the mountain and is very chi-chi. You could almost see the money floating around up there. Corporations have bought property there and must use it for bonuses or getaways. Huge condos, huge homes... wow. It's a beautiful place but sure not what I remember. I liked the old memory better.

On Sunday, our ride took us to 'Parlay & 
Pitkin.'  Finally, we found a beautiful back road with almost no traffic! After a 15 mile picturesque drive, there was this little town named Pitkin at the end of the road that was exactly what I love!  Quaint, quiet, mountainous, horses, and lots of little log cabins. We found a small cafe there so we stopped in for an ice cream and you'll never believe what was on the TV. THE PACKER GAME!!!  Oh my gosh, we were so excited. For me, to just see a TV was awesome, but one with the Packer game?!? Way too fun. Then, to top it off, we also had great WiFi!! I was in heaven and wanted to move in. That meant we were able to connect with my brother and sister-in-law, Dick & Bonnie, who had come to Colorado on vacation three days prior. We had been trying to contact one another to set up our meet but were having a little problem with internet & phone service. We finally got to talk (it was wonderful) and we made plans to meet for lunch the following day. I am so excited to have family here!  Speaking of family, I would like to wish my other sister-in-law, Lynn, a very Happy Birthday today. We wish you and Stu were here, too! 

Happy Trails. 

#18-Movin' On Down the Trail

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Today, we said farewell to our friends at Lone Duck, and headed out for our next adventure. Our goal was to go as far west as we could without having to haul the trailer over a high mountain pass. We really want to get to the southwestern part of the state so, the closer, the better. The weather continues to be very warm during the days here, so we can't count on cool temperatures to help us out. After a lot of figuring, we decided to head to the town of Salida. It is a town we could get to by going south and then west vs a northern route that had high elevations and mountain passes. Salida is located about 60 miles east of Gunnison and will give us access to many of the areas we want to travel, even if we have to leave the trailer behind for a couple of days. Utah, by the way, is off the docket for this trip. Maybe next time....

The actual trip to Salida was pretty uneventful. Our bigger challenge was finding an RV park or campground that was decent. Lots of places call themselves RV parks out here but are really lacking any amenities. We finally found a place called Monarch Spur RV Park & Campground about 10 miles west of Salida at about 8600 feet. It's also about 8 miles east of Monarch Pass with an elevation of 11,300 feet. So we're in a good spot. We'll set up camp here and take the trike on our next

Happy Trails.

#17-Lone Duck & Pikes Peak

Just to let you know, we moved from the Colorado Springs area on Thursday and have been without Internet at our new campsite since. I will continue to work on the blog and send whenever I can.

Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015 

We took it a little easy today and watched the campground slowly empty after the busy holiday weekend.  Everyone packing up and heading back to work and school, except for a few. We're so very lucky. Another day of play for us. Haha. 
I haven't mentioned how much we have truly enjoyed the Lone Duck Campground and the family who runs it. They are always ready to greet you with a welcome smile and good conversation. We sure will miss them when we move on. Hi to Mark & Deb and Steve & Lisa. Hope all is well. 

We got a little restless this afternoon and decided to go back to the Garden of the Gods. We kind of got chased out by an afternoon rainstorm last time we were there and didn't quite get our fill. Such a beautiful place and the weather was perfect! 

Wednesday, September 9, 2015 

Our last day here in the Colorado Springs area and we decided to save the best for last. Today we made our way to the top of Pikes Peak. 14,137 feet to the summit. Wow. What an amazing drive! It was actually a little scary at times, but the beauty was so absolutely breathtaking, you just didn't want to stop. It's another place where pictures don't tell the story. We actually saw some bicycle riders on the way up. Man, oh man, I cannot imagine. Even Rick, the bicycle rider in the family, said "no way."  

We met a couple from Wisconsin at the summit. Everyone is always looking at license plates and they were by the trike when we came out. It's always nice to find someone from home. On the way down from the mountain, we stopped at the Crystal Reservoir and had a late picnic lunch on a big rock at water's edge looking up at Pikes Peak. A perfect way to end our adventure. 

Happy trails. 

#16-Labor Day Weekend

Friday thru Monday, Sept. 4th-7th

In an effort to become more current with my writings and not bore everyone silly, I'm going to combine our Labor Day weekend happenings into one post. Sure hope everyone had a nice holiday. 

Well....our quiet, peaceful little campsite, #51 was in the middle of all kinds of action this weekend! What a hoot. Starting Friday, we had two families with 7 kids, from about 4 months to 6 years, and one dog set up shop next door. Literally, one of their four tents was two feet away from ours. RVs moved in, tents sprang up, and campfires started burning everywhere. The 82° heated pool was jumpin', kids were fishin' in the stream, dogs were barking, music playing...just a very busy, happy, sayin' good-bye to summer, celebration. When we were around, it sure seemed like a very nice group of people. 

The weather has been pretty consistent this past week. We've definitely said good bye to the 90s up here. At a 7525 ft. elevation, our days are now in the high 70s and nights in the low 50s. It's amazing how a couple thousand feet can make you warm or cold. We usually get some rain in the afternoons if we're in the higher elevations but in the campground, not so much. 

We have done most of the rides around this area that our book has recommended. We still have Pikes Peak to do and we'll do that Tues or Wed. The rides have all been so very beautiful. Different, so we're not always seeing the same terrain, but all of them beautiful in their own way. Lots of ranches, lonely back roads, (that we love), meandering streams, small eccentric towns, abandoned mining towns turned into casino towns...certainly enough to keep us entertained. One night we came home to the most beautiful rainbow either of us has ever seen. The picture doesn't begin to do it justice. We both thought we were actually coming to the end of it. It was so brilliant and close! Lots of good days. 

Happy trails. 

#15-Garden of the Gods

Thursday, September 3, 2015

We decided to stay closer to home base today and since the Garden of the Gods is just a few miles down the road, we decided to check it out. WOW!! What an absolutely beautiful place....perfectly named. It almost looked fake at times. We watched a movie on how it was all formed starting over 500 million years ago and it makes you realize what a short speck in time we have on this beautiful earth. They have paths laid out among the rocks so you can get right in them. We watched two young college kids actually climb to the peak of one rock and rapelle down. (No, that's not me climbing on the pinnacle.) So amazing to watch. Rick took an 8 minute video of them on his phone and just sent it to them. It was pretty cool. 

We were in the Garden for several hours and once again, the skies started to darken. We got on the trike and headed up the mountain, but not before getting wet. It seems to rain here almost every afternoon for a bit. Regardless, it was a beautiful day. 

Happy trails. 

#14-All is Well

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

What a difference a day can make. After a good night's sleep, meeting the very nice people at our new campground, and a cool sunny morning, all is well. We are now at a place called The Lone Duck, in Cascade, CO. There's quite a bit to see and do around here so we picked a recommended ride from our book and were off. It was a beautiful day, the trike ran perfect without the trailer and cooler temps, so we just enjoyed. Around 1pm, we quite unexpectedly ended up near the Royal Gorge and what a great afternoon we spent soaking in all the beauty. We're back on Happy Trails.