The Bridge is Out

It is a long drive from Sturgis to the Routt National Forest, but we made it yesterday with daylight to spare.  The route we took was decent and took us through the tiny town of Cowdrey.

Going past Cowdrey, we continued on towards Steamboat Springs, CO.  We didn’t go the whole way, but found a nice forest service road to lead us to a logging road high in the forest.

The custom camper and single tent even fit in the little dugway road we found off the forest road. The air is crisp, clean, and the temperature perfect.  A quick hot fire with beer brats sealed the deal. It all made a great days end.

As for today, we coasted into Steamboat where it was surprisingly busy.  The breakfast place was a comfortable slow, but it felt good to be in the Colorado sun.

Our ride for the day started towards Steamboat Lake and Hahns Peak. Sadly I forgot my little tracker in my tent, but if you’re familiar with the area, this will be easy to follow.  I lead Dan and Dad up to Steamboat Lake, but riding to the lake was lame, so we went onto Hahns Peak Lake further up the road. Some of the gravel was loose, but the ride was pleasant. From there, into the town(…town?) of Columbine.  I blinked and missed the single building and cabins of Columbine as we went onto another gravel road.  This forest road just kept going and going. I didn’t have a map but I was hoping to find a road to loop around Hans Peak and back to Steamboat… I failed.

Well, that was nice, take a picture and move on. The next place to lead the group was to Hayden then to Oak Creek. As a stretch-stop, we stopped at one awesome bar in Miller.

At the bar, we met the owner, Dom. The owner had one heck of a story that we didn’t exactly get the whole start to finish of what brought him to Miller Colorado.  He grew up in Chicago, went to Aspen and met a girl. From Aspen he and his wife got bored and purchased a house for $3,000 in Winter, Wisconsin sometime around 1973. His wife worked at a nursing home and his only job was in a band that played on Saturdays. At one of the shows, Dom was smoking a joint with the other band members when the mayor approached him and mentioned federal funding for a police department.
So the mayor says, “want it?”.
Dom replies, “want what?”
“To be a police officer” he says.

As a new member of the town, Dom had no relatives or relationships to cause a bias. So, Dom became the police chief at $400 a month.

When the federal funding ran out, he continued as police chief, ambulance driver, and bus driver.  His only ticket he wrote happens when he was driving bus. While stopped, the bus was illegally passed by a car.  Later on, he served that driver a ticket.  Before the court date, the driver calls up Dom and asks, “are you going to court?”
“Well, yes.”
“Uh, my car broke down so I can’t make it.”
“That’s okay, I’ll pick you up”
Dom picks up the driver at his house while wearing a red plaid shirt with his badge pinned on.  They walk into the courthouse where the judge and the D.A. are waiting.  The judge mentioned this being the only case, so if everyone is ready, they would start.
Dom and the driver both say they are ready and the judge asks,
“Well, who are you?”
Dom replies “I’m the officer and this is the driver”
“Oh, so we’re just waiting on the bus driver” says the judge.
“Oh, that is me too”
After hearing this, the driver goes, “that was you?! I plead guilty!”
Case was closed and all four of them went to lunch.

What a great story, I hope I told it well enough. Dom started telling us how he went from Winter on to living on a sailboat for 6 years, but another guy came in and we were lost in other stores.

What made this bar stop important was this. We were asked where we were headed which prompted the response of, “can’t, the bridge is out”.  Turns out they scheduled a bridge replacement project and closed the road.  We saved a lot of time by not wandering to the nonexistent bridge and having a beer with Dom.

A Little Good, A little Bad

Yesterday’s gravel and bridge issues were behind us as we planned on hitting the road for a longer motorcycle ride to Independence Pass. Independence Pass is a remarkably beautiful road connecting Leadville to Aspen. The pass is typically closed all the time due to its sheer altitude and the level of danger involved with navigating the hairpin turns. Any ice on the road could send a vehicle to a not-so-pleasant landing.

From the campsite in Routt Nat’ Forest to Kremmling we enjoyed a well tempered run.  After Kremmling was misery. I missed the memo telling me the ENTIRE highway between Silverthorne and Kremmling was being redone… Completely… But we got through it, went shopping in Dillon and enjoyed a beautiful mountain ride to Leadville and by beautiful mountain ride, I mean cold cold cold.

