Thunderation!

Yesterday at 7:43 am we were struck by the hugest, loudest thunder I have ever heard, and I grew up in the midwest, where we know a thing or two about thunder.

This was the Granddaddy of Thunder. Or maybe it was Thor himself.

The whole house bowed down under the pressure wave of that Thunder. The house shook, things rattled all over the place and the windows creaked. It was also the longest lasting Thunder I have ever heard. I thought it would never end. Some people thought it was an earthquake or a plane crash in their back yard. It was that loud.

Poor old Norman shot down the stairs like the Hounds of Hell were riding in that Thunder, to take refuge in his safe place far under Ray's desk in the basement. He didn't come up until about an hour later and would not set foot outside until 2 in the afternoon.

Ah, winter in the Northwest!

A Fast Ride Home

We left Yellowstone on a cold morning. We wore many layers and our heavy gloves. The ride to the Interstate was interesting, thru the frosted chilly stubbly fields and past blanketed horses in the slanting unenthusiatic morning light. The sun did not seem to care much about warming the air temperatures until about noon time, when the temps rose into the 80s once again and we could peel off and look a tad less like Pillsbury Dough Persons.

We were back on that freeway before lunch and there is nothing like 45 degrees at 65 miles per. Brrrrrr! I don't like it. I think the cold is worse than the heat when you are out on the bike. Freeways, I am sure you know, do not lend themselves to picture taking, since the whole idea of a freeway is to get on it and hustle off to somewhere else. And that's what we did the last 3 days of our ride. We hustled home.

We did stop in Missoula for the night and we encountered our first 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. O, yum. And fun too, albeit exceedingly noisy. There's not a soft surface in the joint and they like their music way more than we did. But it was right next to the motel and we were tired and so we went to 5 Guys. Neither of us regretted it, but I do have a word of advice for you. Get one small fries and share it. Get "small" burgers and not "regular" burgers. "Regular" burgers are enormous and small fries come heaped in a medium sized drink cup. It's inexpensive and there are free peanuts in the shell besides. All in all, a winner and I am happy to see that there are several 5 Guys abuilding in the Seattle Metro area. So yes, my brother, there is a food report in this edition too.

The last night out we stayed in Moses Lake, Washington in a Holiday Inn Express. Once again, the HIE was among the nicest motels we stayed in and in Moses Lake, it being Moses Lake, the price was very right.

It rained overnight, so we had to dry bikes before we loaded up. Since bikes are small, it was no big deal. By this time, we are so good at loading up, we couldn't believe how fast we accomplished the task. We wore our mesh jackets because it was 65 and as humid as a freshly loaded clothes dryer.

As we drove east, temps dropped. The layers went back on again. We stopped for lunch in Cle Elum, at the handy dandy Burger King and put on more clothes. We stopped halfway up the mountains and put on our rain gear since the clouds looked like they'd love to dump on motorcyclists. And the rain gear helps with warmth. It did spit rain at us a bit so it was good we had the gear on.

Zoom-Zoom down the mountains and it was time to take things off at North Bend. We decided not to get gas, but that was a bad idea and we ended up in the wilds of Issaquah at the gas station manned by the Gas Nazi. But we got gas and headed for Shoreline, just about an hour away.

Home about 3:30 and unloaded, decoated and debooted by 4. Normie was so glad to see us, I think he thought we were never coming back. It took him a while to believe we were actually staying home.

It was cold, grey and icky in Shoreline and has pretty much stayed that way ever since. Quite a shock from the blue sunny skies we'd had for the last 6 weeks. It took us a while to get back in the swing of things and then, of course, I had the annual Autumnal Cough, Hack & Snuffle Fest. So here we are deep in December, floating in the rain and I still am not back into the swing of things.

Ray went back to work a week after we got home and he's had his nose to the grindstone ever since. There's a big project to finish and as usual, after dithering for 3 years, the Powers That Be have decided the project must be done soonest, and before soonest, by golly.

Ah, life in the fast lane!

It snowed quite alot in Yellowstone the week after we left. Part of me wishes we'd washed clothes and repacked and hit the road again. I hear tell it's still warm down south.

To Yellowstone and Beyond!

What can I say about Yellowstone? It's amazing, from the first minutes inside the park to the last minute you're there. We entered the park from the south and thought we'd seen beautiful scenery all the way. The entire trip was a build up to Yellowstone. It was surely the capper on our trip.

We arrived in the Park on the day before the lodges and services closed for the year. Being late lunch time, we decided to eat at the Grant Village Lodge. I think they were down to the last of the items in the fridge and freezer and everyone wanted to be elsewhere. I had the misfortune to encounter the worst fish coating ever. I ordered fried codfish, a no brainer in most places and just about the only thing on the very short menu that I was interested in. Ugh. Bad choice. I'd have been better off with whatever and artichoke hearts after all. The tempura style batter was way too thick and raw and squidgy near the fish. Yeek. I ended up peeling the fish and eating it plain. Meanwhile, Ray was happy enough with his Reuben sandwich. O well. The view of Yellowstone Canyon made up for the hideous fish coating. And the weather was wondrous.

We decided to change our plan and instead of heading for the West side of Yellowstone, chose to drive up the East side. Oh, my, what a road! Twists and turns and hairpins and switchbacks and no edges and astounding views. Until Upper and Lower Falls, the road follows the Yellowstone River and it's canyon. The stones really are yellow! We were glad we were not there in the height of the tourist season, because even on the second to the last day, the parking lots were often full, as were many of the roadside turnouts. They don't mark those turnouts, so you have to keep your eyes peeled.

