First Two-Up Trip Colorado-Wyoming

August 31, 2008
Fort Collins, CO

Tim and I pulled out and headed east Sunday morning to echo the trip he made solo in August. This time I had no qualms about climbing on the back of Tim's Harley-Davidson Softtail Heritage. A few miles out I found my comfort zone and began to enjoy the ride.

East of Fort Collins is farm and ranch land. The landscape is dotted with corn fields and farm houses and tiny towns. Some of the towns are sprouting sub-divisions (bedroom communities) that look out of place. The farther north you get, the less you see of that sort of encroachment. The view east is of wide open spaces, the view west is a panoramic view of the Rockies.

We made the first leg of the trip without stopping until we got to our favorite donut hole in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We stretched our legs, downed some coffee and headed west across Interstate Hwy 80. I got my first ride at 75 mph. Can you see me smiling? And 80+ mph when we passed diesels (another first). We stopped at a rest stop between Cheyenne and Laramie for another sip of coffee and to take a few pics of the Lincoln Highway (I-80) Memorial.

Those were the first and last pics of the day. Storm clouds appeared on the horizon and gathered steam rather quickly as we know all too well they can do in Wyoming. We picked up some rain just outside of Laramie, where we stopped for gas. The rain broke for a few minutes, but from the looks of the sky and the rumble of thunder, we knew it wasn't over. We made the decision to head downtown, looking for a cafe, but we immediately got soft hail and it was raining so hard we pulled in the Hastings/K-mart parking lot (we've been there before), parked the bike and found a dry place in the book store. We had a cup of coffee in the book store cafe while the skies dumped. I called the folks to let them know where we were and told them if the rain did not let up, we would find a motel and spend the night. We weren't the only bikers seeking shelter. We looked sort of odd roaming the isles of the book store in leathers.

At one point, the rain let up for a few minutes. We dashed out to try and make a quick break but it came another downpour before we could get our helmets fastened. This time we sheltered in K-Mart. After a little while, we saw a break in the clouds. We decided we would either head on out of town or if it came another downpour, find a cafe (we were getting sorta hungry) and maybe a motel. As it happens, we headed on out. We were damp and a bit chilly and the horizon looked somewhat forboding. Luckily, we rode up under a break in the clouds and managed to stay in between squalls. We stopped once on the 60 + mile trip home at a rest stop.

We rolled into Fort Collins, tired but exhilirated. The trip was 195 miles from start to finish.