Kicking off Independence Weekend with Wyoming Passport Ride

July 3, 2010
Colorado, USA

Fort Collins, CO -- Woo-Hoo! Let's Ride!

We've been looking forward to this three day weekend since the last three day weekend - ha! Today we kicked off Independence Day weekend with a "Passport" ride into Wyoming with friends David and Megan. We rode out under mostly clear skies and met up with David and Megan at Thunder Mountain Harley-Davidson where David would add another stamp to his passport. A good many other riders had the same idea... today was a good day for a passport ride.

Before long, we set out riding east and then north into Cheyenne, WY via Hwy 85. Sure, I-25 would get us there in under an hour, but the objective was to enjoy riding into Wyoming without traveling the breakneck pace of holiday traffic on the interstate. The ride north on Hwy 85 lays the plains and low rolling hillsides and rock outcroppings of northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming out in one panoramic view after another. It is still somewhat green for this time of year and the heavy scent of goldenrod wafted over us from time to time. The prolific perennial lined the roadways and adorned hilltop and meadow in bright profusion all along the way. About the only thing moving besides us were a couple of herds of antelope and prairie dogs. As we topped out where we could see the large wind farms in the distance, we noticed we had yet to pick up wind - very unusual.

First stop was a leisurely brunch in Cheyenne at Shari's Restaurant which is within site of Cheyenne Harley-Davidson aka Maverick Motorsports. Next stop was the small dealership which houses several brands of motorcycle and ATV. We didn't linger long, eager to put the mileage between Cheyenne and Laramie behind us.

As we rode west out of Cheyenne on I-80 we picked up the wind. If you ride in Wyoming, you ride with wind - usually a stout cross-wind if riding east/west. Today was no exception. This ride is about as scenic as southern Wyoming gets. I-80 is always busy and truck traffic is normally heavy. Along the way, we picked up troublesome clouds to go along with the wind. Normally, we would stop at the Lincoln Memorial Rest Stop on I-80, but not today. We rolled into Laramie Harley-Davidson also aka Maverick Motorsports just ahead of a nasty little cloud that spit on us as it howled through Laramie. We lingered a little longer at this friendly dealership.

After a quick gas stop in Laramie, we lead the way back to Fort Collins south on Hwy 287, an easy-flowing, scenic route we ride often. Along the way are the historic locations of Tie Siding (a railroad community) in Wyoming and Virginia Dale (a famous stage stop on the Overland Trail) and Livermore (home of The Forks Hotel - now for sale) in Colorado. At the junction of Hwy 14, sits another popular location known as Ted's Place aka The Gateway to the Poudre. Ted's Place is a convenience store/gas station - if you need something before heading up the canyon - this is the place to get it - in some cases, it's also the last place you can get a decent cell phone signal for several miles.

No canyon ride today, the closer we got to Fort Collins, the more troubling became our skies. This did not stop us from leading the way to Vern's in LaPorte for pie. Vern's is a great place to eat any meal. The pie, peanut butter chocolate for myself and Megan, coconut cream for David and Tim, is served in giant portions and is scrumptious.

We've said it before, there are plenty of roads that lead home to Fort Collins, but none of them are more fun to ride than the Dam Ride around Horsetooth Reservoir. We decided the least we could do was escort David and Megan home to Loveland via the most scenic route possible.

So, we rode around Horsetooth Reservoir, through Masonville, detouring off the beaten path to ride around no-name lake (near Chasteen Grove) before riding into Loveland and dropping them off on our way home.

By now, our new friends have come to the conclusion we never go anywhere in a straight line - where's the fun in that? Ha! I believe we took them down a couple of roads they have not ridden before and it was fun sharing our well-ridden, favorite trails with someone new. Thanks to David and Megan for riding along a distance of 240 miles.



One look at dark, cotton ball skies had us skedaddling home, already talking about whether Mother Nature would cooperate long enough tomorrow to get in an Independence Day ride... stay tuned.

Today's slide show (41 pics - enjoy):