Saturday 08/30 and Sunday 08/31

Saturday, August 30, 2014 - Day 12 – Denver, CO to Santa Fe, NM Headed out late about 10AM since I had to pick up my back rest from the Sheepskin Factory. 431 miles today, 2692 total to date. It was beautiful sunny 60 degrees when we got on the road. Headed to Hwy 285 and stayed on it all day. The first part was typical Colorado going over a pass, curvy, switchbacks, and fun roads. After that, we were in the valley between mountain ranges. It was very windy, but a nice ride all the way to Santa Fe. Stopped in Bueno Vista for lunch at another old bar that has been there since 1885. We ate quickly as a storm was moving out of the mountains towards town. We got out in time but could see storms all day in the mountains to our right. We headed to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, which was awesome. The park contains the tallest sand dunes in North America, rising about 750 feet (230 m) from the floor of the San Luis Valley on the western base of the Sangre de Cristo Range, covering about 19,000 acres (7,700 ha). Researchers say that the dunes started forming less than 440,000 years ago. It was pretty cool seeing these dunes in the middle of Colorado. We rolled into Santa Fe about 8:30 and found out that most of the nice restaurants close between 9:00 – 10:00PM. Sunday, August 31, 2014 - Day 13 – Santa Fe, NM to Lubbock, TX 379 miles today, 3071 total to date. It was almost 70 as I rolled out this morning at 8:30AM. Today was that day that I said goodbye to my friends Rod and Brook. They stayed in the Santa Fe/Taos area for another day as I started heading back to Texas. I knew that today was going to be warm and boring. I was not expecting it to get as hot as it did. I stopped in Roswell, NM to visit the Alien Museum and Research Center. It was already 95 degrees by noon. It was fun to read all the information and conspiracy theories surrounding the crash of 1947. In my humble opinion, we would have to be very arrogant to think that we are the only living things in this universe!!!

Operating on the alien!!

Long boring, straight Hwy 285 between Santa Fe and Roswell, NM

More of the dunes, 750 feet tall

The Great Sand Dunes National Park

The Lariet Hotel and Bar in Bueno Vista, CO, established in 1885

Saturday 08/30 - No blog tonight

We rolled into Santa Fe a little late. Out to dinner with friends and I will catch up tomorrow.

Friday, August 29, 2014 - Day 10 – Vernal, UT to Denver 391 miles today, 3045 total to date. It was beautiful sunny morning again today. Got on the road a little before 8:00. It was 60 degrees already. Warmed up to the mid 70’s before falling back to 42 (more on that later). The drive from Verna, UT to Rifle, CO was pretty boring. There is a lot of land with not much that you can do with. Scrub cedar and sage for miles. Went through an area that was full of oil field equipment. Looked ugly, but we need the oil and gas. We stopped in Rifle, CO for lunch at the Shooter’s Grill. Here, all the wait staff are wearing guns, real ones. Colorado is an “open carry” state (except for Denver and Boulder). Just a little odd seeing people walk around with guns on their hips. We then headed to Aspen and up over the Continental Divide at Independence Pass. At 12,095 feet (3687 meters), it odd to be driving above the tree line. Doesn’t take much to get out of breath at this altitude. Down the mountain and on to Leadville, at 10,152 (3094 meters), they claim to be the highest city in Colorado. We stopped at the Silver Dollar Bar that has been in business continuously since 1879. It was a beautiful day up till then. It rained a bit while we were in the bar. We put our wet gear on and headed to Denver. It rained off on on a bit till we got to I70, then the bottom dropped out and the temp dropped to 42 as we approached the Eisenhower Tunnel. Oh well, we got home safe. Tomorrow on to Santa Fe. It will be my last day of riding with my friends before heading back to Texas.

Old homestead at the bottom of the pass

Wow, there is little oxygen here!!!

