First Long Camp in a year is Nearly Done

My 14 days is done tomorrow. I'll have to move camp Monday.

Been a curious time. Several 100+ mile circles. Rode Mesa Verde twice. That first ten miles in is cool as hell. Rode over to Vallecito reservoir... then up the road toward Telluride as far as Lizard Head Pass past Rico a couple times. Another sweet ride.

As always, in the wind on the scooter, all is right with the world. It's all the rest that makes my ass twitch.

Had spent the first few days patching the trailer. I'll live with it bent and busted for now 'till after harvest. It's sealed again with an ugly sheet metal patch at the least. Fact is I weary of repairing things... things beyond a bike anyway...

... and that's the thing... the bike gives back... all the rest? That's just burden that eats more than it provides. Truth be told, if not for Arlo I'd be on the bike alone. Period. That red head is the only reason for the hooch and yukon... meh.

That deer wreck kinda messed up my too thin budget. Living on rice and beans this month working to get back in sync... I keep hoping I get a call from somebody that needs that aluminum anchor parked back in Missouri. That would be a huge weight lifted off my spirit. Somehow that old misstep is still welded to my backside.

The road ahead is foggy... as it should be. I'll be hanging at Flaming Gorge a couple weeks. Been thinking Hells canyon after that... I've never been there... 

Idaho is tickling my mind this summer... and west Montana as always. Lots of twisting little roads to explore with my nose in the wind... lots of time in the wind.

Wish me luck... and a soul that needs that LQ Horse Trailer waiting in Missouri.

- Brian

Three steps forward... Blown Back Two...

Morning of day three on the road... Had just crossed Wolf Creek Pass and rolled through Pagosa Springs...

I was moving 15 under, at 50 in a 65, pissing people off, because a deer had earlier crossed 200 feet or so in front.

... A flicker of movement in the corner of my left eye__ started to look left, only made it as far as the left rear view mirror.

She had came up the bank below the left side of the road, invisible in the brush, virtually behind me, crossed the lane and vaulted 6 feet in the air to impact her head into the roof rack.

Only caught the movement in the last sliver of peripheral vision.

The bitches body spun and blew out the quarter window - freaking the bat shit crazy Arlo out... and than spinning in behind the yukon to catch the nose, WHAM... blew a hole in the trailer.

Inside the wall is caved in 4". The medicine chest the bitch centered exploded in pieced against the ramp, all the way to the rear... gratefully missing the bike somehow. 

The counter got blown off its ledgers... and of course the wall itself is blasted in pieces...

Set in a camp now... Working out pulling the bow out of 2 wall studs as much as I can and riveting a temporary patch of sheet metal to return some weatherproof until I have the funds and willingness to do permanent repair this winter after my harvest job...

NOT willing to lose this summer...

Put Val over the roads in Mesa Verde yesterday... 

When the hurt and frustration of the never ending struggle that is this life is weighing down and darkening your spirit... put some rolling thunder between your knees...

Put your knees in the breeze...

And leave that sorry shit behind.

- Brian

Took a Year of Work... But Tomorrow I Roll...

Lay it out quick and simple...After 7 years full time drifting, bad choices and bad luck blew me off the road a year ago...

... Now... after months of work... and more left to do, Tomorrow, the 17th of May, some time just after Noon... this busted up old Biker Cowboy is going Home.

Me, Arlo__my bat shit crazy, badd ass sidekick... who chews on anything he thinks a threat to me (so he's for damn sure got my loyalty) and that sweet '08 Raider that restored my spirit... ARE BACK ON THE ROAD!!!! 

Hal ya effing ule ya!!! 😁

Once I'm there and can actually see the joyous life of the road IN my eyes... I'll lay out my outfit and what's happening... right now I'm not certain sure I can even think totally right! 😨

Thank you Boss! And Mama Yamaha!

- Brian

Priorities...

Keeping it Simple and short... 

All the stuff and nonsense that loads up your brain__ is quickly blown away... 

... by The best view__ looking over the bars at a road vanishing into the distance...

The next best is the view out the door of a bikers hooch... while he grabs a late lunch...

- Brian

Closing in On the End of the Build

Buttoned up a cover for my "throne" today. Oh yeah. A fringed leather throne for my speshul behind! 😁

Only planning to use the port-a-throne on the road when no alternatives present or when my camp "options" aren't available.

