Alright, another travel day!

Up fairly early, on the road before 10.

Uneventful drive, into Missoula around two, if I remember correctly. Got checked in, set up, and then went to town to check out the bike shops and get some trail tips!

First, we hit this place, because it’s the local Specialized dealer:

Big Sky Bikes, with some very friendly folks.

Got pointers and went off to the next place, Missoula Bicycle Works, also helpful, though the folks we saw were not quite so enthusiastic as in Big Sky. Bad day, maybe. We always buy something, just to let them know we’re not just looky-loos trying to get something for nothing. Usually works very well (most shopkeepers like it when you give them your money), sometimes not so much. Oh, well, it’s always something we need, so no harm done.

Pizza for lunch, hit a few other stores, then Junior wanted to go (no, not the truck – the OTHER Junior) … wanted to go somewhere to have a beer, and he decided that that somewhere needed to be Hooters. Well, I’m not usually one to argue, especially with such an inspired choice, so off to Hooters we went. Got some beers and some wings, and Junior could not QUITE stand the heat of the Spicy Garlic, so the server ( a VERY nice gal named Katie) asked if he wanted some water … no, thanks … then she offered some milk …

Sometimes it’s very hard for me to keep a civil tongue. I’m not much for political correctness, but, dear readers, you’d be proud of me. I kept it civil and on-topic, no sexual innuendoes, though good lord, I certainly had a lot I’d have liked to say. I must be mellowing in my old age. That’s not good!

Ok, done with dinner, we look outside – the trees are sideways! Storm clouds on the horizon, and winds blowing to beat the band (ok, what does that really mean? What I mean is, the winds were STRONG). Get back to camp, and this is just outside our trailer:

And facing our trailer, we see this:

Look at the tablecloth! And this is after the winds have calmed down quite a bit! Here is what the Eastern sky looked like:

And no, the picture doesn’t do it justice.

We’re sure hoping this clears up before the morning.

Tomorrow, Farmers’ Markets, then we ride!

Ok! Up early to get a jump on the move. Got packed up and breakfasted pretty early, then fueled up (I think I actually learned something the other day on the mountain!) so we could chug on down the road.

Made good time, giving us a chance to get Junior an oil change today. Almost 5,000 miles since the last, and on the trip so far we’re at about 4,600 or so. New air filter and Junior’s breathing a lot better than we are! Took him to the local Dodge dealer, who just moved, and they actually made it VERY difficult to find their new location. Almost gave up and went to Jiffy Lube, but we finally got its  location and did the dirty deed. Happy Junior!

In the afternoon, hit the local bike shops, and The Bear and I got some Command Post seat posts for our bikes, so we could all three have matching seat posts. Adrian had made us jealous. Basically, it is an adjustable seat post with three positions – full height, just as a normal seat post, then one position a bit over an inch below that, useful for when you want more foot contact with the ground at a standstill, and fully collapsed, which is about four inches lower than normal, and allows you to get your butt really low when going down a hill, to keep from going over the handlebars as easily. A bargain at $300 installed! Each. Yikes! Never thought I’d spend that much on a seat post! Also, I’ve been battling a leaky front tube, so I had them fix that while we’re at it. Was going to take an hour, so we went a few doors down for a beer, at the Crystal Bar:

Interesting place, and pretty good beer, though no Guinness on tap – boo!

For dinner, Adrian made some pretty good pasta, with lots of garlic and mushrooms, and of course, olive oil. Mmm … good stuff. And tonight, we have proof that EVERYONE like Pecan Sandies:

This guy just would not leave us alone, you’d take a bite of your cookie, and he’d land and get some for himself! Finally we just gave up and let him have this half to himself, so we could eat ours in peace! Good cookies, from the Keebler elves!

Adrian must have read my blog entry from yesterday, because today, one of the things he bought was a can of Bear Spray! Smart man! I hope we never need that stuff. I’ll stick to seeing grizzlies at the zoo.

Best news of all? I was told today that tomorrow I’m going to bang tail! Woohoo!

Travel Day! Not that exciting, actually, as we have a very long day today. Left at 8:30, stopped for lunch at the Casper, WY Wendy’s. Didn’t see any ghosts, though. Fueled up at Safeway (10 cent Tom Thumb discount, woohoo!) and were on our way an hour later. Pulled into the Billings KoA at 16:30 (that’s 4:30 PM for you civilians). Seven hours of driving – ugh! I don’t enjoy it like I used to. Scenery was very nice, though, so there was that. Maybe tomorrow (after we ride!) we’ll backtrack to Little Big Horn – I’ve heard it’s a very photogenic location.

