California Trip; Days 1, 2, and 3

DSCN0849a We departed from Carl and Marge’s house in Shawnee on Friday, June 11, 2010, at 5:00 PM.  Three hundred miles later, with a gas stop in Junction City and a pit stop at Sonic in Russell, we arrived in WaKeeney, KS at 8:20 PM.  We stayed at the Econo Lodge.  It was mostly sunny and very humid all day with temperatures ranging from 86 to 91.DSCN0850a

On Saturday, June 12, 2010, we left WaKeeney at approximately 8:15 AM.  It was cloudy and 66 with a promise of scattered showers.  It was raining and 55 degrees when we reached Goodland, KS so, after gassing up, we donned our rain gear.DSCN0854 We got gas again in Limon, CO and Silverthorne, CO.  By the time we reached Denver it was 50 degrees and raining.  We had lunch at Wendy’s in the Denver area and then continued west on I-70.  Just before reaching the Eisenhower Tunnel at Independence Pass it was 39 degrees (but dry).  We stayed at the Silver Spruce Motel in Glenwood Springs, CO.DSCN0855 We rode 480 miles in temperatures ranging from 39 to 66 (never above 55 in Colorado) with off-and-on rain (much more on than off).  We experienced a brief episode of small hail near Denver.

On Sunday, June 13, 2010, we departed Glenwood Springs, CO at 8:00 am.  It was mostly sunny and 50 degrees.  The blue sky sure looked good.  We gassed up at Grand Junction and continued westbound.DSCN0857a As we rode towards Green River, UT we reached our high temperature of the day, 61 degrees.  At Green River we could see a nasty storm brewing west of us.  After some debate, we decided to put on the rain gear - good choice!  We rode in rain most of the way to Salina, UT.

We had lunch at Mom’s Cafe in Salina, UT.  It has been owned by the same couple since 1975.  His name is Mel.  The food was good and we especially enjoyed the scones.DSCN0861 We finished up the day riding north to Delta, UT.  After gassing up we cussed and discussed whether or not to head out to the next sign of civilization in Ely, NV, which was about 160 miles west.  We decided to stay in the Days Inn in Delta. We played some Farkle (Marge reached 10,000 points first but Chris won on her last turn) and watched the NBA playoff game.DSCN0862 Today we covered a very wet 380 miles.  We’re hoping that tomorrow is more dry.

For more pictures from the first three days click on the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/goldwinger.shawnee/CaliforniaTripDays12And3?feat=directlink

Comments

Frank Bryant said…
Doesn't look like fun, so far.
June 29, 2010 at 10:34 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Colorado; Day 9; June 30, 2012

Image
The evening of June 29th we saw the play, “Is He Dead” at the Creede Repertory Theater ( http://www.creederep.org/ ).  It was very entertaining,  one of the better plays I’ve seen. When we drove away from Creede at 6:05 am it was 41 degrees.  A short distance south the temperature dropped to 39.  We tried soaking up the cold for what we knew would be a hot afternoon. We rode South Fork and then east to Alamosa.  From Alamosa we took a detour north up Hwy 17 to see the UFO Watchtower ( http://www.ufowatchtower.com/ ).  It is a place for UFO enthusiasts to go to watch for UFO’s.  The lady who runs the place said something about some sort of vortex existing on the property.  Weird stuff, even for an open-minded guy like me. If the UFO Watchtower wasn’t weird enough we saw a male driving a Jeep with eye lashes over the headlights at a gas station in Alamosa, CO.  Hopefully it was his wife’s Jeep and he was just gassing it up for her. We continued east to Walsenburg, LaJunta, and La
Read more

Florida Trip; Day 15

Image
At 7:30AM we drove away from Russellville, AR on a cold 25 degree morning. At least the sun was coming up. Our route was 7 north to Harrison; 65 north to Springfield, MO; I-44 west; 13 north to Clinton; 7 north to Harrisonville; I-49 north; I-435 west to Kansas in the KC area and home. Hwy 7 in Arkansas is a scenic route with hills and curves galore. We stopped several times for photos. On the south side of Bolivar, MO we enjoyed lunch at Smith's Restaurant. It was 39 degrees when we arrived home at 2:20 but we saw a high of 44. It was a good day for our final of the trip. We drove 330 miles today and the total trip mileage was 3,109. I only have 6 photos today but you can click here to see them -  Final Day Pics
Read more

My Last Ride

On January 11th, 2017, I departed on a ride to Kelli's Korner (Paradise, MO - near Smithville, MO) for lunch with four friends (Carl, Gary, Bill and Larry). It was a beautiful day, which was all the excuse we needed for a ride. I was leading the group and we were taking a long way there. Riding north on county road N, about 6 miles north of Hwy 152 and I-435, the road turned and I didn't. I exited the road into a field. Fortunately there were no fences, trees, rocks, oncoming cars, etc. I have no explanation for this except that I was out of it for awhile. I remember crossing the center line but I was looking down at that time, which is weird. I have no memory of seeing anything after that until I was laying in the field separated from my motorcycle. I do remember a sensation of tumbling but that is all. My first thought was to drive my motorcycle out of the field and get it cleaned up so Chris would not know what I did. What a ridiculous idea that was. After I'd been up
Read more