Also finished up an awning rig. At some point I may stitch up a custom canvas tarp to stretch for the awning, but at $10 a pop for this Harbor Freight cheapie, it will go a long way. Even if it only lasts 3 months it's hard to beat $3.30 a month for shade and a rain cover over my camp kitchen. Plus, it's plenty enough to roll the bike in under to shelter during a storm.

Built the poles of 1 1/2" pvc electrical conduit. The guys are light weight winch straps. The tarp connects by carabiners to Footman loops screwed to the trailer. Works slick.

Come April, breaking out of the box I cornered myself in is still doable. I just keep my eyes focused on the tasks I need done.

Shortly I'll be back in the wind where I belong. ☺

... another struggle with google and microsoft to get this post even posted. Every time I get online it seems there's new hurdles to fight through to even get to my dashboard to do anything. Took more than an hour this time... rapidly losing the motivation to endure their junk any more... We shall see...

- Brian 

Looking Down the Road...

This road I'm on is every bit as long and difficult as I expected.

The ache to get back to the freedom I knew on the road... until being chained down this past year... is strong.

It's a real job cutting loose the bindings my bad choices wrapped around me... but that day is far closer.

I'm waiting now on the last few bits, ordered just a day or two ago, to make my camp long term sustainable.

Some drifters choose to go on just their bikes, and it's a fine way. Very fine. I much treasure long, far rides... just me, the road, and my bike.

Just, for me, for ling term sustainability, there is what I feel, again, for me, a better way.

Having to rely on the generosity of others has left me twisting all to often... and I'll let that lay right there.

Also, For me, I don't like feeling pushed by the weather. When you live on a bike it can seem that way.

A long time ago I was taught and learned to embrace the weather. Fight it and you will lose. The weather will eat you.

You have to embrace the weather, not fight it. So... to live with it I equip to deal with what comes. For long term sustainable life on the road I've chosen to have a hard side "hooch".

With that, the wind, rain...even snow and bears don't push me. I can just hunker down and drink my coffee, warm, dry and secure.

In the past I had larger rigs. Too big. Too heavy. To complicated. Downsizing to this little 72 square foot hooch lightens the burden of that little bit of "security" to insignificant "weight" on body and soul. 

In fact I am left with a pretty awesome camp... though I may be biased!

I'm hoping to be "back in the wind" around April Fools day... isn't THAT appropriate!

Made a lot of progresd since the last post. The pic is the couch/bunk folded out for my bed, and the shelf setup that holds my "tour pack" closet. ALL my clothes are in that...and the jacket duffle and helmet rack just above... minimalism!

***edit*** had to hop through new hoops for google and microsoft to get the post to load and then yet more... to get a pic up... so I added a couple others as well... their screwing around is making computer use a massive hassle rather than a benefit...

*Couch folded out for my bunk*

*Table folded*

*table raised for coffee and sketching*

I'm actually living in the nearly finished trailer now. Figured I better work the unnoticed kinks out of the outfit while I still have a bit of a safety net here.

Once I am I'll do up a short video tour of the bikers hooch camp I am finishing up right now.

Pushing hard with an empty wallet to get loose! 😊

- Brian

p.s. The last few posts had been emailed from my phone... I've missed a couple of comments that got hung up unseen on my phone "awaiting moderation"... I'll try and do better!

Weather and Holidays Got in the Way...

Like a lot of the country it got shivering cold here in Missouri... But I got the daughters permission to put the wagon back in the shop after New Years so I could get back to work.

I've gotten the cabinets I'll have hung, along with the lights and ceiling paneling. 

Also built what I'll call my "power center" panel that I mounted beside the side door. 

It has the remote monitor of the batteries and solar power system, several light switches (only 3 of the 6 currently wired up) and a fuse panel for as many as ten circuits.

Not a whole lot left to do really. Just building my convertible couch/bunk, a counter up under the cabinets and a couple other odds and ends.

So far I'm pretty happy with how it's coming along... even with the bad weather and the crowded work space. (The shop is also living space while they build their house) 😉

Time to heat up some supper...

Getting Restless to get back on the road!

Brian

My Rovers Wagon Has A Few More Bells...

Got the windows cut in and insulation, ceiling, floor and walls, placed. Then got a new pair of 230 amp hour, 6V, batteries set in place and the controller wired back up.