Dinner at Old Chicago Pizza (The Bear had to have a pizza fix – great idea!), pretty darned good deep-dish pizza. A Guiness to wash it down, life is good!

Back to camp and off to sleep.

Well, we packed up early and headed out of Fort Collins. Tremendously long drive of just over one hour! But at least, it let us go for a ride out at Curt Gowdy State Park! Yes, The Bear and I have ridden it before (just a few days ago, matter of fact), but wanted Adrian to experience it. Nice trail!

Here are some more shots of it, first a little scenic:

We rode around that guy, and it was a lot of fun!

Here is a shot of Barri levitating her bike. Usually, it likes to go so much that it falls down on its own – here she’s teaching it to behave:

That was pretty much it for today, our travel day. Oh – but we did get rained on before the ride ended, so the curse still lives!

You know how, sometimes, you try to show off, and it really just backfires on you? Well, Adrian wanted me to take a picture of him on a big rock, so all his friends would think he had climbed it on the bike (I guess – he says no, but you know how those stories go …). Well, no sooner had he said “let me move over there after I unclip” when the mountain biking gods got their revenge! Not only did he not unclip (right away, anyway – or should I say, upright), but when he reached out to The Bear for support, he missed, and down he went! I ran forward, and snapped this:

Immediately followed by this:

Of course, his comment was “You’re not going to post that!” No, Adrian, don’t worry, I’m not going to post that … today. But it’s not “today” anymore!

He’s been much more honest about his riding since then! And just to prove that I’m really a nice guy, here’s a photo of Adrian actually ON his bike:

On the way back, Adrian wanted to put in a few more miles, so he asked us to pick him up at a place that “looks like a restaurant, with some old pickups out front”. Of course! And while we stopped to get him (at The Bunkhouse), we stepped in for a beer! They asked if we wanted dinner, but we declined, having already planned a spaghetti dinner, but we did indicate that we’d be back tomorrow – that menu looks good!

Well, today looked grey and gloomy, AGAIN, so we went grocery shopping, moped around a bit, and then decided, ok, no mountain bike trails, how about we do some of the local concrete trail that goes all around and through Fort Collins? Off we went, and it threatened rain, but never really did. It did sprinkle on us as we were packing up, though.

Well, the curse is alive and well. It rained last night. Matter of fact, it’s still raining as we try to cook breakfast! So much for Adrian maybe breaking the curse – he made it worse!

This is what it looked like outside when we got up:

Ugh! No riding today. Damn!

Well, we had heard of a scenic drive, so we took off for Walden on Colorado 14. Very nice drive! Less than 100 miles, but about 3 hours, so, kind of winding roads out here!

Here’s a photo of the drive:

And here’s another:

Unfortunately, when you get there, there’s not much to see in town! On a lark, we headed for Steamboat Springs, to try and find some lunch, which we did, at a grand eatery by the name of Wendy’s. Yes, THAT Wendy’s. Three salads and we’re on our way.

Looking at the map, the drive I’d heard about was taking highway 34 From Estes Park back towards Fort Collins, so we’d have to first be IN Estes Park to start that trip, so off we went, with Poindexter leading the way. Not so fast, pardner! To get to Estes Park on 34, you have to go through Rocky Mountain National Park, and THAT is twenty bucks! Adrian whipped it out of his wallet, prepared to take a bullet for us all, when Barri pipes up “WAIT! Is this a National Park? Will our Annual Pass work here?” Of course it does! Financial crisis averted, and we are on our way. BUT … we’re low on fuel …

Bill – “Is there Diesel fuel at Estes Park?”

Ranger – “Yes … how much fuel do you have?”

Bill – “An eighth of a tank”

Ranger – “That’ll be enough!”

Yes … well … maybe, and maybe not. My concern grew as the needle dipped, we were climbing, climbing, climbing … to heaven, it seemed … still 25 miles away … and then the low-fuel light comes on, and the truck dings to remind me I REALLY should have fueled up when we stopped to pee, back in Steamboat Springs. ARGH!!

Well, it was a nail-biter, for sure, and we were surely running on fumes, but we finally hit the outskirts of Estes Park, and there was a Shell station. A bit overpriced at 3.99 a gallon, but we were not about to quibble! As it turns out, another Shell on the way out of town was only 3.79, but, well, we had fuel. Off to Fort Collins we go, and off to bed. What a long day!

Oh, yeah, and on the way back to the trailer, we saw a sign that Colorado 14, the road we took this morning, is closed due to a mudslide! We are 8 miles from the State Park where we want to ride. What are the odds the trail is still wet tomorrow. Damn!

I’m tired! I have photos, but they’ll have to wait, sorry.

