NJ to CA: Day 4 : (Pics) Rockies 7/26/2013

It's hard to believe that 4 days have already passed.  I've been so far in such a short amount of time.

Well, I'm on eastern time still, so I was up before the rest of Loveland Co. and double checked my Iron Butt Association paperwork.  1535 miles in 36 hours.  That will mark my second certification ride.  Now that that is out of the way, I'm focused on shorter segments and more sight seeing.

First, I have to deal with this:

It all started out on on the bike; but, there appears to have been an explosion last night.

Today's weather picture is pretty complex with good weather south of me, potentially bad weather to the west and a stationary front to the north.  Hopefully, this will move out today so my trip to Yellowstone will be without weather.  As for today, I'm optimistic.  I think Mike is going to have more rain than not on his way home today.

Pics and limited commentary:

Entrance to the canyon.  Sorry, no pics from within the canyon because there are no stopping points. Imagine being in a winding maze with rock walls that are hundreds of feet high.  It's breath taking.

Any guesses as to what this is?

The fly fisherman damn near out number the bikers and there are hundreds of them.

The next couple pics are of Estes Park.  If you've been to Gaitlinburg Tn, there's no need to go to Estes.  It's highly commercialized.  Somewhere early on, I lost my gloves taking pics.  I was fortunate to fine a mountain climbing supply place that had excellent replacements.  This was also an excellent place to practice slow riding.  We were moving 3 mph through town for a few miles.  The BMW gets kudos for slow riding performance.  You would think with such a high CG, the bike would be unstable at really low speeds.  Not at all, it's a prince.

These two guys were a pain in the butt.  At first, I thought it was cool to drive your Model A Ford through the park.  Off the show room floor, the Model A has a top speed of 65 mph.  That was in 1927.  These two had a top speed of 6.5 mph.  Enough said.

This pic was taken at a bit above 12,000'.  The air is pretty thin and the temperature is a good 20 degrees less than the base of the mountain.

Coming around a turn, I see this.  Mother nature is giving me a hint that it's time to get off the mountain.  This is easier said than done.  At this point, I'm on Rt. 34 about 10 miles from Rt. 40.  I have 220 miles left in my trip because I spent many hours in the national park.  More on this later.

So, there I was, tooling around the curves; man in oneness with his machine; jamming to Air Supply - All out of love on Sirius XM's 80's on 8.  Wait, don't tell me you don't love Air Supply.  I know you're lying.  Anyway, I come around this turn, and I'm leaned in hard when I see traffic stopped on both sides of the road.  So, I slow down, turn off the radio...no, not so I wouldn't be embarrassed  it was clear there was wildlife afoot.  There's 3 moose ( I had to look up the plural of moose, it's moose) grazing on the side of the road.  I was so glad I brought my telephoto lens (75-300mm for my camera geek friends).

So, after getting mother natures hint, and before seeing the moose, I put my rain gear on and pulled up Fort Collins on my GPS.  I was 220 miles out.  The situation wasn't pretty.  I was 8500' up and had 90 miles worth of fuel in the tank.  The next town was 45 miles away.  Fortunately, they had a gas station.  Even with the GPS, it's hard to tell how the winding road is going to get to Ft. Collins and if the storms that are moving in are going to be a problem, or not.  One thing was for sure; the sky was getting uglier by the second.  I even saw a sign right about that time that said to be prepared for rapidly changing weather and road conditions.  I didn't need the sign.  Then I saw another sign that said gusty winds are likely for the next two miles.  I want to go back and rip it down.  Gusty winds are an understatement, and they lasted 20 miles.  I was in open prairie with nothing to break the wind.  It wind was blowing so hard that I was riding the bike like I was in a turn, even though I was on a straightaway.  I had about 10 degrees or more of lean.  When it would gust, I'd have to lean in harder.  It really was unsettling.    With the road wet, I was wondering just how strong the winds would have to be to blow me off the road.  Did I mention it was raining a little?  This continued for 20 miles or more.  About 2 miles out of Waldon Co., I see this guy on a bicycle pedaling toward town.

As I'm gassing up, the guy on the bicycle pulls up to me and starts complimenting my bike.  He also tells me that his other bike is a BMW R 1200 RT - also a very nice motorcycle.  We start talking.  His name is Joe Sullivan and he's from Howard County Maryland...where he started riding, a month ago.  Now he's here and his final destination is Oregon.  He was doing 100 miles per day and today, he's meeting up with his wife, who flew in from home.  We talked for awhile about both our trips.  Finally, I wished him a safe and enjoyable journey as he went off to find his wife.

At this same gas station, I met a couple.  They were on a Valkarie and were locals.  I asked about the ugly sky and their thoughts since we weren't able to get internet access to check radar.  They said it looked ugly; but, couldn't predict what it would do.  Their names were Bob and Peggy.  Peggy said they weren't going to continue further into the prairie where I was and were going to turn back to Ft. Collins.  She said I should bail on my route as it would likely take me into bad weather and suggested 14 East.  She said the views are breathtaking and the canyon would protect me from the weather.  Sold.  I took her advice.  I left about 20 minutes behind them.  I met up with them again, on the side of the road, by the moose.

Eventually, I made it out to Fort Collins.  I was thinking that dinner and some rest would be good enough to make me want to get back on the road and go to Cheyenne WY tonight.  That would cut some of my riding off of tomorrow's long day.  I stopped at a restaurant, where they had this interesting interpretation of crutons.  I think the chef was "Chopped."

Then, I saw this weather picture and decided it was time to get off the road.  I had an awesome day.  To do this right though, I need a week to ride through the rockies.  Even then, I'm not sure I would see everything or get bored.  Maybe if I do it again, I'll ride a BMW F 800 GS, like so many others I've seen today, and camp!

Today's route:

 

For those following "The plan," I'm at point E.  Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'll do the E-F segment.