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It took us 9 days of driving, however now we’re really “out west”. After as we speak’s trip we’ll attain our largest problem but, the Rocky Mountains which makes the mountains again house appear to be mere hills. Even taking a route that retains us at decrease elevations, we’re nonetheless going to be climbing over 10,000′ to make it over among the passes. The bikes have been operating nice to date, so I simply hope it continues as we head up the mountains.
Proper after crossing the state line, we rode throughout massive sections of freeway which had been lined with swarms of yellow butterflies. I assume they had been simply warming themselves on the blacktop, however they had been reluctant to maneuver and we discovered ourselves plowing by a storm of yellow. Quickly our bikes had been lined with yellow smears and crumpled insect our bodies including a bit of little bit of colour to the mud and dirt accrued over the past 1,500 miles.
Though I might have simply opened my visor and had a mouthful of butterflies, we determined to interrupt for lunch within the city of La Junta. The primary restaurant we got here to was Boss Hogg’s Restaurant and Saloon which after all introduced again childhood reminiscences of watching “The Dukes of Hazzard”. I stored my eye out for a white convertible Cadillac or a orange Dodge Charger, however the parking zone was simply stuffed with SUVs. Even with out Daisy serving us lunch, the meals was fairly good and after downing a few BBQ sandwiches it was time to get again on the street.
Simply northeast of city we stopped at one other well-known landmark on the Santa Fe Path referred to as Bent’s Outdated Fort. It was opened 100 years earlier than my bike was in-built 1833 by the Bent brothers and was initially designed as a buying and selling submit, not a army set up. The Bent’s grew to become very profitable, utilizing their Fort as a middle for commerce with the native Indian tribes, frontiersmen and settlers touring west. In it is day, it was the tallest US construction west of the Mississippi River.
The fort was restored within the 1970’s utilizing unique drawings made throughout a survey of the property by the US Military within the 1830’s. The Park Service outdid themselves with the reconstruction, which additionally included furnishing all of the rooms simply as they might have been through the fort’s operation. I used to be pleasantly shocked that we had been allowed to wander across the Fort, together with the higher ranges, with out being tied to a information or compelled behind security chains. Moreover the Fort, there was additionally an Indian camp and a trappers camp a brief hike away on the banks of the Arkansas River.
We spent a pair hours at Bent’s Outdated Fort earlier than heading west once more to Walsenburg and in the end to Lanthrop State Park for the evening. This was the primary campground had been we have encountered pay showers. In contrast to a pay automobile wash, these showers didn’t have a timer or a beeper to let when your time was virtually up. In order that meant I ended up strolling again to the tent with a head stuffed with cleaning soap. All the things else was prime notch and though our campsite regarded like the proper habitat for the Crotalus atrox. Fortunately I did not even hear a single rattle throughout our keep.
One other 240+ miles within the rear view mirror as we speak.
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