Hooked the batteries in this afternoon and flipped the breakrs. No sparks or smoke let me relax a bit! 😆

Though a total gloomy overcast that good 270 watt Kyocera panel is making power. Not much, but any on a cloudy day is a good thing.

Been planning on a second pair of batteries very soon... But I have been living on only two batteries for more than two years in the Lakota.

The fiver had six to run the furnace, microwave and all that junk... this rig will only have lights and a USB station. No furnace blower and No microwave. No refrigerator controls or other draws... so a pair just might do the trick. I'm wanting to be zero generator so we'll see what happens.

A pair of cabinets for my pantry/kitchen hardware will get hung in the next few days.

Still waiting on the title and plates for the Raider, the Yukon and the Rovers Wagon to get here from South Dakota...

Just after Christmas I'll hang the new interior paneling and get it varnished up. Not putting it behind the cabinets. They'll be hung on poplar boards secured to the steel wall posts. See no reason to bother with the weight of paneling behind them.

... a counter and my couch/bunk to build after all that... much to do yet but I am seeing some real progress at this point!

This Rovers Wagon have this old drifter back wandering a Ribbon of Highway in No Time! 😆

- Brian

Odds and Ends...

Only took the credit union a month to release the title they had a lean against... even though they'd been paid with cash 😕 buuut no matter. I have the title now!

Be another couple weeks I expect to get the paperwork sent to South Dakota and get a plate back.

In the mean time I've been keeping busy working on the build of my Drifter's Wagon and replacing some gear.

...like a fresh Bell Star Series Helmet... It's a little different catagory than I've rode in the past__sort of a hybrid between sport and touring, so quite a bit snugger than I'm used to... gonna take a little while to adjust I think...

Just got the solar panel mounted on the roof today... waiting on ordered windows to arrive...

I am anxious to get this work done and get back on the road! Looking forward to __Hopefully rolling out in February and finishing out the last of the winter, warming on the Arizona desert!

- Brian

Part I; The Harvest. Part II; The Return of My Scooter

Well Ok... Been a while and there's things been happenin'... I am solidly in pursuit of a sort of a kind of Minimalism. Some might even call it Spartan... Though I like the sound of Spartan 😎💪 I think Simplicity and Minimalism is closer to the mark.

Got to Montana back in mid/early late September and worked the Harvest. Made a few dollars, a mite less than last year... Buuuut...

I was on the way there when I blundered across an advert for this scooter. She's an '08 Raider. The same year as the one I regretfully sold. I was told she had a bit over 14,000 miles. Truth is it's more like a bit over 13,000.

Of course, I didn't have the dinero for her and wouldn't for maybe six weeks. How-some-ever... the price he was asking was so far below what I took the market to be that I couldn't NOT contact him. I told him if he still had the bike in six weeks he'd sell it for sure and for certain.

To my surprise he writes back that if I put earnest money on her he'd hold it till then. Was a spooky deal for me to send money off for a bike I'd never seen but in a photo to a fella I didn't know... a thousand miles from where I was at.

Buuuuut... some lil' voice whispered to me; "Yo! Dumb ass! You lost the last bike for bein' stupid. Don't let this'un get away.

Well... it took some hustling and working around troubles but I got the harvest done and the bike finally to me. She was just as pristine as pictured and is now...Tee Totally Mine! For almost exactly to the dollar what the Harvest won me! 😁

So now, with Two parts of my road laid down... I'm working on the next couple. Part III; My old truck is sold for more money than I can believe for an 18 year old truck. I should get paid tomorrow! That provides the dinero for what is to be my "New Home" goin' forward.

I'll be getting the Lakota up for sale (Part V; or - whatever - just as soon as my new setup is ready. That'll be a chore as I'm upside down on that rig that proved out to be a huge mistake for me. Whatever, I'll get out from under it somehow...

But... I'll be living in about half the square footage I have in this Lakota, or 72 square feet. That's 6 x 12__ Part IV; at least if the current plan comes together this week as "planned".

This lil cargo box is most likely the benefit of selling the truck. I'll buy this one new__unless a cheaper used one pops up in time. I'm weary of waiting!

A few limited mods I'll make, to render it a decent quarters for such as me, but honestly I'm not looking for much more than a "Hard Sided Tent" sort of deal. I want simple. Minimal... bordering on Spartan... (like I said simple minimalism is probably more accurate... I just like the idea of bein' a Spartan! ha ha)

It's a little spooky to be honest... but I'm excited about the adventure that's in the works!

