Day 4

Today was very adventurous. It started out a beautiful day in Colorado Springs. Sunny, not too cold. We headed west to Pikes Peak and had a great ride up the mountain. The winds were too high (60 mph gusts) so we couldn't go all the way to the summit (14,000 ft), but we did get a little over 12,000 ft before they blocked the road. The bikes made it up fine, though we both dealt with some power loss in the higher altitudes, and the wind was so strong that while we were stopped to take a few pictures, Brad's bike slipped out of gear and slid 10 feet down a hill. It's a miracle it didn't fall over. After Pikes Peak we headed north through the mountains toward Denver. That proved to be the best ride of the trip so far. A good combination of winding mountain roads and broad sweeping curves.

Once we got to Denver we got wet. It got so bad that north of Denver we stopped to eat and tried to wait for the rain to pass. We waited about an hour and it was still coming down so we put on our rain gear and headed north toward Wyoming. Thankfully, after about 15 minutes things cleared somewhat and we were rain-free the rest of the day. We almost ran out of gas before we got out of Colorado because the closer you get to Wyoming, the fewer gas stations there are. I really was running on fumes as we entered Wyoming and made it to a station just south of Cheyenne with maybe five miles left before my Honda was bone dry. Brad got mad at me for stopping at the Wyoming state line to get a picture of the sign while I was running on fumes, but thankfully I made it to the gas station a few miles down the road.

Wow, eastern Wyoming is desolate. Not many people or trees. We thought there wasn't much in Kansas, but Wyoming is unbelievable. I visited western Wyoming a few years ago and there were mountains, trees, and a fair amount of people. But our ride through southeastern Wyoming today was like riding on the moon. I bet we went 50 miles several times and didn't see a building or a tree. It really was interesting to see.

Unfortunately, because we spent so much time waiting out the rain in Denver, we got behind schedule. We were hoping to get to Douglas, WY today but it had gotten dark and we were still an hour and a half away. And unfortunately for me, Brad would ride straight through the night if I was willing, so he was adamant we push on to Douglas and get a hotel there. I agreed and that proved to be my biggest regret of this trip yet. Why... because we froze our butts off, that's why! It turns out the low tonight in Douglas is 28 degrees with high winds. Well to make this long story a bit shorter... the final 20-30 minutes of our ride to Douglas was in the low 30s with strong gusty winds and snow flurries. I couldn't feel my hands when we pulled into the Holiday Inn Express. We both agreed that future dictionaries will have a picture of Brad and I riding to Douglas next to the definition of the word "idiot". But we're here, and I thank God for getting us here without a breakdown.

Tomorrow we ride first to Devils Tower, the landmark from the Steven Spielberg movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And after that, on to Montana and Sturgis, SD. As of now, daytime highs are forecast in the 50s, but the weather folks have not proven themselves to be very reliable on this trip so far, so I'll believe it when I see (feel) it.

So like I said at the beginning of this post... this was a very adventurous day. Definitely the best riding so far and also the biggest challenge, and I'm not referring to Pikes Peak. We covered over 400 miles which pushes our total to around 1750. Now if we can only get through Montana and South Dakota without getting snowed in, we'll be fine. This has been an amazing trip, and we're not even half way yet.

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