The route took us over some of the cool mountain passes that we have come to expect in Colorado. So much fun racing along on these old dirt and gravel roads! We rode through some of the prettiest country that we have seen so far, including aspen trees. Very beautiful.
At about five or so, we had a decision to make. We could either go on and try to make it to Steamboat Springs, or we could stay in Kremmlin, CO for the night. Feeling good, we kept right on going. It was a fun section of road, with steep mountain roads and fast, smooth gravel.
We ended up staying in a hotel in Steamboat Springs, CO, after 300+ miles of dirt for the day. It poured when we entered town, so camping was out. The name of the hotel escapes me, but the man behind the counter will be forever embedded in my brain. He was an older Swiss gentleman who owned the hotel with his wife. His accent was so thick that I could only understand every other word, but his laugh was infectious. I am sure he was probably making fun of us and then laughing like he had just told a joke, but it was hard to say for sure. Either way, I was laughing.
The next day we took off for Wyoming. The first twenty miles or so were spent on the mindless pavement, but after that, things got interesting. The dirt roads were fine at the beginning, but then we got to sections that had been rained on and they were super slick. I rode a bit tentatively, but Doc was an animal. He simply twisted the throttle harder as he approached the mud. It was fun to watch.
Eventually, we crossed the border into Wyoming. We took a break in Rawlins(?) that ended up being quite a break. In all, we sat there for three hours. Let me explain. First of all, I tried to get my GPS to work, and in doing so, I ruined it and lost all of my maps and routes. This is not good, considering that without them, the trip is done. After several hours of messing around with it, I figured out a very time-consuming way to fix the problem.
After the problem was solved, I went to get on my bike and it wouldn't start. Apparently, you can't leave the key on for three hours and expect the battery to last. Once we figured out that I am an idiot, I went off on Doc's bike to find a replacement battery (brave of Doc to let me take his BMW, considering what I had just done). Three shops later, I had a new battery in hand and headed back to the truck stop where I am sure we were being watched. We threw the battery in and fired up the bike. It felt good to actually be moving again.
Using a somewhat handicapped GPS, we set out on the route. The roads were fast desert roads, that were incredibly slick when wet. On this section, the bracket for one of my boxes snapped apart. I had to strap the box to the bag on the back of the bike.
During this section, I may have ridden through cow crap, that may or may not hit Doc in the face. He says it did, I say that there were a lot of cows on the scene. Here is his evidence:
We made it to Lender, WY for the night at a great RV park. A nice guy named Justin welded up my bracket for me and I was good to go another day.
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