I have decided, after a couple years of mistakes and wrong choices that got me going in the opposite direction I set off for so many years ago... that the times I've been happiest were the times I've had the least.

So I'm working at reducing all to a few simple Needs. For the Most part!

1. A warm dry place to sleep.
2. A few pounds of food.
3. Good work to do.

Enough wind for now... and I've got work to do!

Keep it in the Wind
Brian

Still Bangin' Away... One Foot In Front of the Other.

Saying I'm back and GETTING back are sorta kinda two different things... The Ol' easier said than done kind of deal.

BUT... Progress is being made... if I draw a chalk line around it and watch real close!

The first Major part of clawing my way out of the mire I stepped in to is my annual Harvest job up in Montana that starts 'bout the middle of September. That'll produce the first of the dinero needed for the re-grouping.

Then I'm taking a deep breath and whittling out some very basic changes in the way I live... Ya'll might find it interesting... I'm hoping that's a word I'll be able to use 😎 and no more of words such as crash and burn! 😁

So, I'll be leaving Missouri sometime in very early September to begin working that way.

As soon as the Harvest is complete I'll be returning here to start the FUN part... Restoring my butt to the saddle of a scooter... and outfitting through the early part of the winter for the next chapter in this twisted and convoluted journey.

I am miserably impatient waiting to get things moving! ... and get my own knees in the breeze again! Patience is not a virtue I have much of left... might just could be how I get myself into so many jackpots! Ha ha...

Stay tuned.

-Brian

I'mmmm Baaaaaaaaaack!

Well... sort of... I'm still bikeless... and living in a horse trailer... one batshit crazy dog and a horse that... yeah... enough of that...

Actually not much to write about... the last two years and more have been a slow motion train wreck...

Divorce, Struggle, Humongous vet bills, Betrayal, Busted shoulders ( fall from a truck not a horse) Humongous repair bills to rival and dwarf the vet bills... you name it and I probably did it wrong...

... and all seeming to be the Boss smacking a slow learner up side the head with a two by four wanting to know; "Yo! Moh-ron! WHACK!! Have I got your attention yet???!!!"

Thing is... he GOT MY ATTENTION. Actually sort of one of those epiphany revelation deals. "I can see clearly now"... the stars are gone.  Let's see if I can keep the fog of life from obstructing my vision again in the next few weeks. That's my trouble right now... I know where and how I need to go... onliest problem being that things beyond my control say that trail can't really start until well into September... which leaves a moh-ron plenty of time to muck up the works with second guessing and conjuring up troubles that don't exist! :)

I'm stationary in Missouri for another few weeks... I'll start rolling along about the 5th of September as my labor to restore myself to who and what I was begins. I'll be Colorado bound for a couple of commitments and then on to Montana to start this next chapter of my twisting journey.

I don't want to say too much just now (superstitious you know) but... as I make progress I'll hopefully be able to reveal my successes as I strive to restore my bony ass to the world of the upright and scooter mounted.

I'm hopeful... combined with a nature that's about as stubborn as the boss ever made and I should get where I'm headed... in some fashion... One way or t'other... it'll be a Ride!

- Brian

I Don't Know...

...what the hell I was thinking. 

Yeah its been a while. Not sure if anyone is even watching this page any more :( Guess I'll just have to go back to work and gain 'em all back!

It's been a year and a half and more of stupidity, blown up shoulders, blown transmissions, humongous vet bills, pneumonia and finding out those who swore loyalty, friendship and partnership were only fine "players" that worked me with their pretty words...and meant not a one. Can you spell 'Sucker' boys and girls? 

It's left me bankrupt and busted in body and spirit. No horses and no scooter neither. Just one damn fool, a bat shit  crazy dog living in a high dollar horse trailer that was supposed to be paid for by horses and partnership... yeah... just a gen-U-whine dumbass.

So... I'm parked in the wilds of western Montana clawing my way out of the hole. Yep! I stopped digging soon as I saw clear how deep the fool already dug the hole. So the good news is, it ain't getting any deeper!

I have another harvest coming up over in eastern Montana in just over a month to start filling that hole back in. THAT work is my "new" to me Raider to start me back on Freedom Road.

A hard nut to Crack will be divesting that high dollar aluminum boondoggle I bought last year. One way or t'other it will get done.

