Wandering Retirees

This morning started really pretty in Silverthorne. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and we looked forward to climbing Mr Evans. Fortunately, Connie checked the weather forecast first and it didn’t look good. Snow showers and snow flurries and 1-3 inches on top of what fell last night. Oh, and a projected high of 34F. It was an easy but painful call: not today and not this trip despite two attempts. Oh, well.

Connie scouted a nice route heading away from Mt Evans that looked fun. We plotted a loop heading north on CO 9 to Kremmling and Gore Pass. With that decided we treated ourselves to breakfast out at a great Mexican restaurant in town. On leaving, I detoured to a Yamaha Powersport shop next door.

Why? To say thanks to Mike, the owner for some helpful advice he gave. See, my helmet comm went on the fritz after we returned home last night. it wouldn’t shut off and would not recharge for the next day. The owners manual wasn’t helpful, nor was a call to tech support at the manufacturer. Mike directed us to some resources relatively close by if nothing else worked. He was thoughtful and kind. When I stopped in with our thanks, we had a great conversation and he suggested an improvement to our planned ride.

By the way, the solution turned out to be both simple and befuddling. We kept the comm on until its battery was fully drained and the unit shut down. (Connie’s idea.) Then we set it up to charge overnight and, lo and behold, it worked fine this morning. Tonight we have the same issue so we’ll follow the same remedy until we can get a replacement. An inconvenience that’s annoying but we can work through it. Back to the ride.

We rode about 25 miles up Rte 9 along the Blue River. Easy and beautiful riding that we enjoyed very much. Then, taking Mike’s suggestion, we turned west onto Trough Rd, a hard pack dirt road the Leads to the head waters of the Colorado River. It was a peaceful and stunning ride with only a few vehicles to share the road with heading the other way. I had no problems with the bike at all, it performed beautifully.

If you’d like to view our route, you can do so here.

https://scenicapp.space/ride/czLmdOah

Then we got to the Gore Valley Scenic Overlook and it was spectacular. Looking down from a height of about 1,000 feet, the Colorado River gorge was laid out before us. The Amtrak rail line that serves the Rockies is carved into the steep walls on the western bank. It was hard to imagine that the small river we saw today swells over more than a thousand miles into the source for two huge reservoirs behind mighty dams, and supply water for homes and agriculture in more than 10 states.

Trough Road followed the Colorado River for quite a ways before emptying onto Co Rte 131 which we took north toward Toponas. If we had followed 131 further then we’d have found Steamboat Springs. Instead, we cut east on Rt 134 past Deadman Gulch and over Gore Pass. We stopped in Kremmling for a cuppa and a nosh at a cozy Saloon on Main Street. Our enterprising waitress brought us our refreshments and talked us into taking home a frosted cinnamon bun “baked by grandma on premises,” and weighing about a pound but only costing six bucks. She saw us coming. And I’ll let you know how grandma’s baked goods stack up.

We met a guy who noticed our PA plates and wanted to know if we were really from Pennsy. We assured him we are legitimate and he set off on a brief but full description of his work building nuclear power plants in Berwick and Norristown. Connie was born in Berwick and still has family there. The man, who refused to share his name seemed satisfied with the encounter and walked off without another word. It takes all kinds, doesn’t it?

We picked up Rt 9 again heading south and got back around 5:30, very happy with our ride of 155 miles. Since tomorrow is a travel day to our next base, we packed our things and sat down to eat and relax.

Despite our rain outs, we’ve had a great time here in Silverthorne. Our accommodations were very comfortable and we’re thankful to our hosts.

Thanks for following along! Have a great night.