We took pictures at West Thumb, which is part of Yellowstone Lake, and is an older caldera. Here they try to keep the road open for a while and we marveled at how tall the snow poles were. Ray took a picture of me standing next to a snow pole so you could see how towering they were, but there must have been a little earthquake as the picture is blurry and you can't see the pole. But the pictures of West Thumb turned out fine.

On a lark, we turned off the main road to take a look at Fishing Bridge, which bridge has been there nearly forever. Quickly we discovered a Yellowstone not-so-secret. While the 2 main roads are in great shape, not so for the side roads. Fishing Bridge road is a colossal collection of potholes, missing pavement, loose gravel and curves. The road goes around the top of Yellowstone Lake and across the eastern part of the park to the East Entrance. This section of the road is closed from early November to sometime in May and apparently is not high on the maintenance list. We drove across Fishing Bridge and then turned around and rode back over, as we knew we had some ways to go before we got to the end of the day's road and there was simply no time to go to the end (or beginning) of the road.

Pictures of the canyon were taken at every opportunity we had to do so. Yellowstone is at a high elevation, or at least higher than we are used to. Walking about quickly reduced us to slow podding and panting. We didn't stop at Canyon Village except for the pit potties.

We went over Dunraven Pass at 8895 feet. At this point the twisties really got going in earnest. It was very challenging, especially when the road turned West into the sun. It's very hard to negotiate curves when you can't see or with one hand while the other shades your eyes so you can see. The Park Service was conducting a "managed" burn east of the section between Dunraven and Tower Fall and we managed to get some great pictures, although the best viewing spots were taken up by firefighter trucks and professional photographers and Park Rangers.

Just bout dusk, we came into the Mammoth Hot Springs area. Elk were in town. On this night, only females. The elk were outnumbered by tourists with and without cameras. We happily joined them in elk observation.

The exit is another 5 miles beyond Mammoth Hot Springs, so we soldiered on, being pretty worn out by this time, and it's getting dark. Came around a switchback and ! Traffic jam! No one is coming up and no one is going down. Why? As we inched forward with the rest of the tourists, we found out. Mountain goats! They were crossing the road and leaping up the face of the mountain to our right. Fairly vertical it was, as they cut the mountain to make room for the two lane road. But those goats, large and small, went up that near vertical face like they had sticky pads on the bottoms of their hooves. Twas amazing to see and you will have to take our word for it because we had no time to get the camera out, being in impatient traffic and all the pullouts were full.

By the time we left the park and got to our motel it was full dark. The room was smaller than it should have been for the price we paid, but it was clean and quiet and we slept just fine after finding an Italian restaurant run by an Eastern European family, where we ate spaghetti that tastes suspiciously like Prego and doing a couple loads in the motel laundry. We hit the bed and slept like logs.

Up early the next morning, we visited the little breakfast room for bagels and cream cheese and then headed to the local market to forage for lunch fixings. There are many beautiful, quiet picnic areas in the Park and we decided that we should take advantage. We had plenty of room in the cooler for the things that needed to stay cool. We entered the park at the North Entrance and went straight to Mammoth Hot Springs. The springs have changed over the years. Earthquakes both in and outside the park change the underlying geology and the Springs move over time and run at different strengths from time to time. They are in a lower phase right now, but still beautiful. We saw them today in both bright morning sun and close to dusk at the end of the day. They are beautiful both times of day, but look different at both times. We stopped so often to take pictures that Ray got quite weary with picture taking. We took a ride thru the Upper and Lower Terraces area, another example of exceedingly neglected pavement, but worth the shaking and bouncing and maneuvering.

On down the road we stopped at the Norris Museum of the Park Ranger but it was already closed for the season. But we also stopped at the Norris Geyser Basin and walked all around the basin on the boardwalk. Quite a wearing walk, even tho most of it was flat in the bottom of the basin. There's not much air up there and then there's the fumes from the fumaroles...phew! We took a breathing break at the bookstore. So many wonderful books, and we left feeling quite proud of our selves for not spending every penny we had left on books.

Then it was a break at a beautiful, peaceful riverside picnic area. On all the tables are bolted metal signs: DO NOT FEED THE BEARS. CLEAN UP YOUR MESS. UNLESS YOU ARE ACTIVELY EATING IT, PUT ALL FOOD AWAY. KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR BEARS. BEARS ARE DANGEROUS. Luckily, the largest wild animals we saw were chipmunks.

Refreshed, we hit the road again and drove south to the Fountain Paint Pots. Here again we walked around to see all the "pots" and their colors. It's amazing. We tackled Firehole Lake Drive. And it tackled us, but we got thru with the shiny sides up, road notwithstanding. All thru the park the main roads are being repaved, even when it looks like the road was in ok shape to begin with. But the side roads are truly crumbling into nothing much. Those of us who are brave enough to take on the side roads recieve tremendous rewards of scenery, bothered by few people. I could have spent more time watching the rapids of the Firehole River, but there were more things to see.

Our next stop was Old Faithful. We had about 45 minutes to wait for the anticipated eruption, so we found comfy seats on the porch of the new lodge and drank a couple of sodas. We had not known how much we needed that rest and hydration until we'd had them! Right on time, Old Faithful erupted and it was the highlight of the day. By this time, it was after 5 and we decided we'd better head toward the North Gate and our motel.

The lighting was of course, different at this time of day and we enjoyed the way the sun lit the cliffs. The animals began to come out and we saw bison, elk, deer, antelope. No bears and no wolves. My goodness do the animals ever attract people! You actually have to watch to avoid hitting the people. The animals seem to have the good sense to avoid the roads. We stopped again at Mammoth Hot Springs to take more pictures of the Springs in the different light. And of course, the elk were back in town, and this time, the ladies brought a gentleman. Wow, did he have a spectacular set of antlers, many points! The elk are so calm and concentrate on cropping the nice green grass and the people so excited. You'd think it might be the other way round, wouldn't you? This time, no mountain goats on the road. Again we got back to the hotel about dark. We opted for dinner at the same place, because it was closest to the hotel and because we were tired. Ray had lasagne and I had mexican pizza. It was food. We ate. We went back to the hotel and repacked and hit the sack again.