Then it's just one foot in front of the other reconstructing the life I did a fair job of deconstructing!

I have a "plan"... no idea how I'll get it done. Just know that the only way is to start. Pick up my foot and step off the cliff. I'll have to learn to land soft on the way down!

-Brian

Well the Changes Have Been Coming Fast and Furious...

Been running hard. 

First, Arlo and me found a small piece of dirt just after he joined me. Just a five acre spot down in Cochise county in Arizona.

That's Tombstone/Wyatt Earp/Geronimo and Cochise country.

Then... a biggie is my new "house"... I made a lightning fast week long run from Colorado to Alabama and back to pick it up.

The old Jayco 5er I've been living in for the past several years is going to my Kid... to be used for living quarters while they build a new house in Missouri...

*2016 Lakota Charger 3 horse*

The biggest part of "The Change" though is the change in what I'll be riding... It's the "thing" that caused all the shakeup in the first place.

This old buster is goin' back to horse.

I discovered after better than five years without that there was a growing hole inside me. After living with horses for the greatest part of my life, I came to realize they weren't something I was able to walk away from.

It came down to a hard choice; Horses or Motorcycles. It could only be one. I'll tell you right here... the choice was as tough as I've ever had to make. How do you choose between joys?

Buuuut... My current economic realities dictated that I had to make a choice. I just couldn't swing both as things are... Horses won...

That new Lakota helps that out since those back three windows are the three stalls of a three horse LQ (Living Quarters) Trailer. The front half or so is the living quarters.

So... for the coming foreseeable future, my winter camp will be in southern Arizona.

I've gotten committed to helping my daughters family move and build in the Missouri Ozarks, at least the first part of this summer.  But then__Hopefully__by late August or early September I'll return to my little patch of dirt I'm calling Cochise Camp... to start building up a simple Cowboy Winter Camp.

Maybe with a little luck I'll sell enough books in the not to distant future to allow me to regain a fresh Bike.

Until then, when something occurs to me I'll post a story here... but... most of my time is going to be spent writing, riding horsehide and building... the stories of that will be posted on my sister site goin' RV Boondocking.

Living with Horses again, and then having a good Motorcycle for my "Run Around" transport would be a pure Joy of life for sure!

Duckin' and Runnin'
Brian 

Going That way... Nope This way... That way... Oh Look... is That Another Road?

The Bike finally sold a few days ago__and let it be said; I am completely and totally ambivalent about this choice__I haven't a clue whether I'm comin' or goin'...

Somehow I knew it was time for "Things" to change. The whispering in my head was a genuine pita.

Only problem is__ I hadn't really a clue what exactly that "change" looked like. Still don't! I mean all sorts of things have been tumbling in my head. Tumbling so much that they were confused and fleeting in a murky haze.

Finally, more out of frustration than anything else I just reached out and set a grip on one of the visions when it momentarily appeared in the fog... Pretty much I had to do Something, even if it was wrong, just to break the inertia and get some movement.

I've read that; "The mind is like water, when it's agitated it's hard to see... but when it is calm it becomes clear and you can see easily"

Yeah... I get that for sure and for certain. The "water" inside of my head is most often like the inside of a blender clicked on High.

Been so long since I could see clear that I'd probably mistake it for somebody Else's dream and pass on by if it ever did happen.

I'm letting things just settle for a while... and see what comes. Too often I think maybe I've tried to force things that shouldn't be forced and ended up with square pegs wedged tight into round holes.

Turned an unplanned direction a few days after the Raider left__ and stumbled across a guy...

His name is Arlo. He's a 9 week old Australian Shepherd pup from the ISDR registry. That's where they were carried before the AKC got ahold of the breed and begun to mucking it up like it's done to so many others...

The ISDR is where the Real Aussies are found.

Well... when this guy looked at me and that lil' voice deep inside looked into those eyes it whispered; don't be a jackass. do.not.leave.this.guy.behind.

So he's sharing camp with me these days. Softens the loneliness that a solo camp becomes.

Maybe this guy will herd me back into the sunlight that seems to have faded.

We shall hope and see__ and find out where exactly the future road runs.

Brian

I know... It's Been Months...

It's been a difficult fall and winter. I've been in a "place" in my head that's not what you'd call a good place and not real inspiring to write about...

