NT to CA : Day 6 : 7/28/2013 Fort Collins CO to Cody WY

Today is looking a bit messy on the weather map:

Right now, I'm sitting under the big H, which is good; but there's a lot of battling air mass in my region.  The stationary front to the east isn't moving and I'm about to ride along it to the west.  If that cold front through Idaho doesn't move, I get to contend with that tomorrow.  At least this morning's road trip planner looks a little better.  The plan is to make some progress northward since I really don't have any outs that get me to Yellowstone.  Can anyone call in any favors with Mother Nature?

Well, whoever called in the favors, thank you.  I only got a little bit of rain on the ends of the trip.  When I left, it was light rain.  The only issue there was it being 20 degrees colder than forecast.  It didn't matter.  I was dressed well.

Breakfast happened at a little family restaurant in Wheatland WY.  I'm sure there was a plaid convention in town.  Interesting menu... I didn't ask questions.

 The ride from Fort Collins to Shoshoni Wyoming was boring.  I think that I might have gone into a trance if it weren't for XM radio and my iphone.   The next 6 shots are all you see... for 516 miles.  It's just like that.  No change...at all.  There's no need for me to revisit this area and after looking at these pics, there's no need for you to go there either.

Then, something wonderful happened about half an hour outside Shoshoni WY.  I grabbed my first opportunity to pull over.  Yes, that's a storm brewing in the sky.  I'm about a hundred miles out from my destination and that looks to me to be at least 25 miles out.  I'm feeling spunky and going to leave the rain gear off.  It's 87 degrees and I don't need a sweat bath.

Did someone lose something?

Somebody better do something about this. I see an accident coming.

Spunky is one thing.  There is no avoiding this now.  It's no more than about 10 minutes out and there's lightning on both sides.  The temperature is dropping rapidly, the wind is picking up and I'm 57 miles out of Cody WY.  I haven't seen shelter since Shoshoni and the GPS says the next town is Cody.  Time to gear up.

Well, it was a bumpy ride; but, nothing I haven't seen before. The temp dropped by over 20 degrees and the wind was buffeting me from the right.   Rain was intermittent and the visibility never dropped below about 20 miles.  Storms are crazy out here.  When I arrived, I was greeted by Gary, who works for the Holiday Inn, as, wait for it, a greeter.  He talked to me for half an hour before I even went in; mostly about my bike.  It seems that my bike attracts plenty of attention.  Yesterday, on top of the Rocky mountains, some people asked if they could take a picture of them and my bike.  Umm, sure.  Anyway, Gary let it out that the Holiday Inn is really expensive; but, if I indicate that I'm going to try some of the other hotels, magic will happen.  Following his lead, which I'm sure was a paid advertisement, I was approached by a lady wearing an orange shirt who asked me if I'd like to see a cabin.  So, I went for a short golf cart ride to a cabin and on the way found out that I can use all the hotel's amenities, including the motorcycle washing station, laundry and pool.  I also get private parking right next to my cabin door.  Hotel room = $179.  Cabin = $100.  No brainer, sold.  Pics below.  The first thing I did was take the bike for a wash.  Yes, the sky looked ugly and it was going to rain again; but, rain doesn't get road dirt and bug guts off.  My bike has treated me to a safe and comfortable ride for 2500 miles since I left NJ.  It deserves a little TLC.

Sorry about this next one.  It was starting to pour out and I wanted to get my stuff inside before I got soaked.

One honorary mention to the state of Wyoming.  I thought they were being extra nice to motorcyclists when I read a sign that read "Grooved pavement, motorcyclists exercise caution."  No sooner did I finish reading it than I dropped 4 inches to grooved pavement for about 10 miles.  The next sign I read was "Pavement ends."  What???  This is a posted 65 mph road.  Well, guess what.  I was on a dirt road for 20 miles.  It seems that Wyoming doesn't really care about rerouting traffic to one lane while paving happens in the other.  I didn't really know what to expect; except to say that I'd been avoiding loose gravel the whole trip.  After all, it's an 800 pound, top heavy bike.  Well, there were no more choices about it.  I don't like it any better now.  That said, I've seen hundreds of these in my travels, and I'm sure they were just fine with it.

One last pic.  I ordered a salad with my dinner and asked for oil and vinegar.  Look at the cool thing-a-ma-gig.

Once my laundry is done, I'm off to town to see what's going on.

Day 6 is complete and I'm still on schedule with the plan.  Now to start mapping out tomorrow.