Day Five - 470 miles
NOTE: Pictures to follow. Using low bandwidth internet on cell phone. Internet out at motel.
I felt like I needed to make some headway today. The "imagined' mechanical issue, the bad weather for the last two days, along with the tragic event back in San Francisco had kind of taken their toll.
I decided to try and make the best of things. I got a fairly early start. I stayed in a really nifty little motel in Delta, Colorado, called Westways Court. Kind of artsy, log cabin, rustic sort of a vibe, with subdued neon lighting (a bit like the dimmed night-time cabin lighting on Virgin America, if you've ever flown them coast-to-coast). I recommend it if you're ever passing though this way.
I also recommend the (also funky) little coffee stand up the street. A nice girl called "Katie" made my espresso for me. People are really nice and friendly out here in Utah and western Colorado. If I had to live in a very rural area, I could think of worse places. You certainly get a heck of a view when you look out the window every morning.
As I pushed on into Colorado and up into the Rockies proper, the landscape finally changed from the desert of the past few days. There are beautiful green pastures with majestic mountains as a backdrop. Lots of horses.
We climbed up to reach the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass, elevation 11,312 ft. That was a pretty cool milestone.
I passed several "packs" of biker gangs going to or from someplace. Bikers on the road have a sort of "protocol" and we always wave or hold an arm out, just to acknowledge one another, and generally say "Hi! Isn't it great to be out here on a motorcycle!" Well, the guys in the gangs tend to not wave at anyone. That's their business, I suppose. I tend to stay out of their way, and they seem to stay out of mine.
We followed the Gunnison River, then the Arkansas River. I now noticed the Arkansas River running east - in the direction I was going. Prior to crossing the Continental Divide, all the rivers were flowing "against me" towards the Pacific. Now we were all heading east towards the Atlantic. Pretty cool!
After quite a long time through or near the Royal Gorge, the mountains and canyons gave way to high plains. Eastern Colorado is plains country. After three or four (or five) more hours, I crossed into Kansas and the Central time zone.
A word about the road. Highway 50 is NOT an Interstate or a freeway. Sometimes it is a freeway near bigger cities, but out here it is at most two lanes in each direction, and usually that is not for very long. This is an old highway from the pre-Interstate "Route 66" days. It is SINGLE LANE in each direction for much of the way, especially in Kansas. At times it runs through residential areas of very small towns, and some very small towns that are fading away as the boom has passed or children or young people and jobs have moved elsewhere. This is real Americana.
I pulled in for the night at Garden City, Kansas. We are now out in the Great Plains.
I have "lost" another hour's sleep, as we changed time zones again. It also takes a couple of hours to catch up on the blog and pictures.
The internet router died at the motel here tonight, so I am posting this via my "tethered" iPhone on a very slow roaming partner called "USA 340." I tried uploading a photo, but it is taking to long. I'll update these last two days blogs with the pictures next time I have a good connection.
Still thinking about Brian. I am finding it difficult to cope with.
Anyway, that's all for now.
Onwards...
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