In the morning, we had bagels and cream cheese again and left on a very chilly day. Sadly, it's time to go home. The trip is winding down and we can feel the end coming closer with every passing mile. I don't like that feeling much. I wish it could go on for many days more. There is still much to see and many curves to enjoy in the coming days. And I do like that feeling!

Too Grand For Words

Leaving Jackson on a briskly chilly morning, we put on all our cold weather gear and set off for the Grand Tetons. They are grand indeed, and rise abruptly from the valley floor. We could see them a long way off.

On this morning we also saw a small bunch of antelope. One crossed the road right in front of Ray. But he was going slowly and he knew it was coming, so there was no disaster. The animals always seem to wait for the last second to decide to cross the road in front of vehicles. I don't know if they have any depth perception or their timing is off or they just are adrenaline junkies, but they risk life and limb on a regular basis.

There was more traffic on this road than we had thought there would be. But it still wasn't Seattle rush hour traffic by any means, so we were happy. There were nice curves throughout the trip to Yellowstone.

But first, the Grand Tetons!

We took a side trip to Jenny Lake and it was worth the time.



And soon we came to Yellowstone National Park. It deserves it's own entries and we've got scads of pictures to go thru to pick the best, so I'll end here.

Where to begin....

We have skipped quite a few days in the ol' blog. So I'd better catch up. We very much enjoyed the short ride between Marbleton and Jackson. Once again, the weather was spectacular, but cold in the morning. The road surfaces were good, there was a nice mix of twisty, sweeper and straight, beautiful scenery too.

Just as we reached the little town just before Jackson there was road construction. Major construction, as the "road" was nothing more than some large rocks covered by a layer of dirt. The construction company was diligent about keeping down the dust, so it was a very slick, lumpy, bumpy, humpy, muddy nasty bit of "road". And even worse, it filthied up our bikes something awful.

As for Jackson (or Jackson Hole), well. It's as Ray said, a giant tourist trap for the wealthy. The city fathers seem to favor an architectural style that I'd call Wild West meets Mountain Lodge. It's kinda weird. The town is very old and is indeed in a hole. When the Teton mountains rose up, Jackson dropped 4 times as much. It's long and narrow, being trapped in the hole. And very woody. That is, the entire town is encased in lumber of some sort, mostly rough sawn. There are still wooden sidewalks in the downtown. It must be an insurer's nightmare. Or maybe his dream town. In case of forest fire, oops! There went Jackson, poof! Our motel, the EconoLodge took up an entire city block and was several buildings. There was an entire restaurant building that was used only for the Continental breakfast for our motel. The room was smaller than it should have been for the price, but apparently in motels as in real estate, location is everything. And this being Jackson, the prices reflect the location. Compared to the other places in town, the EconoLodge was fairly inexpensive and full of retired folks and young folks, people who have budgets. It was also underlighted. It was the darkest room we've ever stayed in, which was great for sleeping. And the bed was way too soft and made my back "go out".

We spent a fair amount of time in that room as I got sick shortly after our arrival and first foray around Jackson. Ray eventually walked over to Mountain High Pizza Pie and escorted a pizza back to the room. They reportedly have the best pizza in Jackson, but it can't hold a patch to our dear departed Sorelli's in Mountlake Terrace. Or maybe it was because I felt lousy, who knows?

We planned some things for the next day, starting with a session in the hot tub and I was feeling fine then (except for my back) but shortly after our hot tub session Ray wasn't feeling well. So intead of doing things, we hauled our laundry and the Carcassone game down to the laundry room. The motel had thoughtfully provided a table and chairs there and we used them to occupy our time while the laundry got clean. We skipped lunch. We repacked.

We walked around a bit more and settled on Bon AppeThai for supper. It was very good but probably one of the most expensive meals of the whole trip. I had Phad Thai and Ray had Curry Pork Fried Rice. We shared vegetable rolls which were very good too. After supper, we two little piggies walked off some of our dinner around the downtown. When it got towards dark and was getting chilly we went back to the hotel for bed.

Everywhere you look, there's a mountain view. It is a beautiful location, I have to admit that. But other than the lovely roads in and out, I have no desire to visit Jackson again. But I did buy some t's. (yeah, they trapped me too)

short update for a long day

Yesterday was a rest day in Jackson Hole WY. It's a touri$t trap with a capital $. There was a Harley store with only two motorcycles on display but lots of leather and other things that say Harley for many $$.

Today we went to Gardiner MT via the Teton National Park and the east side of Yellowstone. Too many things to see, places to stop and look at. We got in late and very tired. We are fine, more to follow.

Twisting North

It mystifies us how the temperatures can be in the 40s but the sun is so hot. It seems to be the norm in the high desert areas. It was a bit on the chilly side when we left, but it warmed up fast. It was warm enough that we could start the ride in our mesh jackets.

We left Vernal, UT on US Highway 191 and proceeded north. The morning's ride was most wonderful scenery-wise. We went almost immediately into twisties. The rock formations were very impressive. We went around a curve and WOW! A lake! It was Steinaker Dam and Resevoir. The lake was such a beautiful blue and a total surprise in all that dry and brown.


Many of the buttes and formations were red, like this one. The clutter in the foreground is a phosphate mining operation.


The state of Utah kindly offered good notice on the pullouts and even posted signs occasionally to tell us what era the rock formations were from. We passed one called the Navajo Formation. It was from the cretaceous era. The rock was multi-colored and swirled. Unfortunately there was no place for a picture. But the rest of the formations and monoliths were equally interesting. We think this one looks like the remains of a castle.


