My Cross Country Motorcycle Road Trip

I arrived at the Colorado Springs dealership before they opened to give the engine time to cool down. Kevin, the technician who performed the maintenance, got us underway before noon. We have approximately 1,100 miles to travel before we get to Louisville, KY on Friday and our route will take us through Kansas City and St. Louis. I didn’t take any photos of our trek across Kansas today. (By the way, I think I’m going to leave the Red Mountain photo on the blog for the rest of my trip unless I find a better subject between here and home). We had strong cross winds and dodged thunderstorms all afternoon. The temperature was around 98 degrees. Tomorrow we will continue on into Missouri. Unless something exciting or noteworthy happens between now and when arrive in Louisville, my next post will be after we arrive there.

Our ride from Alamosa to Colorado City was only 167 miles. For most of the ride we were well below the speed limit simply because there was no need to hurry. The scenery began to return to what I would call average compared to what we have seen for the past 12 days. I suspect that it will continue this way based upon our planned Interstate 70 route back. (No more state and county roads). We arrived in Colorado Springs around one o’clock yesterday. On our way to the motel we could see Pike’s Peak nearby. Upon checking the map we discovered that it was only 9 miles away. We pondered whether we should continue on to add it to our checklist of been there and done that. For some reason we felt that Pike’s Peak just didn’t seem to measure up (visually and road-wise) to what we have experienced on this trip. We decided to spend the afternoon at the pool. I am off to the local dealer this morning to get my bike serviced before we head back home. A bit of sadness is starting to sit in and at th...

Here is the recap of our journey from Vernal, Utah to Alamosa, Colorado on Saturday and Sunday, August 19th and 20th. Our Saturday ride began early after coffee and a light breakfast as usual. The temperature was in the 50s. We took US 40 east toward Dinosaur, Colorado. Although this is a major US highway there was very little traffic. Once in Dinosaur I noticed a small church off to the right, the Dinosaur Baptist Church. The name brought a smile to my face. We then took state route 24 east to pick up route 139 toward Grand Junction, Colorado. This section was as remote as the section in Utah we traveled earlier in the morning. However, there was a difference in the terrain. We had moved from vast open dry plateaus to the edges of the Colorado Rockies. Many portions of these areas are marked open range. This brings me to a story about Rich’s close encounter of the bull kind. I’m going to let him tell it in his own words first. His words follow: “We had entered an area of small mountai...

I'm too tired to post today and besides its Saturday night! Had a great ride today more photos and details tomorrow.

Our departure from Jackson Hole was not ideal. It was raining and the temperature was in the 50 degree range. We were prepared for such conditions and again we would not be uncomfortable during the ride. Our plan was to follow US 189 & US 191 from SW Wyoming into NE Utah. Based upon our review of the road atlas we believed those highways would provide great scenic views and we were not disappointed. The rain cleared after about an hour and the temperature began to rise. As we rode through this part of Wyoming I now understand why it is called a “high plains” area. There were vast gently rolling plains extending to the horizon on one side and a large mountain range far in the distance on the other side. We passed a sign which displayed the name of the town, the population (50), and elevation (8,000+ feet!!). At times our bikes were the only vehicles on the road for mile after mile. This area was marked as an open range – no fences. We came across a historical marker for the Oregon T...

Our trip from West Yellowstone began with a bright sunny day and a temperature of forty four degrees. Although it felt cool it was not uncomfortable. My heated seat and handgrips provided just the right amount of extra comfort. Once in the park I tuned my XM radio to channel 71, Watercolors. The sounds of smooth jazz playing softly in my helmet, the smell of the cold, crisp, lightly smoke filled air, the visual stimulation provided by park surroundings, and the smooth hum of my K1200GT’s engine - - - it couldn’t any get better than this. Rich called on the CB and asked, “What’s up?” I guess I hadn’t said anything for a while. We will do that frequently if we are out of visual contact just to make sure that we are both OK. We arrived at Old Faithful around 10:15. A park ranger told us that an eruption was expected around 11:07. We stayed for the display and grabbed lunch at the visitor’s center. Next we were off to see the Grand Tetons. I must say that these are the most majestic mounta...