Road heading up to Independence Pass

Shooters Grill in Rifle, CO

Days 8 and 9

Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - Day 8 – Cut through the west entrance to the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park. 172 miles today, 2261 total to date. It was beautiful sunny 30 degrees when we walked to breakfast at 7:45 this morning. However, it had warmed up to 48 by 8:45 when we pulled out of the parking lot. We headed back into Yellowstone via the west entrance and exited through the south entrance. It was 80 miles between those entrances. Yellowstone is a huge park. Once you exit the south entrance of Yellowstone, you are immediately in Grand Teton National Park. The Tetons are absolutely gorgeous. We stopped by Jenny Lake and the Moulton Barn. It is from and old Mormon settlement and is supposedly the most photographed spot in Wyoming. They have started putting up the “snow plow” poles so that the plows know where the road edges are. Won’t be long!! We stopped in Jackson, WY at the “Cowboy Bar: for a few beers before heading up to Driggs for the night. Tomorrow is a “just get there” day, so I may not have many photos to share. Thursday, August 28, 2014 - Day 9 – Driggs, ID to Vernal UT 393 miles today, 2654 total to date. It was beautiful sunny morning again today. We slept in a bit today and didn’t get on the road until 9:00. It was 50 degrees when headed out and got up to 80 today. You can tell that we are heading south!!! There was not much to see (compared to Yellowstone and the Tetons), but there were a lot of farms and ranches. I like going through the small towns and we saw plenty today. I always wonder what these people do. Many are just a memory of what they once were before the interstates were built. Still cool to see. Towards the end of the day, we went though the Flaming Gorge Recreational Area and there were some picture taking opportunities!!! Tomorrow, back to Colorado and through some of the ski areas before staying at Rod and Books place for the night.

Lewis Falls near the south entrance to Yellowstone

Moulton Barn with the Tetons in the background.

The Grand Tetons

Town Square in Jackson, WY.

Road to Flaming Gorge, UT

Same road to Flaming Gorge, UT

Along Hwy 43 towards Vernal, UT

Along Hwy 43. Beautiful valley.

Wednesday 08/27

Very poor Internet connection here in Driggs, ID, so will try again tomorrow night.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014 Tuesday August 26, 2014 Day 7 – Yellowstone National Park all day again today. 138 miles today, 2489 total to date. It was very foggy when we woke up. We had breakfast and went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. There were 2 habitat areas of wolves and 1 area for the bears. They rotated 4 groups of bears in the habitat. In between each set of bears, the staff would hide food and other “enticing” things in the habitat. When they let the bears out, they were like kids at an Easter egg hunt. They ran all over flipping over rocks to find their “prize”. Spent the entire day touring the Southern loop of Yellowstone. It was 47 degrees when headed out and got to the upper 60’s. We started in the Lower Geyser Basin and Firehole Lake Drive. Some of you may remember that this road melted from underneath about a month ago. The ground has to get pretty dang hot to do that. We then stopped by Old Faithful and waited for the eruption. We drove over the Continental Divide at Craig Pass before driving along Yellowstone Lake for several miles. We ended the day visiting the “Grand Canyon” of Yellowstone and viewed the Lower Falls. Great way to end the tour. Tomorrow on to the Grand Tetons and the Jackson Hole area.

Yellowstone's "Grand Canyon"

Lower Falls

Old Faithful!!!

Reflection in a lake.

This was along Firehole Lake Drive. The blue indicates a hotter pool.

Monday, August 25, 2014 Monday August 25, 2014 Day 6 – Yellowstone National Park all day. MT 144 miles today, 2351 total to date. Spent the entire day touring the northern loop of Yellowstone. It was 31 degrees when we woke up, 47 when we headed out and got to the upper 60’s before falling back to almost 40. It was a beautiful day until the last hour and 1/2 when it started raining again. First site was Gibbon’s Falls, then Beryl Spring. We then went up through Norris Geyser Basin and up to Mammoth Hot Springs. We then went up through the North Roosevelt Arch, where the park was dedicated in 1872. We saw a couple of eagles, an elk cow and her baby, many bison and a pronghorn today. Tomorrow is the lower loop!!!

My seat won't get frost on to tonight!

This bad boy was close!!!

The Roosevelt Arch, the first entrance into Yellowstone, dedicated in 1872

Beautiful meadow, we saw an eagle here!

Sunday August 24, 2014 Day 5 - Sunday 08/24 – Gillette, WY to West Yellowstone, MT 479 miles today, 2207 total to date. Not much to blog about today. Long cold, wet day. It was 47 degrees (8.3 C) and stayed in the 50’s all day. It rained off and on for over 4 hours today. We were frozen when we rolled into West Yellowstone. We were supposed to go over Beartooth Pass, but it was snowing. They had to get the snow plows out, so we drove around to Bozeman before heading south. It’s goping to get down to 31 (-1C) tonight, so we are going to sleep in and get a later start tomorrow. We are going to spend the whole day in Yellowstone.