This was the highest point around the resevoir.


We continued on 191 and the road surface was wonderful. We wound higher and higher and drove thru vibrantly glowing stands of birch, their white trunks and golden crowns blazing like so many candles. It was an amazing sight.

The road continued to twist around and soon we came to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. Highway 191 runs right thru it and over the dam. The gorge was full of pines and junipers and green as can be. Because of the dam, there was a lake. It's rather large and highway 191 does not follow along the length of it so there is still much to see for another trip.


Off we went, twisting around and going up, until we had reached 9 thousand and some feet. Our bikes were sluggish but they made it. We saw antelope alongside the road, a group of four. They were beautiful to us, but they did not seem to find us the same, as they fled in a panic at our approach. Of course, this being hunting season, they probably had good reason. The scenery continued to be astounding at every curve.




Here I am at an overlook. You may think I am making a rude gesture at the camera, but I'm simply rubbing my weary hand.


We really enjoyed this part of the day and nearly ran out of "Oh, Wow!"s. We didn't know whether to slow down and enjoy the scenery or speed up and enjoy the curves. Eventually the road wound down out of the mountains and buttes and deposited us at I-80. It being time for lunch, we lunched and rested up and I took advantage of very clean bathroom to remove my cuddle duds which were beginning to cuddle me a bit too diligently. Then we tackled the Interstate. It was infested with large rushing trucks. Ugh. We were on it only about 10 or so miles and then it was off on one of the chicken scratch roads, Wyoming 372.

Now, I know that I have said that we passed thru remote and desolate lands before, but the lands surrounding Wyoming 372 are even more so. I am trying to think of a word which signifies more desolate than desolate and I can't come up with one. Whatever it is, this area made desolate seem comfy and homey. No one lives here but free-ranging cattle and oil and gas wells. The low rolling hills are a dull brown and the cows are the tallest living things in sight. Not that we saw all that many cattle either. The brush is the scrubbiest imaginable and nothing resembling a tree grows here. It was exceedingly dreary riding. My right hand kept falling asleep and I wanted to join it until the drear was all past us. The road surface ranged from nice to cruddy and fairly quickly changed it's mind about what it would be. It was hot and dry and deserty and waaaaay out there. We endured this part of the ride. Just about the time we got bored to death, we picked up US 189. This road offered a good surface and some nice sweepers and some bigger hills. After a bit, things got more interesting and we began to see buttes again and some life around and fenced in cows and a bit of river. Around a curve and there's another lake!


That was our last picture of the day, because having passed Dry Piney Creek, South Piney Creek and Piney Lake, we came to the Town (300+ people and 6675 elevation) of Big Piney. Now, I would like to know how these creeks and the town came to have the name of Piney, since there is not and probably never has been a pine tree within a hundred miles of this place. Two hops and we were in Marbleton (300+ people and 6685 elevation), where we have taken refuge within the friendly confines of Room 123 at the Marbleton Inn.

We ventured down to Big Piney for dinner, as it has the one restaurant in the two towns that's open on Sundays, that being Los Cabos Family Mexican Restaurant. We ate well in that dinky place.

Tomorrow it's off up US 189 to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where our surroundings will be considerably posher and correspondingly pricier, location being all in the motel biz. And hopefully, a fair number of curves in the road on the way there. We'll have a rest day in Jackson Hole, mingle with the well-to-do and see how the other half lives.

Today we went 215 miles today. Not so far but well worth the time and effort.

Good Bye Sulphur, Hello Dinosaurs

This morning it was very cold in Hot Sulphur Springs. Here's the proof:

Here's the view out the window.

We put on lots of our clothes and hit the road, that being US 40. After about 12 miles, we stopped for gas and put on more clothes. Shiver! But by noon, we were shedding clothes as it warmed up nicely. By the time we got to Vernal, Utah, it was downright warm.

The skies stayed clear blue all day and it was once again beautiful. Leaving the misnamed Hot Sulphur Springs, we entered a canyon. Along the river at the bottom of the canyon there is a rail line. Think of the quintessential wild west rail road and there you have what we saw this morning. Unfortunately, due to the narrowness of the shoulders and the multiplicity of curves there was no place to stop to take pictures. But the whole scene was just about perfect.

We had good curves right up the mountains, faster ones than yesterday's and the road was much wider, although still very enjoyable and easier. We went through Rabbit Ears Pass. Here are the namesake ears!

And for the third time this trip, we crossed the continental divide. The other times, it was not safe to stop for a picture, but this time it was.

We had less traffic than yesterday and were able to stop and take pictures fairly often. Ray put together some panoramas. This is outside our motel.

This one is on the way up to Rabbit Ears Pass.

We saw many motorcycles today, especially on the mountain. Who with 2 or three wheels could resist that road? US 40 between Hot Sulphur Springs and Steamboat Springs is a great road. Coming down out of the pass we quickly came to Steamboat Springs. The area around there is wonderful, full of wooded hills and green valleys. But we think, based on the kinds of cars we saw at the gas station and on the streets, that we probably can't afford a house there.

Once we left Steamboat Springs the road straightened considerably but became very hilly. There surely is not much out there. This one was taken at a historical marker not far from Steamboat Springs. It details a coal mine disaster in which 47 miners died. From the names listed, it looks like all the wage earners in several families died.


The further north and west we went, the drier and more desolate the land became. We thought parts of Nebraska and Colorado were deserted. This is worse. And for miles and miles, no sign of habitation.

This is pretty much what things look like, junipers and sagebrush and cows. The cows spread out quite a bit, probably because there isn't much to eat in any one place.


The land you see in the background suffered a wildfire back in 1988. You can see by comparison with the foreground that the land has still not recovered from that fire.