Leadville has to be one of my absolute favorite tourist towns of all time.  The people seem friendly, the sun is warm, and the hostel is by far one of the best in the world.  I consulted a map while having lunch and we figured it would be best not to try and race the sun and rain clouds but to go to my favorite hostel and spend the night.  Rooms and beds are well priced and I know the owners.  When we met with one of the owners, Kathy, I noticed she was working alone doing what tasks are typically done by the head hancho, Wild Bill. Wild Bill is one of those guys you instantly like and get along with. His smile warmed the room and made you feel welcomed.  I asked Kathy where Bill was and if he was out on an adventure or something.

Kathy has a hesitant moment of grief that only slightly could be seen. She looks at me directly in the eye and tells me how Wild Bill was in a car accident in June (2015) and passed away.  I was taken completely aback. I’ve been going to this hostel at least once a year for probably 5 years and so not seeing Bill anymore was a shock, but to find out he passed away was like losing someone close. I’m going to miss his wisdom and stories. Rest in peace Bill, you are missed.

Settled up and off to Aspen we go.

Leadville sits at an altitude of 10,200 feet above see level (give or take). So, riding to the pass that has switch backs and hairpin turns really tells us how high we were getting. At the continental divide we were quite above the treeline. This ride was by far the greatest motorcycle trip I have ever been on.

You just can’t argue with God’s gift to Colorado.

The ride was AMAZING, but we watched the sky grow dark and the rain start to pelt us hard, it was time to head to the hostel.  This was a CoLd ride back.

With numb hands and a wet crotch (rain pants leaked at a very important seam). We opted to get dinner first.  Now, I am not a qualified food critic, but if you want little choices and yet get the greatest cut of meat cooked to perfection, you head to Quincy’s and eat whatever their only dish is (there is a vegitarian option, but nuts to that).  I truly wish I could describe the delicious tastes, but my vocabulary fails me.

It was good, end of story.

The White Spots are Boring, The Green Spots are Fun

Riding today was an exploration of whatever road we hoped would get us to a beautiful mountain trail with interstate 70 somewhere near the end. We did a lap around turquoise lake before taking highway 24 to Red Cliffs,  a little town underneath a sweet bridge.

Red Cliffs looks a bit like Switzerland… But more depressed… They had a good chicken wrap, so I shouldn’t complain.

Not much else happened today. Rode highway 131 to Steamboat and went to basecamp.

We did see something interesting in the itty bitty town of Yampa… Only slightly inappropriate…

Anyways, I am tired, and later I’ll have to check the settings of this post when I get to a computer, but I wanted to post the image of Wild Bill’s write-up from the paper.

Rangely Run

From Routt to Steamboat, Craig to Rangely.

I’ve been traveling quite a bit now and I can’t say I want to stop. Riding with my dad and Dan was AMAZING and left me with an excitment that I haven’t felt in literally a decade. Riding the mountains made me giddy with excitement to get my Colorado hike started. First things first, I needed to return an unused work laptop to CNCC Craig.

I worked on the Rangely campus for 6 years 11 months but I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the Craig campus. My first major construction experience was my involvement as a project manager assisting in the paperwork for the new Craig buildings. It was a memorable experience and really taught me what to pay attention to down the road.

CNCC Craig is in their summer term, but the campus wasn’t empty. Many folks were excited to see me and swap stories of what has been happening lately.  Tony was a gracious host and the cute bookstore girl was very helpful and quite easy to talk to. I wish I spent more time getting to know her.

After a great night with my Craig friends, I left for Rangely on a road I’ve traveled so so so many times.

Only three people knew I was coming to Rangely, so my visit was quite a surprise to many people… Wait, I posted it on Facebook so maybe 6 people knew I was coming.  I met with as many people as I could, but more importantly, I met with my ex-supervisor and the college president.

I have many things to think about while hiking the Colorado Trail starting Monday. I’ll leave the mystery as to what I mean here, but many of you know what I am eluding to.