Wandering Retirees

On July 3rd, we rode about 300 miles to the new home of our oldest son, Ben, his wife, Aabha, and grandson Lucas. We were so happy to arrive and enjoy being with family. New and exciting job opportunities prompted the move across PA and the purchase of their new (and gorgeous) house in Canonsburg.

We spent the 4th enjoying local celebrations and thoroughly enjoyed our time. Lucas is a joy and a handful at 3. Their dog Rowan is exciting and friendly and has an unhealthy affinity for washing ears. Mine when I’m around. Ben and Aabha are a pleasure as we relaxed together.

Then on the morning of the 5th we all hit the road. Ben still works as a PA State Trooper and temporarily remains based in Philly, so he took Lucas to pre-school and drove 5 hours to work. Aabha started a new job on the medical faculty at West Virginia University Med School so she headed to her new office. Connie and I gathered our stuff one more time, loaded the bike, and rode about 7 hours home. We arrived hot, tired and wringing wet. There’s no cool and dry in the Delaware Valley in July. No, there is not.

All told, we rode 7800 miles in 35 days. No Iron Butt Awards, but we’re glad and proud of ourselves for this trip. It was exhilarating, exhausting, sometimes frustrating and totally amazing. And our butts still hurt.

It was totally worth it.

As we’ve said before, the people we meet along our journeys enrich our experience. In a world where we hear of divisiveness and discord daily, we find only kindness and curiosity. The people we meet generally want the same things for themselves and their families.

Now a word for my sponsor. A huge part of our successes riding resides in Connie’s ability to plan, finding lodging at modest rates, project traveling needs at key stages, and investigating travel routes via online forums, groups, and websites. She is amazingly talented at logistics and makes it all look easy. She is the best company ever with whom to explore new roads and sights, which she captures beautifully with her iPhone. And her riding experience offers us a valuable extra set of eyes for both safety and opportunities. This is our third cross country ride since 2017 and I could not be more happy. We’re looking forward to our next adventure once we figure out what it will be.

We are blessed.

Thank you kind reader for following along with us. We hope you’ve enjoyed our travelogue. Many of you have left comments for which we are grateful, and we are tickled that you thought it worth your while.

I’m going to sign off now. There’s an ice pack and a soft pillow waiting.

We did about 300 miles today. It was hot and muggy. Colorado has very low humidity. Did we mention that before? The difference in humidity levels is stark once you leave the Colorado Plateau. And since there a kooky weather system in the US right now and it’s stormy everywhere, it’s really swampy.

We rode into Greenfield IN in search of lodging and food. We found a Cracker Barrel for our lunch/dinner. We were there about ten minutes and the rain started. My phone kept alerting me to the storm outside. But we were focused on food and feeling thankful we were sheltered.

You may think that there are restaurants at every exit on I70. But that is not so: particularly in southern Illinois and Indiana. We thought we got lucky and stopped at a McDonald’s for lunch. But all the doors were locked. There were people inside eating but no new patrons were being allowed in. Or was it just us? lol. And while the drive thru was open, we didn’t want to stand around the bike eating and sweating. We decided to push on. And Cracker Barrel beats McDonalds hands down.

This morning we road through St Louis. We saw the “Arch” and traversed a bridge over the mighty muddy Mississippi.

So we are happily in our room. Counting the minutes until we can go to bed. 😴

Today’s ride was essentially a straight line from Salina, KS to Wentzville, MO just outside of St Louis. After a month of delightful twisty roads and cool dry temps, I guess we’re paying our dues with consecutive, hot 400 mile days. Our main excitement was riding past and skirting around some foul weather. We pulled in here just before the heavens opened up. Good navigation by Connie. I’ll claim clean living and fancy footwork.

We are comfortably ensconced in our hotel, cool showers and food soon. Two more days and we will see Aabha, Ben and Lucas at their new home. Very much looking forward to that!

We rode from Manitou Springs to Salina KS today. It was a long 425 miles in a head wind, but we arrived safely.

The change in scenery and the distinct rise in humidity told us we were no longer in Colorado.

Good night and good luck -Connie

We set out for home tomorrow. We spent the morning looking at weather and possible waypoints on our journey home.

We plan to stop just south of Pittsburgh to visit our son and his family in their new home. And want to be there on July 3rd. So that’s four days riding.

There are heavy storms expected on July 2nd and 3rd. We are being militantly optimistic that the storms will not be bad. However, we will travel when we can and hunker down when needed.

Colorado is such an amazing state. I want to wax poetic, but I’ll save that post for the rider, Hank.

We had a great day. We met so many nice people at the Java Moose Cafe in Fairplay, CO and reconnected with our Cajun friends in Manitou Spring.