Just before you get to the Colorado/Utah border, the road curves around and ahead of you rises an escarpment. It's high, layered, weathered, striated, grooved, eroded, enormous and long. If the earth were flat and the creator made a wall to keep us from falling off, I imagine this mountain is what that wall would look like. It's called Blue Mountain and it really does have a blue tint to it, and for some reason the sky over it looks bluer too. We rode alongside Blue Mountain for quite some time.

Utah is more rugged land than Colorado. It's got washes, hills, rocks. When it's farmed, the farmer works the land right up to the toes of the hills. This is dinosaur country around Vernal and some of the hills look like sleeping dinos, like a giant stegosaurus laid down for a nap and never got up. The sharp rocks poke up out of the land and give the illusion of bones.

Today we went 239 miles. Tomorrow morning we're off to Marbleton, Wyoming. The road that way should be fairly curvy, we think. It goes through Flaming Gorge Recreation area.

Riding The Backbone of the Rockies

We stayed an extra day in Westminster so we could spend more time with Leann, and the weather on the mountains yesterday was nasty. We got a tour of Leann's country club and had lunch there. She also took us into the kitchen, a place even the members don't go. It was very interesting and we appreciated it. We got to meet her friend Josh and really liked him. On Thursday we met them for a late breakfast and sat and yakked until it was time for them to go to work.

When we left Westminster this morning, we headed for Boulder and the Boulder Canyon Road. Wow what scenery! The aspens are turned gold, red and yellow and just glow among the pines. The road surface was good for the most part and loaded with twisties. It was really a fun ride with not too much traffic. We gained elevation and got lots of good pictures. It was warm enough we could wear our summer mesh jackets.



We got to Estes Park and the first thing I noticed was the Stanley Hotel, gleaming whitely above the town. You may know that this place is so haunted that it was the inspiration for Stephen King's "The Shining". I wish we could have visited there, but we just didn't have time. Estes Park is in a truly beautiful setting and really seems like living in a park. The downtown is quaint and old and caters to the sizeable tourist business. There were so many people there that at first we thought it was a parade or some special Estes Park celebration. But no, just swarms of tourists.

We took a nice state highway to Rocky Mountain National Park and were surprised by the numbers of people who joined us there. There were thousands of cars and motorcycles in a place we thought we'd be fairly alone. Once in the park, the road rises swiftly, and becomes curvy immediately. I really cannot find enough superlatives to describe the ride through RMNP. It was the most amazing ride with the most amazing scenery. Everyone who rides a motorcycle should ride this road at least once. The road is very challenging with lots of 15 mph hairpin curves. There is often no edge, the paving goes right to the edge of the mountain, followed by a huge drop. There are no guardrails, no reflectors, no edge paint. There is no margin for error on this road. We didn't see anyone driving fast or stunting. Everyone kept to the speed limits and I suppose that's the effect a thousand foot drop has on a driver/rider. The Washington mountains trained us quite well for the Rockies but the Rockies exceeded anything the northwest mountains have ever thrown at us. This road was quite a challenge. It's wonderful, exhilarating, but also exhausting.



We were more than 12,000 feet up, well above the treeline and it got cold. We were glad we'd taken time to put warmer gear on. Everytime we thought we'd gotten to the top the road went up still more. The Rockies are much more intimidating looking than our cuddly tree-covered mountains. At one point the 2 lane road went right along the top of a ridge, with a steep drop off on both sides. No shoulders, just air. We felt like we were riding the backbone of the mountains. What a rush! There is still snow up there left over from last year. They are expecting snowfall any day now. We think we are probably among the last to ride that road this year.

We only went 143 miles today but as they were hard miles we both feel we'd gone far enough. We have done something we never did before, we rode right over the Rocky Mountains.

We're in the tiniest old knotty pine room in a motel in Hot Sulphur Springs, but it's clean and I think we'll sleep quite well, unless the trucks on the highway keep down-gearing outside the motel.

Hot Sulphur Springs (yes, there are hot sulphur springs here) is a town that time forgot.


But you can get a really great meal here because who ever is in the kitchen really knows what to do with green chilis:

Denver Puts On A Light Show!

If you would like to live in isolation, we have found the place for you. Western Nebraska and Northeastern Colorado are the places you should be looking for your hermitage. We passed farmhouses that were so out in the middle of nowhere that we couldn't see their neighbors and the land is so flat that you can nearly see all the way to the curvature of the earth!

If you are a fan of cattle, move to Western Nebraska or Northeastern Colorado. I am certain that there are way, way more cows than people out there in the lands we passed thru today. Once again we rode the chicken scratch roads, as my brother puts it. I prefer William Least Heat Moon's designation...he calls them blue highways. Very little traffic, mostly excellent road surfaces and plenty of room to see what there is to see. I imagine some people would call it desolate and since many of the fields are already harvested and plowed, it looks rather desolate. We think it is probably beautiful in the spring and summer.

In some areas, it's grazing land and some areas are farm land. Mostly it's grazing land though nearly every ranch grows hay and field corn for winter silage and feed. We didn't see any sheep although that does not mean they are not out there. There aren't many towns and most of them don't amount to much. I honestly don't know how people live in places like that. I don't understand how the towns persist with nothing there. I bet we were in places today that never see a UPS truck or the Schwan's man. There's certainly no cable tv and I didn't see satellite dishes. No cell signals. Wierder than wierd. We passed through only one sizeable town today, MT Sterling. It had some traffic lights and it had all the modern amenities. (McD's Taco Bell, Wendy's, Burger King, Arby's, cell phone signals)

It seems cowboys in the traditional sense, that being a man who rides a horse and herds cows is a dying breed. These days they use 4 wheel ATVs. Pretty soon, there won't be any "real" cowboys left. It's too bad in a way, but perhaps easier for the cowboys and ATVs don't need as much care as a horse. Perhaps todays children will never see a real cowboy, and certainly their children won't.

