Day 24–To face fear or turn an run?

The order of business first thing this morning was to get our trailer tires changed and then attempt to do our route as planned. So at 8:45am we’re sitting at the Yamaha dealer waiting for the door to open so we can get it done. At first I thought they were dragging their feet because they didn’t open those doors right at 9am. But in the shop there was Jason who came in early to finish other work he had promised knowing that I was going to be there at 9am. So he told us it would take him about another 30 minutes to finish the current job and then he would get to our trailer. I handed him the re-installation instructions from Bushtec Trailer Company and he said something that really bothered me, “I don’t need no instructions.” That kind of rubbed me wrong, but I didn’t change my expression, tone, or body language and I just said, they do not want you use Red thread lock, tires are directional, 35 PSI cold, and when tightening the wheel set the nut against the wheel then turn just another 1/4 turn. I basically read him the instructions and you could see he didn’t like it to much.

Lori and I left to find a cup of coffee and ended up find an Outlet Mall and all the stores were still closed. Teehee!! We were just finishing up our coffee and my phone rang and it was Jason. Trailer was done but he wanted me to sign a paper releasing them of responsibility that a wheel might fly off. He did not like the thread lock thing and he didn’t like the short shaft they were mounted to. He also had me do the final torque of the wheel and that suited me fine, because I was going to double check him anyhow. I was happy, he was happy, and Lori and I took off to??????, the Under Armor store that was now open. Well after tolerating all this riding on the motorcycle for the past 24 days, I figured I owed her at least 5 minutes in a store. She bought a few things and I bought a hat thing to wear under my helmet and that didn’t work at all, and then we were off.

Those in my family know very well that not much scares me or bothers me that I will not face head on. There is one thing that I fought all my life and that is a fear of heights. When I was in my teenage years, 200 or 300 feet would make me feel uneasy. Then as I age it got a little better. So today the task at hand was to convince myself that I was going to ride a motorcycle pulling a trailer to the highest paved road in the United States. Sounds simple, but if you have never traveled this road, once you get above 10,500 the trees are gone and there are very few guard rails. The snow heaves in the road make you slow to 10 mph or less. Then there is that nasty little wind that likes to blow you around, but only above 10,000. When we arrived at the fee station, the Ranger asked if I would like to park my trailer at the bottom like most riders do and I declined. So up we went and up we went, and the higher we went the slower it seemed I was traveling. The speed limit is only 30 mph and I felt like I was moving about 10 or 15, but every time I checked, I was holding pretty steady 30 mph. The entire run even with all the 180 degree turns, I only blew one corner and went a little wide, but no one was in my way. I did it. I reached the top of Mt. Evans and it didn’t bother me nowhere near as much as I thought it was going to. I put up a celebrating fist in the air and people around me looked at me like I was just a bit crazy. That’s ok, they will never see me again. We walked around for a few minutes, took some pictures of some mountain goats that seemed way to friendly, and then started downhill to get out the cold air. 70 degrees at the bottom of the hill and 44 degrees at the top of the hill.

The rest of the day we spent casually skimming the eastern edge of the Rocky National Park. We rolled into Estes Park around 5pm and if you have never been here, it compares to Gatlinburg, Tn. in beauty but is a little more spread out. The mountains are a little bit taller here to.

Tomorrow we turn due south and retrace part of route heading toward Pueblo Colorado. The main thing that we want to see other than the Rockies themselves is Royal Gorge Bridge. The other thing to note is what is going to be a wild temperature swing for us tomorrow. When we leave Estes Park, it will be 45 and when we arrive in Pueblo the forecasted temperature is 97. That is a 50 degree change. How do you dress for that? Technically tomorrow will end the scenery and attractions that I have on my list to see for this trip. Once in Pueblo, the following morning we will point the Valkyrie East and blast our way back across 2/3’s of this country. It will take us 3 days to get home from Pueblo and this is going to be some long butt burning days. This was the price I was willing to pay to spend more time west of the Mississippi River. Through all the weather and other mechanical issues that we have dealt with, this has been a great trip that I would do again in a heart beat.

Todays run was 183 miles, and our total is now 8376.

Click here for todays pictures:

Tomorrows route is pictured below:

The Picture below shows what we have completed and what we have left. The Red is complete and the Green is what is left.