Mini Road Trip - Day 1 - Veterans Rally & More

August 20, 2010
Colorado, USA

Colorado Springs, CO -- It was a great day! We rolled out of Fort Collins this morning about half an hour later than we normally do. We had no place to be early and Tim got in late, so we slept until 4:30 am. That half hour makes all the difference in a weekday commute that takes us on I-25 through Denver. We will back the clock up to our usual time next trip out and catch our z's on the tail end of the day. We had cloud cover starting out but they quickly burned off as the sun rose. Still, with cloud cover and temps in the 50s we rode out in leathers.

First stop was a traffic jam only a few miles out that had south bound traffic backed up for miles. When we finally passed the scene of the accident, we were dismayed to see a bunged up motorcycle and motorcycle parts, gear and luggage scattered everywhere. We saw the rider (he appeared to be OK) walking with a highway patrol officer. It looked like a couple of cars had an accident and the rider laid his bike down to avoid contact with the other vehicles. The bike was standing up, but it was not going to roll under its own power. We are glad the rider was motivating under his own power.

Next stop was gas and then we made our way through Denver s-l-o-w-l-y because the traffic jam delay put us smack in the middle of the Friday morning commute. The plan was to ride on through Colorado Springs another 37 miles to Pueblo then ride back to the Springs where we would stay a couple of nights. The first part of our day we would spend on passport rides to the last three dealerships we needed to complete the H-D Rockies Tour.

In Pueblo, we decided on breakfast at the Southwest Grill before riding a few blocks to Outpost Harley-Davidson. Breakfast was tasty and the coffee strong and hot. We both had the special which included ham, sausage, bacon, eggs, hash browns and pancakes. YUM!

The Pueblo dealership [Outpost] is always a pleasant stop and usually busy. We browsed for a few minutes and then rode on.

Next on the passport tour was back to the east side of Colorado Springs to Colorado Springs Harley-Davidson. This dealership is hard to get to from the south as there is no turn in. By the time you see it [dealership], you have to ride up a few blocks, turn around somewhere (we used a parking lot) and ride back to a service street. We didn't linger at this dealership more than a few minutes, long enough to cool off and rehydrate as the day was warming and we were still in leathers.

Our third and final stop on the passport tour took us back to the north side of Colorado Springs to Pikes Peak Harley-Davidson. This is where we discovered that the eighteen extra tickets (prize entries) awarded for completing the tour had to be filled out at the last dealership. Had I known that particular detail of the contest in advance, I would not have chosen Pikes Peak (my least favorite dealership -- long story) as our last stop. Nevertheless, we made quick work of filling out the last eighteen entries for both Tim and myself and shaking off writer's cramp got the heck out of there. The passport tour of eighteen dealerships in three states was fun. We discovered a few dealerships we liked very much and will visit again. We found others that we will never visit again unless out of necessity.

Passport mission accomplished, we rode to Old Colorado City (Hwy 24/West Colorado Ave) to a motel I had booked just the day before. I cancelled reservations at a motel near downtown after reading too many bad reviews about it. The Mecca Motel was a great choice and put us on the side of town we wanted to be. It is small but delivers much. First of all, it is an American-owned motel and the owners are about as nice as they can be. We rode in just after 1 pm and our room was ready. Second, it is neat and clean, both outside and inside. Our room, non-smoking with a king bed was roomy enough and immaculate. I'm talking clean. And no stale smoke stench. We have stayed in up-scale chain motels that were not this clean. Third, The Mecca also offered WIFI. The TV was small but worked fine. TV in a motel is usually something we use to check the weather and that's about it, no big screen needed for that. Just outside our room (and every other room) were two metal chairs, perfect for lounging around on a cool Springs evening. We looked forward to it. We could put The Ride to bed in the parking spot just outside our room and that suited us fine. Just across the street, was Bob's West Side Liquor Store. Tim wasted no time walking across to purchase the evening's libations which we temporarily iced down in one of the room's plastic trash cans.