We saw more hay rolls today. There are 2 schools of thought on hay bales. Some believe you should gather them all together in one place, say stack them in a shed or together in the field. Others believe they should be left scattered all over the field. The reason for the scatter approach? If there's a prairie fire, then if the hay is scattered then maybe the fire will miss some hay bales and the rancher will still have some hay left for his herd. (Robin explained this to us) The stackers almost always use square bales. They are enormous bales, as big as the round ones are. Got to lift them with machinery, they are so big. Seems little bales that a man can lift are passing out of favor everywhere, like cow ponies.

It was hot today. Cool when we started out, it got hot fast. So fast that it seems like we went around a curve and up a little hill and wham! Hot! It happened so fast I checked to see if my bike was on fire. I would not have been surprised to find that it was. In the afternoon, thunderstorms started to build but we escaped all but a cooling sprinkling as we drove through the Denver suburbs.

The thunderstorm designated for Westminster, Colorado waited until after we'd had our dinner to threaten us innocent bikers. It being Monday, we opted for Taco Bell, the first Taco Bell we've had in 5 weeks. Mmmmmmm-mmmmm. It tasted good to me. Ray cheated and went over to the Kentucky Fried Chicken side.

We saw the storm coming and saw the lightening begin to strike so we scooted back to our motel. In the parking lot we were chased down by a couple who were very interesting in finding out more about my scooter and sidecar. The wife wants a rig and when she saw me driving one, she just about freaked she was so excited. So we stood in the parking lot and yakked while the storm bore down. We had just enough time to cover the bikes, get to the hotel room and back outside with the camera to catch some pictures. It was raining by that time so we retreated to our room. It's still going on out there but I think it will pass by soon. There's pretty spectacular lightening around here. Leann tells us that's the way it is.

Tomorrow we'll get the oil changed in the bikes and do I don't know what yet. Wednesday we'll spend with Leann. We checked with the house sitter and she reported that Brindi (her dog) and Normie spend about 4 hours a day wrestling and chasing and having a good time. She says they are both losing weight. I am afraid he will really miss Brindi when she's gone back to her own house. This weekend, she's taking the dogs out to Shaw Island, where she lives. She has 5 acres out there...imagine all the running and wrestling they can do out there! And in the bad weather Seattle has had our tomato crop is a total loss. Unless you adore green tomatoes, which I do not. Chris said she's taken about a hundred pounds of green tomatoes in the house. Sad, sad, sad. Such a spectacular year last year and such an awful year tomato-wise this year. Simply too cold and wet.

Motorscicles Into the Teeth of the Wind and Rain

Oh, golly, was it cold yesterday. The thermometer on Ray's bike read 48 when we left Grand Island and soon dropped to 41 degrees where it stayed until about a half hour out of Alliance when it raised up to 44, Nebraska and our next motel.

It rained almost all the way. Not hard, just omnipresent. The wind was gusty and cold. The clouds were low and dark and the day was completely wretched and gloomy. Gas stations on Highway 2 in NE are not what you could call numerous. They're spaced about 70 miles apart, so we had to ride that long before we could warm up.

We stopped along the way and put vinyl gloves on over our glove liners and under the gloves. My gloves and Ray's were saturated by the time we reached the first gas station. I bought a pair of heavy men's winter gloves. The fingers were way too long, but they were warm and above all else, dry. Ray bought a pair of heavy cotton liners, and our fingers barely avoided frostbite. My fingers got so cold in between stations that they hurt.

At our first station we both had big hot chocolates to warm us up. At the second, we had hot chocolate and gas station food. I could not recommend the fried chicken, but it was a 3 piece serving and Ray was filled up with the thigh and leg and I by the breast. The onion rings were less than appetizing. Both had, however, the much appreciated benefit of being hot. We lingered there a fair time until we had to get back out and face the weather. At the third, it was more hot chocolate, and I'm glad they all had it, but I was totally prepared to drink gallons of decaf coffee and plead medical emergency, just to get something warm in me. People from cars felt sorry for us out in that raw weather and didn't hesitate to say so.

The route is one of Nebraska's scenic drives and winds it's way thru the Sandhills area. It was beautiful we think, but honestly we only noticed the landscape particularly once when it wasn't raining and Ray commented that it looked like a scene out of Dances With Wolves. And it did, with Angus cattle standing in for buffalo. There are unfortunately no pictures, partly because we didn't want to risk the camera getting soaked and partly because Ray didn't think it was worth taking off all his gloves and partly because we were so cold we didn't want to spend one extra minute on that road. I bet today it is totally beautiful out there. It's still very green in Nebraska, one of the few years it's stayed green all summer and into fall, the natives tell us. There are supposedly lots of wildlife out in those plains but we could not testify to that as any animal with any sense was tucked away out of the rain.

I have never been so cold in my life. I think I had totally used up my ability to make my own heat. The only warm spot in my entire body was right were the hot chocolate sat in my tummy. About a half hour after we got warmed up the shivers would start again. You know you are cold when your helmeted head shivers too. All the vents on our helmets were closed, our rain suits buttoned up to our necks, rain boots on. We did everything we could do, but it was still TOO cold. Yeah, I know you guys think I'm just always saying that, but for yesterday, it really was true. It was a horrible day and I will never, ever ride in 41 degrees wearing only summer clothing. Nope. Don't ask me to do it, I will turn you down. In fact, I am not sure I'd do it even if I had a heated suit, gloves, boots and bottom warmer.