I came to a place where there was a gnawing inside that I couldn't ignore any longer. I've felt it for a few years, slowly growing... but honestly... didn't truly recognize the source.

It starts and ends with me.

I'm a gypsy in more ways than one. Much interests me... but there's a problem there. Spread yourself in too many directions, and nada gets done. You run in circles with nothing being accomplished.

Well... spinning those circles I came to realize there were... are... parts of me I just can't leave behind. But also in this world, there's only so much of each of us to go around... and it's "THAT"... that I've been stewing over for months.

Which part of me at this late place in life do I focus on? Which part of me is the greater part? I have to cull out the lesser bits to focus on the greater... or lose it all...

Now... I'm a rider right? But what kind? Motorcycle? or Horse?

I've rode both the greater part of my life (Made my living horseback)... but the past six years... there've been no horses. It was THAT absence... that has been gnawing at my innards. Turns out to have been a wrong trail I turned down.

Motorcycles get inside you... Horses... even deeper. It rapidly goes back to that "If I have to explain it to you - You won't understand" bit of wisdom.

There's not enough of me to go around... so I have to choose. Where does my greatest passion lay?

... I have discovered... that it lays with Horses and so Back to Horse... is where I'm going.

To that end, I put my Raider up for sale way back in December... when I got back into Arizona for the winter... I was hoping that like, ripping a bandage off FAST to get the pain over with quick... it would sell fast.

It didn't... it Hasn't. and this turmoil in my head gets drug out week after week... month after month.

I've run ads online since before christmas. I'd not be so perplexed if people looked at the bike and decided against it... but I've had zero calls. That's as in... None. Not one... ugh! Not a soul has looked at the scooter... makes it real difficult to sell it.

That was an eventuality I'd not expected.

I can't mark it off to I've got her priced too high. It's been the lowest for that bike on craigslist by near $2000.

Guys say well keep it... and do both... To which I say; Re-read the parts above where I talk about "Only so much of me to go around." ... I can't spread my loyalties around like that I've discovered... It runs 'em too thin to give proper attention to either.

...or at this point... my finances... and I need the cash she represents to go the way I've chosen...

And deep inside me... I NEED to get back to Horse...

... and this lil' bit of purgatory drags on.

Brian

P.S. If you should know anybody interested in an '08 Yamaha Raider with 38,000 on the clock and a few extras for $6000... send 'em my way...

Another Day in the WInd

First thing every morning... ok the second thing... but that other first... well... we'll just keep that private :-P so the second First thing is Sunrise Coffee.

 Which is a slight problem... when you've left your cup a few hundred miles away... well, it tastes just as good and hot in the cool of the morning when you drink it out of a bowl so no complaints.

Then it was time to load camp back up and head on down that ribbon of asphalt.

Independence Pass was on the map for today. I'd not been on it in 15 years or so. Makes it damn near a first time experience... and a sweet ride it is. Lots of twisties, and decent pavement...

Buuuuut... you might want to keep a leash on the throttle... that dozen plus big horn sheep that were on the road when I leaned around one bend can mess up your whole day if you're really pushing it. :)

I'd have a pic of that... 'cept there wasn't a single place for a half mile to pull over and put a sidestand down.

No matter... there were a few spots available for other pics as I climbed to the top.

From down in the bottom of the valley... and then way up on the pass...

You come down the west side of the pass through equally gorgeous country... right up until you roll into Aspen...

Yeah... I've got this idea I might not be a welcome addition to the citizenry of that lil' burg... leastways if the look I got from one 40something "Lady" is any testimony. Bwahahahaha...

Now I never noticed just my presence to be an offensive thing before... buuuuuut... 

That long legged gal strutted across the crosswalk past my scooter, with a look on her face that purt near said it all, as I waited on a light. Dayum... if looks could kill I'd be one of them Ghost writers right now! :) ha ha ha... yup... you'd a thought when she glanced at that leathered up biker that she'd stepped in somethin' unpleasant.

Buuuuuut... just down the road is a place, Glenwood Springs, where they treat such as me a mite friendlier :) So I got my lunch there before I turned east and rode on to a camp on the other side of a certain pass...

