Day 18

We left grand island and headed toward Davenport, Iowa Harley, .  Greg and Marcia Briggs are headed West on 80, they are in Davenport, we actually see each other as we go our separate ways, they are headed to Custer state park! How cool that we saw each other, another magic moment. we left there and went to Antique Archeology. Wow, what a tourist attraction, in a good way.  You can see the roaring Mississippi from the parking lot.  

We get back on the 80 and head as far as Morris Ill. We go across the street to a struck stop for dinner. I can't wit to load the pictures of it. It was whimsical, and so not what we expected. It was so cool, and if you are ever on the 80 by Morris, you must stop at the "R" Place at TK"s truck stop. Amazing food and a very cool atmosphere.

For the past couple of days we have been in between storms. We've been blessed that we really haven't seen the bad weather like some places in the country. We have seen drowned fields, and swollen rivers, but, we have just seen the after affects of the storm a head of us, praying that the storm behind us doesn't catch up.

Day 17.... Dazed and confused

We left Grand Island and headed toward Newton Iowa. We hit some Harley dealers, then traveled about 280 miles to Newton. It's hot out, but, I'm wearing full leathers. We got slammed with little black bugs in Nebraska, so I wanted to save my pants from getting full of bugs. 

Life on the road with 3 people sometimes isn't easy.  Everyone does stuff different, personalities sometimes clash. We are getting road weary. Everything is getting blurry.... day running into day.... where and what state was this, and that.?  That is why I'm blogging this, so everything is recorded in sequence, and we will have a reference point.

We got to Newton, we went  to Montana Mike's for dinner. It's a little steak house.  we go back to the hotel, grab the maps and discuss a route for tomorrow.   Pictures from today to follow.

Day 16... Against the Wind

We left fort Morgan and headed to North Platt Nebraska to go to a Harley dealer, Mike has collected 10 dealership pins so far.  After we got in Nebraska it got really, really windy. We were fighting the wind all the way to Grand Island which was our destination for today.

Along with the wind we saw a lot of damage from flooding. A lot of standing water in fields, a bunch of crops are destroyed, and more rain is coming as I type. 

We planned our route for tomorrow had dinner at Sonic, went in the hot tub at the hotel. Not in that order...

We will see what tomorrow brings and what the weather brings...we want to get to Des  Moines tomorrow.

Oh, and going though 2 time zones in 3 days really kicks your butt. 

Day 15 Going through the Pass

We left Grand Junction, and headed toward Denver, we wanted to get on the East side of Denver. I don't have any pictures from today right now, but when I go though the GoPro pictures I will post them.  We drove though the mountains around Denver. The ride was really nice, we were smart enough to pull over and put on our warm jackets before we got to Vail. We went from super hot weather to very cold drizzly weather.

When we went though Vail Pass we could still see the snow pack still on the mountains. Then we climbed higher and went though  Loveland pass the clouds were just stuck in the pass, it was raining and then it started sleeting huge pellets is sleet. Mind you we were in a traffic jam because of construction, which in retrospect was probably a good thing because the driving conditions took a crap. We got through the pass no problem it wasn't an easy ride by any means. We were all freezing the temp dropped to 45 and we were damp to say the least. But we were safe and we made it down.

It was warmer in Denver and dry for now. We are looking for 76, and I look at the time and it's 5 PM..... but, actually rush hour wasn't too bad. We found 76 no problem and were driving on very wet roads, yes, another rainbow too.... and I swear we drove right into it!

We pull over and search for a hotel in the area of Fort Morgan, most of them are full. We finally get one....

We check into our room, have a couple of drinks and dinner, then go over the maps and the weather forecast for east of us.. then crash.... we are fried.

Day 14.... Hot Utah day

Arches today. We were all messed up when we got up today. My phone time said one thîng, clock said another,
Mikes watch said something else.  we were just all messed up.  Arches was really nice, bit super hot.  105 out.  after we left arches we went route 128 where we rode next to the
swollen 
Colorado river. there was red mud all over the sides of the road from recent flooding. the removed the mud from the roads with plows. Route 128 was as pretty as 
Arches   The road was beautiful and it sucked all at the same time.... all the road snakes and the dried mud.  


After 128 we went to 70 and road into 
Colorado.  stayed overnight at 
Grand 
Junction.  


it is getting very difficult to blog, this tablet is very old, and all my pictures are getting very hard and frustrating . 

also I'm adding a song to this post today. it was running though my head all day yesterday starting at arches.... luckly no one heard me singing over my pipes....



http://youtube.com/watch
?v=P5
UR
Y-qhdtQ

i don't know if the link will work but, it's I 
Know You 
Rider from the Grateful dead

Day 13 racing the storms

We left Page and headed to toward Utah. We went 98 to 160 to 163 to 191 to Moab. We got rained on on 98 for about 5 minutes, but, it was hot out so we didn't care.  It actually felt good.  My thought was AZ was said we were leaving so she cried on us.

We crossed into Utah and there is Monument Valley staring at us. It is majestic. We take our pictures and continue on 163. When I look in my side view mirrors and there is the view from all the pictures that I've seen . Darn it, Mike is going to hate me, but, I have to stop and thank a picture.  It is beautiful.

Then we get on 191, heading towards Moab, UT. We stop at a gas station I look at my weather app and there is pop up storms all around us. One very big one on our heels.  We rush out of the gas station and try to out run this huge black cloud following us.  We look to our right and there is another one, and in front of us is a massive one.  We don't have our rain gear on, we just keep riding. Hoping and praying that we don't get slammed on all sides. I literally raise my hand and yell at the storm chasing us. The road curves so the huge storm that we were going to running straight into is now on our right. We are now driving on wet roads with blue skies and puffy clouds around us.  The temperate has also gone from about 70 To 90.

We get to Moab without getting wet! We get the last 2 rooms in Moab. The price is a little higher than we have been paying, but, we still get quite the deal for Moab.  We go to the restaurant attached to our hotel .... we are starved, we haven't eaten since breakfast....

My bike was very popular today too. Everyone was taking pictures of it.  The one below is a girl from Barcelona, Spain.  Then while the guys were checking into the hotel a bunch of Oriental people started taking pictures if it, my license plate, and one guy actually had his wife sit with me and take a picture....

After dinner we chill and look over maps. 

Arches National Park today then we head over to Colorado.

  

Day 12 I love Arizona...

I went to Antelope Canyon early in the AM. I did the lower canyon. There were only 3 people in our photo tour. I was super nervous about doing it, but I'm happy I did. The canyon was so cool. What an experience!

Mike and Joe went to the Glenn Canyon Dam, and took a tour of it.

After my tour I took a ride, I rode by myself.... when will I ever be able to experience this beautiful part of Arizona again... the landscape is ever changing, so beautiful. I asked myself, " if I lived here would I take this beauty for granted  ? I told a local man about my feelings and asked him.... "do you see the beauty in this every time you look at it?"  He said he does..... and that he doesn't take it for granted.  I was glad he said that......   I really love it here in Page.... I feel sad we are moving on tomorrow.

Also check out the third photo.... the pink from the ground is reflecting in the clouds.... the camera didn't pick it up too much, but, if you look hard enough you should be able to see it.