Outside of where we had dinner

Downtown West Yellowstone

Saturday August 23, 2014

Day 4 - Saturday 08/23 – Keystone, SD to Gillette, WY 295 miles today, 1728 total to date. Today was an odd day. We were supposed to have rain all day. They issued a flash flood warning for all of the counties around us. We woke up at 6:00 AM and checked the radar and all the storms had already moved though. It was cloudy, but not raining. We go up and got rolling about 8:30. It was a cool 60 degrees (15.5 C) and only got up to the mid 70’s (19 C), until it dropped back to 52 (9 C). We headed south through Custer State Park, then back up through the Needles Highway and Spearfish Canyon. It started raining as we finished Spearfish and sprinkled for about an hour, then cleared up. We then headed up to Devil’s Tower. After leaving Devil’s Tower, we started to head to Billings via Hwy’s 112 and 212. When we turned onto 112, there was a sign warning motorcycles to be very careful. After about a quarter of a mile, the road turned to gravel, a car headed in the opposite direction stopped us and said that he wouldn’t go through there. We decided to back track 48 miles and come back down to I90. We hit a heavy rainstorm about an hour from Gillette, WY. The wind kicked up and the temps dropped to 52 ( 9 C). It was 8:00 PM and we were still 3 1/2 hours from Billings, MT So tomorrow, we have 3 1/2 more hours than was previously expected.

Devil's Tower

I very small tunnel along Needles Hwy

Mt Rushmore from one of the many vantage points

Along Needles Hwy

Friday, August 22, 2014

Friday, August 22, 2014 Day 3 – Denver, Co to Keystone, SD. 606 miles today, 1433 total to date. We started at 5:30AM. The temperature was 60 (15 C) and was 70 (21C) for most of the day. It warmed up to 80 (27 C) when we were approaching the Badlands. We rolled into the hotel tonight at 11:00PM…long day, but we were expecting it. It rained overnight, so the streets were wet when we left this morning. We were chasing the storm for about 120 miles when we caught up with it near Sterling, CO. We were in heavy rain for about an hour, then sprinkles for another hour or so. It stopped raining after that, but remained cloudy for most of the day. There was a large thunderstorm just north of us as we rolled into Keystone, SD. We are under a flood watch tomorrow, but there looks like there is a time window mid-morning in which we have the best chance to get on the road without getting drenched.

Beautiful at night.

Badlands National Park

The Wounded Knee story.

This is the mass burial grave at Wounded Knee

There were tons of sunflower fields up here.

This is when the rain started slacking up a bit.

Day 2 – 08/21 - Amarillo to Dallas 455 miles today, 827 total to date. Today was a great day of riding. Left Amarillo at 8:30 and it was 70 degrees (21 C). It only warmed up to 84 (29 C). Made good time up to Denver. Rolled in about 4:00. We headed out to dinner and met up with a high school friend. Today brought back memories of the old high school ski trips. Up through Dumas, Dalhart, Clayton, Raton, etc. Tomorrow is a long day. Going to try to head out around 5:00 AM

Cool looking store in Clayton, NM. It's gone out of business, but still a cool building.

Love these old grain elevators!!

Loaded up and ready to go!!!

Good morning from Amarillo!

Dang good candy!

Like I said, not much to see today, but this place had dang good candy!!!

Day 1 Wednesday 08/20 - Dallas to Amarillo

Day 1 - Wednesday 08/20 - Dallas to Amarillo Today was pretty uneventful as expected. As most of you know, the drive up 287 is pretty boring. You get to go through Wichita Falls, Iowa Park, Vernon, Chillicothe (love this name), Quanah, Childress, Memphis, Clarendon and Claude before you get to Amarillo. You SHS’ers will remember from the ski trips up to New Mexico and Colorado. Left about 10:30 and it was 90 degrees (32 C) already and got up to 102 (39 C) before I got caught by a shower in Claude. Only got rained on for a couple of minutes, but the temperature dropped back to 90. Rolled into Amarillo about 4:15 and stopped by the Big Texan for a couple of beers. Headed to Outback for dinner and met a lady doctor that loves Little League baseball and we had dinner together. She went to TCU (Go Frogs). When I got back to the hotel, ran into another biker and we talked for over an hour. He was telling me about some routes up to Alaska. My friend Debbie R. suggested that I post my itinerary, so her it is: Day 2 – Amarillo to Denver Approx 437 miles to hook up with my friends Rod and Brook Day 3 = Denver to Keystone, SD Approx 557 miles via Wounded Knee and the Badlands Day 4 Keystone to Billings , MT Approx 438 miles via Spearfish Canyon, Devils Tower, Battle of Little Big Horn (Custer’s last stand) Day 5 Billings to Yellowstone Approx 224 miles via Beartooth Pass Day’s 6, 7 and 8 will be in Yellowstone and then down towards Jackson Hole, WY and Driggs, ID Day 9 Driggs to Vernal, UT Approx 380 miles Day 10 Vernal back to Denver Approx 364 miles Day 11 Denver to Santa Fe Approx 384 miles Day 12 Santa Fe to Lubbock Approx 376 miles Day 13 Lubbock to Dallas Approx 321 miles