We will definitely elaborate tomorrow. But I leave you with this.

Good night. 🌙

Yesterday we decided to take a day off from riding and enjoy the town of Salida. Built on the Arkansas River, Salida grew first as a mining town and now seems to be a resort town and a lovely place to live for about 6,000 folks. River sports are big and there’s a thriving arts community.

We walked the two miles downtown past a really elaborate skate park, and a public hot springs spa next to the visitors center. Our visit corresponds to an Arts Festival downtown. There was a “Pollack in the Park” exhibit where volunteers can lie on a swinging platform above a 12 x 12 canvas spread below. The ‘artist’ is given a squeeze bottle full of paint, set into motion and, voilà, a Pollack. Sort of. Really fun to watch, though.

We had lunch overlooking the river and shopped for postcards and just enjoyed wandering about. After our walk back, a nap, a stint in the hot tub and supper rounded out the day.

Today we set out on a 200 mile loop with Salida as the easternmost point. Connie found this exceptionally nice route up US 285 then west on County Rte 306 which took us over Cottonwood Pass. Twisty and gorgeous with a bit of difficulty we thoroughly loved this ride. We stopped at the top to enjoy the view from 12,300 feet. I climbed to the summit and took a few nice shots. Getting there required a trek of about 2/10 mile with a rise of about 250 feet. It took me Almost 30 minutes and I had to stop several times to catch my breath. I’m glad to say there were no hyper athletic youngsters jogging by at their ease. That would have been a bit much as I huffed and puffed my slow way upward.

On the way up, we both met Joe, who lives in Colorado, walking down hill carrying his skis. There’s still abundant snow in places and he was taking full advantage. In a few of the pics you might be able to see ski tracks yet. Anyway, the walk down was a LOT easier and we so enjoyed this stop. It’s not very famous, but Cottonwood Pass may be my favorite on this trip.

Our ride down the other side of the pass took us by Taylor Reservoir and the Taylor River on County Road 209.

Then picking up Rt 742, we rode into Gunnison for fuel and some lunch. After lunch we headed east on US 50 for a bit then turned south on CO Rte 114 over North Cochetopa Pass, then on to US 285 again to return to our hotel.

The landscape here is Colorado is so varied in such short distances. This morning we traveled on roads banked by snow,; descended through canyons to Gunnison; rose to the heavily forested North Cochetopa Pass: into an arid high plateau and then descended to an arid plain before arriving back at our hotel.

All told, it was a 6-1/2 hour ride and we loved every minute. Now we’re chillin’ with a cuppa and soft seats.

Tomorrow it’s off to our final base in Colorado in a town called Manitou Springs, close by to Colorado Springs. Wednesday we hope to climb Pikes Peak. As with all else here, it’s “weather permitting.” We’ll see.

Our route for today:

https://scenicapp.space/route/rppfMsfW

Connie and I enjoyed a leisurely morning doing not much of anything. Except maybe drinking coffee and breakfast. We did hop on the bike late morning and headed east and north toward Monarch Pass on Rt 12 and Kebler Pass.

The sky was a brilliant blue with tiny cloud puffs, and the air so clear you could see for miles. US 50 crosses Monarch Pass is in the Sawatch Range at 11,312 feet. A panoramic view of deep valleys captures your eye. The roadway is very good and pretty curvy. It was pretty breezy today with some gusts up to 30 mph so we were buffeted some, but not dangerously so. Riding heavy, choosing good lines and easing off the throttle a bit help keep it fun.

We passed Monarch Pass and tried to ride up to Kebler Pass, which is reached by Gunnison County Rt 12 out of Crested Butte heading west. It’s “only” 10,000 feet high and is unpaved, but is a very beautiful place. Unfortunately for us, the road was closed today for a bicycle race of some kind that involved amateurs and a lot of kids. We felt sorry for ourselves, but happy for the kids. Really.

On the way back down after the way was barred, we saw a rather flamboyant fellow on a bike with a big flag, a horn and other accoutrements. I’m pretty sure Connie caught that on her camera. He had to keep his momentum up so he couldn’t stop to talk. Sure would have liked to hear some of his story. We meet all kinds, no?

Our return to Salina was fun and and quicker due to less traffic. All told, we covered 200 miles in about 5 hours, plus a stop for food and at the grocery store for supper.

When we travel, we often buy packaged salads and cheese or chicken to eat in our rooms. Partly it’s to reduce costs, partly it is easier to stay in a fret a long day, and partly it’s to make up for too much rich food cadged on the road. Riding two-up we’re already heavy enough.

Hope your Friday was good, and your weekend even better.

A link to our route today:

https://scenicapp.space/ride/HTDMAlsq