A Grand Old Time
If youre bored then youre boring - Harvey Danger
Get up and do something
Your time to chose it
Do it, do it, do it, do it
-Soul Asylum
And that is the thought for the day. Stop sitting around waiting for life to happen, go grab it!
554 miles on the day before set us up for an easy run from Denver to Grand Junction. Good thing, as we knew it would be raining and the roads would be more challenging. The prior two days of hard running paid off with a laid back third day run to Grand Junction.
Drizzling rain accompanied our leisurely departure from Denver. We began climbing out of the plain up into the clouds and foothills.
The heat from the previous day had totally disappeared . The cold front that brought the storm had the temperatures in Denver at 61 when we left and as we climbed the foothills the temperatures kept dropping. The air temperature gauge on my bike was reading around 45 at the lowest. This was a good reason to pull over and put on more gear!
The big guy in blue is Jason. Here he is in the Eisenhower tunnel.
Coming down the other side of the mountains it seemed we had escaped the brunt of the bad weather. We were in and out of the rain gear all day and the temperatures kept creeping up as we lost elevation. Heres some scenic shots from the west slope .
The problem with these pics is they simply dont convey the entire experience. The panoramic view afforded from the seat of a motorcycle is my favorite way to see the world. Whereas in a car you are looking at a picture, framed by your window or windshield, on a bike you are IN the picture, you can smell the trees, feel the breeze, see up down and sideways its wonderful.
Entering into Glenwood Canyon along the Colorado river .
And some more scenery
Looking at the variety of mountain formations and structures made me think of the Eskimos and their number of words to describe snow .how many different words for mountain are there? Im sure Dad with the geology degree could give the technical terms but thats not nearly as appealing.
We made it to Grand Junction CO ahead of schedule and of the group were supposed to meet up with. Temperatures rose to 90 on the air temp gauge by the time we got to Grand Junction - a swing of 45 degrees in the space of one day. THAT is why I pack shorts and heavy leathers for the same trip - you never know what youll experience.