4th September 2010

Rifle

Not a good night's sleep; Bill was snoring loudly enough to reverberate through my earplugs so I didn't get to sleep until after 01:30 and was awake again at 06:46.
We set off early from the Budget Host motel in Rangely as we had a fair few miles to cover to Vintage Motos in Denver. We were on the road by 08:15. We followed the 64 and then the 13 South to meet the I-70, which runs all the way to Denver. Just before joining the I-70, we stopped for fuel and had a coffee and breakfast at McDonald's in Rifle. We got the fuel at 09:46 and were back on the road at 10:20.

The interstate highways are not usually very interesting and quite busy. The I-70 is busy but it's certainly not boring. It wends its way through the Rocky Mountains, with steep ascents and descents. Around almost every bend is a new formation, texture or colour of rock. If I didn't have to ride the bike through the twisty channel cut by the road, I would have liked to have spent a lot more time enjoying the sights. We also rode through tunnels cut through the mountains to accommodate the road. The Eagle river runs by the road for quite some way. We saw rafts full of people. We stopped at a rest area in Eagle, took some photos and then decided to go to Starbucks for a coffee. When we set off, we stopped again shortly afterwards at a viewpoint to take more photos. We met a guy there called Jim, or "Mother Chugg" as he is known in the Marines Motorcycle Club. He was on his way to a club ceremony, where a new member was being 'patched' but his Harley had blown a gasket and he was waiting for his mother to come pick him up. Luckily he lived just up the road; only 150 miles away! Poor Mum. Jim suggested we try going through a town called Gateway, just South of Grand Junction as it is a twisty and pretty ride. He gave me his card and said for us to feel free to call him. We made sure that he had a drink and set off again.



Jim or "Mother Chugg"

After going through Vail, we turned off the I-70 on to the 6, which Sandy Tifft had suggested via Facebook. This took us through the Arapaho Basin and proceeded to climb very steeply with switchback turns up the side of the mountain. At the summit is Loveland Pass, its altitude is 11990ft. Again the views were fantastic. I took photos and a 360 degree video. It was cold and windy up there so jumpers and overcoats were put on. After the summit the road drops as steeply as it rises, with more hairpins. It leads back on to the I-70. We ended up going back in the opposite direction for fuel as the nearest fuel stop, according to the satnav, doesn't always mean that you're going in the correct direction. We bought chocolate bars to keep us going but couldn't eat them there as we were blocking the pumps. It was so warm that jumpers and overcoats came off.

We ploughed on up the I-70 and again branched off, this time only 18 or so miles from our destination. We climbed a road up to Buffalo Hill Lookout; the opposite way from Buffalo Bill's grave, which is apparently just a rock with his name on it. We climbed, in a spiral, all the way to the top of Buffalo hill and took pictures of the fabulous views all around. I photographed a brave chipmunk, who stood 15ft from me, and sent it to Jane. We ate our chocolate and had a drink before returning to the bikes for the final part of our journey to the motor museum.

Denver was hot. It was 100 degrees in the city. When we reached Vintage Motos, there was a small fête occurring in the building above the basement museum. A lad was spraying a bike frame, while it hung from tree. We decided to move our bikes before they got sprayed luminous yellow too. They had very loud music blasting out and apparently had tattoo artists and other stalls. We decided not to bother.

We made our way downstairs in to the museum and met John Frost, the curator. I had previously conversed with John via the museum Facebook page. He is a friendly chap and was pleased to see us. The $7 entrance fee was well worth it. There must be over 100 bikes in the museum, ranging from the very old to nearly new. Many of them are Italian, with some German and English bikes thrown in for good measure. We spent quite some time talking to John, who suggested that we could visit the "Million Dollar Highway" or the "Four Corners" (where 4 states meet).

We said our goodbyes and decided at 17:30 to make our way to a motel at Colorado Springs, which was 47 miles away. As it was so hot, I rode without my jacket leaving just my t-shirt on top. We took the I-25 out of Denver. The 25 was indeed boring and busy. We stopped to take photos of the sunset just before we reached Colorado Springs. When we got there, that was was the fun started.  We could not find any rooms available in Colorado Springs. It was American Labor Day holiday weekend and it seemed that every American had deserted their home and moved in to hotels. I stood in a field using the wifi of a Super 8 we had tried but by this time it was late and most websites for hotels had decided that booking on the 4th was no longer acceptable. Frustrated with standing in a field like a twit, we rode to Starbucks to get a drink and utilise their wifi. Using wifi from a comfortable seat was still of no use. When I tried to phone hotel numbers, I continually received an invalid or blocked number response. This was because I was dialling incorrectly but I did not know that at the time. Bill's phone was out of power. As it was now completely dark, I could not wear sunglasses and rode without eye protection. We stopped for fuel and to clean the bike screens. We opted to drive round a few hotels but each one had no vacancies. We decided to drive out of Colorado Springs, thinking it was just this City that was popular for some unknown reason to us.

We stopped at a motel along the I-25, between Colorado Springs and Pueblo. I don't remember its name; we didn't stop long enough to find out as there was an accumulation of dodgy looking 'ladies' waiting for willing payees to stop by. The "No Soliciting" sign, hung on the motel door (always a good sign), was obviously not functioning correctly. As soon as Bill pulled up, I suggested we move on.

We tried a further 4 motels, which were all full. At one motel a guy called Ben offered us his pull out bed, saying that we could come to some arrangement. We thanked him kindly and lied through our teeth, saying that we were not tired and would ride on. We pulled in to McD's in Pueblo for a coffee and a burger; the only thing I had eaten since 10am and McD's breakfast in Rifle. It was here that I eventually found out how to dial US numbers within the US properly and managed to get through to Motel 6 reservations, after a lengthy wait in the calling queue. When the representative answered I told him that we'd need to be quick as my phone power was in the red. I requested him to find us a room at any Motel 6 nearest to where we are. He found one.... 106 yards away. The Pueblo Motel 6 that we had tried earlier had started releasing rooms for 'no shows'. We finally got in to the room at 23:30 and collapsed for the night.

Note to self: always, always pre-book rooms on USA bank holiday weekends unless you want to ride all night or sit all night in 24 hour McD's.

When we stopped for the night, the bike mileage was 46527, which means we travelled 439 miles this day.