Ok, photos are up (obviously!) and here is another, from the top of Rocky Mountain National Park:

Today, we travel again! Got up a bit late, as we’re not in a big hurry – we have to check out by 10, but can’t check in until after 1, and the drive is only about an hour, so there will be a lot of something to burn time. We decided to go shopping for stuff we need for the trailer.

Left before noon, and all was going pretty well, until exit 281 off IH-25, when everything came to a screeching halt. Serious slamming of brakes, to keep from hitting the cars in front, and,since the line of stopped vehicles stretched literally as far as the eye could see (and the eye could see at least two miles down the road!), and we were only about five miles from our exit, we got off and let Poindexter recalculate the route. Gotta love automotive GPS!

Checked in, set up, pretty nice KoA, though it’s right on State 287, and thus a bit noisy. Got a good night’s sleep to prep for the next day.

Alright, broke camp early because it was going to be a long drive. Not too bad, at least we gained an hour going into Mountain Time. Had lunch along the way, a quite good burger.

Mid-afternoon, we pulled into Curt Gowdy State Park and set up camp. Water and electric. Well … you have to walk about 80 feet to the water spigot, but it’s by the bathrooms (no water, pit toilet. Hmmmm … this is looking worse by the minute!). But … the park is stunningly beautiful, and that kind of makes up for it a bit.

This is our view from the front door:

Of course, there’s always a downside – while they have a fire ring with a grill so we can cook our fish tonight, this is what the previous tenants left us with:

Why yes, that IS a dirty diaper you see in there. Maybe we’ll go into town for dinner.

Ok, went into town to see an old co-worker of mine, Dan Bond, back from the old Kodak days, checking out his gym, 007 Extreme Fitness. Cool place! If you need a gym and you’re in Cheyenne, go see Dan, either he or his wife Karen will fix you up!

We did go into town for dinner, and tried out Poor Richard’s … Well, we walked in, saw the menu, and decided we did not want to spend a small fortune for dinner, so we walked right back out again. Poor Richard’s? Nope, sorry – at those prices, no way in hell Richard is still poor!

Tomorrow, we ride!

Ah, another travel day! Broke camp early, because it’s going to be a long drive – 362 miles, according to the Map App. There is some beautiful countryside in this part of the world – lots of rolling hills, and when you get to South Dakota, they even have good-sized trees on them!

On the way, we fueled up in Oshkosh, b’gosh! There’s a Cabela’s something or another there, too. Not a store, and not a distribution center from the look of it.

A bit further on, we stopped at Carhenge! Different. I’d been to the row of cars outside of Amarillo called Cadillac Ranch, but this is actually a recreation of the real Stonehenge, with the cars allegedly placed the way the stones are in the real Stonehenge.

Here are some photos. This is a close-up:

This one is the whole thing, as you walk up on it:

And this one is another partial I thought was creative:

After this, it was time for lunch, and we stopped at a place called Sam & Louie’s, a New York style Pizzeria. On a whim, I decided to try their Sam’s Stromboli, made with Italian sausage, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, red onion, mushrooms, green bell pepper, and mozzarella cheese. VERY good! I only mention it because it easily makes second-best for Strombolis I’ve tried. My all-time favorite is Sal’s, either in Dallas or Plano. It took the Plano location a while to get it right, but now they’re every bit as good as the original. GREAT Stromboli.

Upon leaving S&L’s, I saw this:

And thought “Wow! I thought only Colorado and Washington had legalized it!”. Then I realized they meant beer. Not quite so progressive, these Nebraskans.

We arrived at the KOA, dropped the trailer, and headed for a local bike shop. We spoke to a very nice young lass, who was quite full of good information – not only about the local trails, but the local eateries as well. She mentioned some of the trails we already knew about, so we knew it was good info, and after eating at one of her recommended places, she knows good food, too. We’ll be seeing her for breakfast, at her second job as waitress – another good place to eat. I can’t wait! Good food and bicycles – does life get any better? You do a lot of one so you can do a lot of the other. Or, if you do a lot of one, you have to do a lot of the other. Either way works.

BTW, the bike shop is Black Hills Bicycles, here:

Dinner was at Everest – Indian and Nepalese cuisine. I had the hot Lamb Curry, and The Bear had some chicken dish. Both were delicious. I also had the Mango Lassi, which was to die for, even if it’s named after a dog – go figure, those foreigners and the things they call their food! (Just kidding! Nobody get their shorts in a knot!)

We have wi-fi, at the trailer! Woohoo! It’s been a long day, so the photos will get done tomorrow. At least I know they will get done. But first, we ride!