Coast to coast in the US -third time!

[Whiskerfish]

Amazing!!

[Fred Camper]

Wow, great stained glass. Did not know they used tubes in Comstar wheels. Thought those were tubeless. Nice story for sure.

[mr west]

Day 14, July 1st

Great sleep at the Landmark Inn. We had the breakfast at the restaurant while chatting a bit with the owner Gary. Appearantly there have been many Swedes in the area. And even many Westmans, (my name). There was even a annual Westman picnic until few years ago.



We have been eagerly waiting to get out of Kansas and into Colorado... First impression was not great as we just came right into the meat farms. Someone here mentioned a methane cloud...... It was quite gross to see and smell these farms, but soon enough we got closer to Loveland where we were planning to spend the night with a friend of Amanda who just moved in a week earlier.

Riding was not so special, but we made a short stop at a motorcycle museum I forgot the name of, maybe Amanda can fill in..

First sight of the rocky mountains in the distant gave goose bumps..

We had a barbecue with more friends in the evening and then went to sleep in our own guestroom wich was very nice!

[mr west]

Pics

[Fred Camper]

Nice museum pictures and glad you have the methane cloud behind you now. It was no fun for sure. Sad situation that make you hate beef for a while. Many National parks in the future to slow you journey down so be careful on your selection. We loved Bryce.

[Brant]

So happy to see your new post ! That museum is the St Francis motorcycle museum, in St Francis KS. Some amazing motorcycles there. They also have a nice city park with free camping. Looking forward to more posts and stories !

[Whiskerfish]

Remember that view well as I was headed East away from the Rockies. Enjoy!!

[mrs west]

Pics from KS into CO

[mrs west]

Coming in to Loveland

[mrs west]

St Francis! Exactly! It was really cool! There seems to be a lot to do in those neighboring towns but we didn’t get to experience much of it. Happy we got to the museum though!

Sorry to be so behind on posts! Colorado has been so wonderful, and lots of riding and nights without service. Entering some beautiful stretches now!

I can pick up where KG left off. In Loveland, we went to meet my niece for breakfast, then caravaned with my friend and niece down to Boulder around Carter Lake, which was stunning. We stopped at my friend’s restaurant, Pollo Tico, and all had a beautiful meal before heading up to Rocky Mountain National Park! What a sight to behold! I didn’t know til the day prior that a stretch of the Rockies was a NP. The line to get in was so so long as we realized that is was 4th of July weekend

Of course there were no open camp sites in the park according to the ranger but in hindsight, I think we should have poked around a bit.

The park was worth the wait, stunning views, marmots, pikas, and moose. Gorgeous ride.

I was excited cause I found us a free spot right outside the park, but of course we had to eat, and it was about 9pm at this point, making our options limited. The first place we stopped had just done last call. We had asked about food nearby cause we planned to camp just across the highway from the restaurant. The server asked “down 4?” And I said I didn’t know but it was nearby and free. She told us she used to live “down 4.” So we asked if she thought there would still be spots there and she assured us that that there were always spots by the pit toilets. Now at this point, we didn’t know what a pit toilet was and were somewhat concerned. So we backtracked a bit back and found a good Thai place in Grand Lake.

By the time we left dinner, that super moon had risen. It was about as big as the sun. Unfortunately, I mistakenly took us to the wrong coordinates, somewhere totally off road, up on some dirt hill. I have no idea how that happened. But there we were, in the dirt, in the dark, with no service, and with that bright moon shining, right next to a no camping sign.

I remembered seeing a really nice campground back on the road so we went there. You have to drive over a long strip of land to get to it, surrounded by water on both sides, which scared me but thankfully not KG. We got to the site and the campground was full. So I started calling all the hotels in the area. Booked, booked, booked, obviously for the fourth. At this point I almost had a full blown breakdown.

We kept saying ok, the original free place we wanted to go would be backtracking as we’d come further south a ways.

After checking another nearby campground that was full, we decided to go back to the original place and it all worked out but by the time we got there it was nearing midnight. There were so many spots but the ground was way too hard for tent pegs, but luckily on the side, adjacent to the National Park, and next to the pit toilets, there was a great patch of grass. It was so dark and so cold that I couldn’t feel my hands after putting up the tent, but we made it, and both slept really well.

[Rat]

Sticktoitivity … great stuff, keep it it up, and thanks for taking us along !

Gord(pics often get turned on this forum, we’ve tried to fix it, but)Jones

[mr west]

We went walking the dog with Amandas niece and her husband in Benson Sculpture Garden, where there was a cool exhibit of local artists doing bronze sculptures.

Boulder was also nice. It was surprising to all of a sudden see all tye-dye clothes and hippie looking people of all ages all around, but then we heard it was a Grateful Dead farewell tour concert in the evening!

[mr west]

July 3rd

We woke up surprisingly fresh by the sound of a huge tour bus of teenagers getting ready to leave the campground, concidering we had a late night of navigating dirt roads in the dark and sleeping next to the pit toilet...

We rode around lake Granby for about the fifth time and tried to get a massage at Sulphur Springs but fully booked. It was a quite hot day...

From Kremmling we took hwy 40 to 134 west to Toponas and then down 131 to Eagle-Vail. Seems like a somewhat fancy place. A small coffee and a miniature burrito ended up over 20 bucks with tax and tips.... Then considering the current low value of our swedish SEK its just crazy expensive to me. Like an airport! Do you guys usually tip even when theres is no at the table service?

Mood went back up when I found "Montucky" beer, remembering the words of our hero JP at a random roadhouse in Montana at a earlier trip as he tried to ductape pur clutch cable "WELCOME TO MONTUCKY"

After the stop we took 10th mountain division memorial hwy to leadville which was really beautiful.

We decided to camp at the Sugar Loafin Campground quite close to Turqoise Lake. (But Amanda says next time we would choose to camp right at the lake)

However we needed laundry and shower so it was great with all the facilities there. The guy from the campground of course had a Swedish grandfather and shared memories of visiting rural Sweden in the 80s....

We hadnt really planned for dinner, but as we joined the 2,5 usd all you can eat ice cream social there was no need. We had about 5 scoops each and went to sleep early after shower.

[mrs west]

That ride down to Leadville was so nice, but obviously you can’t get the depth of the canyon in the photos!

[Sagebrush]

Sticktoitivity … great stuff, keep it it up, and thanks for taking us along !

Gord(pics often get turned on this forum, we’ve tried to fix it, but)Jones

And somebody seems to be turning them around.