I turned the heat up in our lovely room and we both took hot showers. We dashed across the parking lot to the Arby's for supper. We had not thought we were in the mood for Arby's but it hit the spot and was just the right size for our supper. After that, we didn't do much and fell into bed about 10. I still felt chilled.

Today dawned cloudy but not too cold. We woke up in time to go to church. There were 13 people in Sunday School and 4 of us were visitors. There were 7 ladies in Relief Society and 2 of us were visitors. The Relief Society President is also the RS pianist. They have a nice little building with room to grow some, 18 benches in the chapel and not one was full. When we came out after meeting, the clouds had cleared and it was a wonderful day. We came back to the motel (went over to church in the sidecar...no ladylike way to get in OR out) changed our clothes and then walked across the street to try Martin's Family Restaurant. It was closed so we went next door to an Italian place, Sam and Louie's. The aroma was delicious, so we figured it was a good bet. We were right! We both decided on lasagne, with an appetizer of fried ravioli. Yum! We had enough leftover that we ate supper in our room. Beats gas station chicken hands down.

After lunch, we decided to drive out to see Carhenge. It's very odd. Why a family decided that this was the proper way to memorialize their farmer father is well beyond my imagining. But it is interesting. The family turned the installation over to the local government and now it's quite the tourist attraction. And free too.








And there was corn growing in the adjacent field, so we decided a picture there would be appropriate. This is field corn and is very near to ready to harvest. There are also many ripe wheat fields in the Alliance area, once you're out of the Sandhills part. The Sandhills are rangelands. But since you know I am 5 feet tall in my stocking feet, you can see how tall the corn is. Notice the corn on the edges of the fields grow a bit shorter than the corn a few rows back. It's always that way with corn.


After the excursion it was back to the hotel for laundry and repacking. Things seem to have gotten scrambled here and there in the luggages and need to be straightened out. So the laundry is still drying, but it's the last load. Ray has parceled out his pills for the week in his pill dispenser. The sun is setting on a beautiful day, the moon is up and tomorrow promises to be sunny and hot. I know. Tomorrow I will probably say it was too hot. But it won't be 103, and it won't be 39, so that will be a treat. We both have sore throats and snuffly noses and hope it won't come to more than that

We're starting to feel like we've been away from home for a long, long time. But I have to tell you that if you've got to be away from home, the Holiday Inn in Grand Island and the Holiday Inn Express in Alliance are great places to be. They have the most comfortable beds we've encountered the entire trip so far, the staffs have been wonderful and the breakfast is not the usual run of the mill stale muffins and toast. We recommend them both. Neither town amounts to much, size-wise, but the people are friendly and Grand Island has a Jimmy John's! We drove 3 miles there just to get a Jimmy John fix. In the absence of Beef Villa, it will do.

Mad Dogs and Motorcyclistas Out In The Noonday Chill

Usually, I spend a good bit of time ensuring as much air as possible gets in my jacket. Yesterday and today, I spent a good bit of time ensuring as little air as possible got in my jacket.

We wore the rain suits yesterday and today in spite of dry skies. It was an effort to fend off the cold and it worked pretty well. I am so glad I brought my "winter" jacket along. We wore our long sleeved shirts. Now I am out of long sleeved shirts and I do not believe we will see temps get much above 55 tomorrow. A cold front is moving through. Funny, I thought it already had, it was so chilly.

For breakfast yesterday we again had the Grandpa John's Cafe breakfast buffet (only place in Nauvoo except for the gas station that's open for breakfast except for the other buffet and we got a discount at Grandpa's that lowered the cost to reasonable) After eating buffets for 3 days, even the sight of a buffet sign makes me queasy. Not that the food was bad, it was just that 3 days of buffet is a tad overwhelming. I don't think I care if I don't see another buffet for some months to come.

Yesterday we traveled on an allegedly obscure road, Highway 2. Said road was occasionally paved badly and someone apparently left some speed bumps here and there under the wavy concrete. The majority of it was nice enough surface. We took an Iowa scenic route, a road that split off 2 and eventually rejoined it. We thought 2 was just as scenic as the scenic road, but then one corn field looks pretty much like another.

The surprise was all the signeage warning us to be on the lookout for horses and buggies and to share the road with them. We didn't know the Amish live in southern Iowa. We did pass much evidence of horses but only once did we encounter an Amish farmer on the road with his rig and that was in the small town of Leon. We stopped at the Dairy Queen for lunch and they had an elephant. Please do not ask me why as I do not know.



After lunch we passed the horse and buggy, very respectfully and as quietly as we could. I am sure the farmer found us as much of a curiosity as we did him. People in Leon were very friendly. In fact, people all across Iowa and middle Illinois were very friendly. Even without Norman we are still, occasionally, the traveling road show.

Southern Iowa is very hilly and has more deciduous trees. The farms seem split between corn/soybean and stock. It was very pretty. Many many of next year's Big Macs are now a-growing in southern Iowa. The roads were still mostly straight but also up and down. In contrast to Minnesota where the farms are all perfect, in Iowa there are many unused farm buildings.




We made it to our destination in good time and chose Godfather's Pizza for supper. It's been years since we had a Godfather's and it sounded really good to us. We walked in and guess what! They run a pizza buffet! But you can also just order one, so we did, and sat well away from the buffet. Our motel was a Day's Inn in Shenandoah, Iowa, and we were just about the only people in our wing. There was a lovely overstuffed recliner for Ray and plenty of room to stash the bags. I did some laundry and we repacked and went to bed.

This morning we found out our expensive bike covers cover bikes but do not keep the dew or fog off the bike. Harumph. I can only imagine how ineffective they'd be in a thunderstorm. O well, we hauled out the bike drying towels and dried them off. Breakfast at the motel being limited to dry cereal and toast, we went down the road to Mickey D's and indulged in some salty Sausage McMuffins. Protein! lol At least they are little and we didn't feel overstuffed, just thirsty.