The Ride parked in front of the Little Ike Tunnel near Cripple Creek, CO. The road to Cripple Creek once passed through this one lane tunnel. It was closed in 1994 when the new road was built to accomodate casino traffic.

With most of the day still well ahead of us, we got back on The Ride, gassed up and headed out toward Cripple Creek, traveling Hwy 24 through beautiful Fountain Creek Canyon to busy Woodland Park and on to Divide where we turned south on scenic Hwy 67 which would take us to our destination. The remainder of the weekend will be spent riding to and from Cripple Creek in the various activities associated with the 18th Annual Salute to American Veterans Rally. Tomorrow we will ride in the 23rd Annual POW/MIA Recognition Ride.

It was partly cloudy and warm as we rode out in hoodies which we appreciated as the road took us up to near 10,000 in elevation, eventually winding down into Cripple Creek which sits just below 9494 elevation designated at the city limit sign. Rounding the last turn into town revealed the Wildwood Casino, one of the sponsors of the rally. On the left riding in is the Cripple Creek and Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad train station and museum and just to right of those is Bennet Ave (aka Main Street). We found a place to park at the top of the hill and came out of our gear. Lots of bikes lined the streets and people were shopping among the vendor tents, many of which were still setting up. We strolled among the tents and purchased a few things (a couple of novelty helmets, half chaps and a new cap for me, a few pins). We also purchased a rally shirt for Tim and our rally patches, mostly to avoid the line for those items tomorrow. We registered to win SuckerPunch Sally's custom motorcycle designed for Flo of Progressive Insurance fame. We admired the sand sculpture in progress - always an amazing sight.

Sand Sculpture in Progress - Cripple Creek

Vik - Friday at the Veterans Rally - Cripple Creek, CO

Tim - Friday at the Veterans Rally - Cripple Creek, CO

Having checked out the town and vendors, we decided it was time to mosey back down to the Springs, grab a bite to eat and relax. Tim stopped at a grocery store on the way back to look for a cooler. When he came walking out of the store with a large styrofoam cooler and a bag of ice -- I remember thinking - good grief - where are we going to put that? Well, I am sure you can guess where. We rode out of the parking lot with that monstrosity sitting on my leg. A woman hopped out of a pickup at the light and offered to carry it to Cripple Creek for us since they were headed that way. I explained we were only traveling two blocks with it. I will be shopping for a collapsible cooler real soon. Ha! Back at the motel, we rid ourselves of road dust, relaxed with a couple of beers (Tim) and a Mikes (me) before strolling across the street to a mexican food restaurant. Amanda's Fonda.

It seemed nice enough and was crowded. We put our names on the list for a table, purchased a couple of margaritas at the bar and seated ourselves at a table by the creek as instructed by the hostess. Our drinks were supposed to include complimentary chips and salsa. After a few minutes, a waitress said we would have to move from the table by the creek as she had a party waiting for it. Now wait a minute - we were told seating on the patio was first come, first serve. Seating was limited, but she found us a table by the parking lot we could use temporarily. Still no chips and salsa. We were annoyed - if we had wanted to sit in the dusty parking lot, we would have done so in the first place. We were displaced by a group of people who were not dining, merely enjoying a cocktail as we were. I say enjoy because I hope their drinks were better than ours. I make better margaritas at home. Jose Cuervo straight out of the bottle is a better margarita. Tim went in search of chips and salsa a third time and came back empty-handed. The waitress who moved us the first time was hovering and about to unseat us again with no table in sight. Bad margaritas, inconsiderate service, who needs it? We walked out - nope, did not leave a tip. I have no idea if the food at this restaurant was worth waiting for as we never so much as sniffed the chips and salsa or glimpsed a menu. We strolled a few blocks west in search of another restaurant. We found one tucked away beside a motel called Castaways where we were immediately and courteously seated and promptly served. Tim had steak. I had shrimp. The food was great, delivered up in generous portions and the service was excellent.

By the time we had strolled back to our motel, we were ready to call it a day. We will get a good night's rest before riding out early to join the POW-MIA Recognition Ride. Stay tuned...

Slide show of today's ride (75 photos):