We had a really short day planned today and Ray hauled me out of bed at 6 am, so we got here about 1:30. I was surprised they let us in our room that early. But they did. We're in a Holiday Inn in Grand Island, Nebraska and our room is very nice. We lunched at a Burger King for a change of pace. We picked up I-80 in Lincoln, Nebraska and battled a stiff breeze and passing semi turbulence for what seemed an interminable time, but at least it had warmed up enough to take off the rain suits. Suddenly, there was Highway 2 again and we spent the last 10 miles on a lovely, quiet country road. It's much flatter around here. I can't remember exactly when it got that way, I just suddenly noticed it. You can see a long, long way.

It was supposed to be thunderstormy but wasn't. Again. But the weather guessers still say thunderstorms tonight and some left over tomorrow. The percentage tomorrow ranges from 40% to 10% depending where on the route we are. We will not be on the interstate tomorrow. Yay! Back to the obscure country roads. They are really much nicer traveling than the interstates and when you stop you get to meet and talk with local people. We are often the only motorcyclists on those roads,it's rare we meet another, even at the gas station. But everyone else wants to talk to us, so that's fine. Most of them wish they could do what we're doing. We are so lucky!

Don't know what supper will be tonight, I only know it will not be a buffet. Tomorrow we head to Alliance, Nebraska. It is in the middle of Just About Nowhere, like many of the places we've been lately. But there's a Holiday Inn Express there too and an Arby's next door.

Brrr

Cold riding today, but it stayed dry in spite of low dark clouds.

Due to laundry duties and a puter hogging hubby, there is no post tonight.

We are safe and in Shenandoah, IA. Tomorrow we go to Grand Island, Nebraska with a possible detour to a cheese factory.

We may get wet tomorrow.

We Are Betrayed

Betrayed by the formerly trusted weather service AND the weather channel. So much for all of Iowa overwhelmed by severe thunderstorms and flash flooding.

We awoke to find the storm systems had not joined forces to create huge storms, but gone their own ways to north and south, leaving Iowa mostly in the clear. We'd have probably gotten almost to our destination before running into heavy weather. And there are still rumblings about severe weather south of I-80, which is where we will be. So maybe just as well we stayed here.

O well. Lesson learned. Check in the morning before you go cancelling reservations.

In the meanwhile Nauvoo, outside of a distinct lack of eating establishments, is not a bad place to be.

We went down to the restoration area again this morning and visited the brickworks and the blacksmith shop and walked out Parley Street to read the journal entries posted along there. On the way, we stopped to watch some oxen pulling a wagon and eventually, the teamster asked if we'd like to ride in the wagon too. Oxen are huge and their noses are leathery not soft like horses noses. And they drool. But they had beautiful coats and horns. The ride was rough and I'm glad I didn't have to ride across the plains in one of those wagons.

We got a little tiny horseshoe at the blacksmith and a "Prairie Diamond" ring made out of a square nail. At the brickworks we came away with a little brick. It was fun!

Late lunch today was Creamy Chicken Soup at Hand, warmed up in the little microwave down at the Hospitality Room, a banana and diet soda. For dessert, we have homemade carmel corn from the Old Mill Bakery.

Ray is napping and I'm making this entry. It is still supposed to thunderstorm here later today and overnight, but it will all be over by morning and we will scoot off across Iowa in partly cloudy and mid-60s. It hopefully will be less humid than today is.

Sunshine, Smilin' On Me...

...but not for long. Tomorrow severe thunderstorms will be rolling across Iowa along our entire route. The severe weather will start around the time we are halfway across Iowa. That would make for a nasty, hazardous day. After much hemming and hawing and consulting with our Washington resident mc expert we have decided to take his advice and stay put. Thursday's weather will be fine all across Iowa. It will be a much better day to travel and let's face it, one decent motel is much the same as another when it comes to price. It means we will have one less rest day, but by giving up that day we'll be back on track on the 18th. We need to be in Denver on certain days, those being the days LeAnn is not working. So we don't have many more days between now and then for bad weather delays, but after Denver we've got some time for that. Our motel changes have been made and we can stay here in this room tomorrow and watch the thunderstorms from the safety of our nice dry room. Yes, we weenied out. So?

Doesn't this look like a nice place to hole up?



Today we visited the restored parts of Nauvoo. It's amazing! Nauvoo really was a beautiful city and that was apparent today, which was a truly spectacular day. We took a very interesting and informative wagon ride around the restored city for a tour. A percheron and a belgian pulled the wagon and we don't think either one of them was working hard. The teamster told us that there are 20 horses in their stable.



The old buildings are so carefully restored/recreated that it is hard to tell an original building from a recreation. There are people (church missionaries) inside each building to tell you about the owners and about the house and the things that would have been part of the lives of the people there or the work that took place in the building. We visited the home and workshop of John Browning, who is the man who invented the Browning rifle. It was very interesting. This happens to be a recreation of the original house, built on the original foundation. The land records and many drawings of original homes are in an archive on the site, and can be consulted.



When we visited the school, we learned that Nauvoo had contained 150 log cabins. This is one of them. The school, based on what the docent said, is an original.


At the time the Saints lived here, this land was covered with homes and other buildings. We were told that none of the trees now growing here were here in the 1850s. Apparently trees do not live that long in this climate.



The next picture was taken outside the visitor's center in "The Women's Garden" and is a statue of Joseph and Emma Smith. The last person who actually knew Joseph died not that long ago at the age of 107.



And just look at the beautiful temple on the hill!



After dinner, we went down to catch the sunset. The pictures don't quite do it justice. But I like this one a lot.



And Ray took some more pictures of the temple.





It was a good day in a good place.