*Ha! They named a pass after me!*

I've tried on occasion to get myself tied in by blood to this fella. I don't know that it'd be good to have his... let's say... careless reputation ;) buuuut... inheriting a small bit of his money would sure make drifting on a scooter a lot easier deal :)

Yes sir. I could stay in Snooty Hotels where the waiters in the restaurant hang them clean towels over their arms? and you sip wine with your lil' finger in the air... and get room service and massages with fancy perfumed oils and such... WhooYa... the life of a Royal Biker huh? ;-D 

Yeah... since THAT ain't happenin'... I set my tent on a nice roomy patch of grass with one other tent over in Kremmling... We had a ramada with a table to use and fine facilities with hot showers... all for $13 bucks. Which makes it 'bout half of a KOA to get a shower... wifi too... beer and breakfast burritos just down the road a mile... all the comforts. Red Mountain RV park in Kremmling Colorado. I'll be keeping that one on my list.

Got up in the morning and crossed over Rocky Mountain National Park to get back to the rig... and all the chores that stack up in just four days of splittin' off...

Grab Your Handles and Ride... (It beats those damned chores every time!)

A Pass Baggin', Figure Eight'n, Continental Divide Crossin' Wander Through Colorado

I left out of Fort Collins bound up the Poudre River Canyon for Walden and North Park.

Before I'd gotten even three miles I got stopped for quite some little while waiting for the boys with their trains to move their toys out of the way and clear the road...

... Thennnnn... as soon as I entered the canyon... six and a half miles of chip and seal road work. I was getting a lil' nervous how this ride was starting out!

Buuuut once I broke out past those obstacles it was open road!

I crossed over six good tall passes on the 750 some miles I rolled in the four days... starting at the west end of Poudre canyon with the often crossed Cameron Pass...

Rolled down the west side of the pass which brought me down into North Park and Walden...

 I do believe North Park might be one of the nicest bits of cow country in Colorado... even if the winters are brutal... and the summers... at maybe 46 growing days is damned short!

I was coming near to my planned camp for the night about the time the clouds were piling up fast.

I raced over Muddy Pass and a few seconds later... Rabbit ears trying to beat the threatening storm.

I wasted no time and had my camp set in under ten minutes. ;) The thunder was booming and the lightning flashing as I hustled to get a dry camp set... and then with only a light shower it passed on by.

Climbed back on the scooter to run on the last 19 miles into Steamboat to pick up the fixin's for supper... and a brew to wash it down.

Now... I'm no cook so I've come up with some quick and easy ways to have a decent meal at the end of day... cook or not.

The best and easiest to have some tasty and good food I've found is this; I stop at the last town, if there is one! (Walden ain't got a grocery any more, hence the run into Steamboat from my camp east of town) ... anyway...

I stop and pick up a "Healthy Choice" Cafe Steamer!

Yeah they're made for the microwave or a regular oven... buuuuut...

I just open 'em up, and peel that celophane stuff off. Scrape the sauce out of the bowl into my pan... often it's still froze even if it's been in a saddlebag for a couple hours!...

... and then dump in the rest of the goodies... and heat it up on my stove. one pan... they provide the bowl so fewer dishes to do! ... or I often just eat it right out of my pan...

When you've been on the road, especially if conditions are tough, either cold or real hot, windy, rainy... anything that saps your strength and energy...

... it's critical that you take care of yourself. Decent food, not gas station coffee and three muskateers bars is a gotta have.

This makes it quick and easy for a non-cook to eat well.

and simple as hell for the guy on a bike with limited places to carry hardware. Eat supper and doing the dishes is largely... throwing them away! :)

It also deals with the problem of riding through BIG bear country up north. You pick up your food just before you eat it... and it's that much less to deal with for safety... Bear Bags hung in trees and such...

Anyhoo, after supper, while you savor that fancy brew you just kick back and contemplate the nice country you rode through and into.

*Dumont lake east of Steamboat*

Yeah... and laugh at the looks on everyone's faces when you walked out of the grocery store in a frog strangler downpour there in Steamboat... climbed on your scooter... and rode off into the storm! :)

... To have your supper in the sunshine that came along after that second storm passed!

Got up to a soft and quiet sunrise...

... and then dawdled around and visited with some folks in the camp... while I waited for last nights rain and the HEAVY morning dew to dry off enough to pack up camp.

It's kinda nice to not be in a rush to get somewhere.

My plan for the day was to head south on U.S. 40 past Kremmling turn onto Hwy 9, cross Hoosier Pass and on to Fairplay.

I'd choose my direction once I'd got there... and when I did... that lil' voice inside my head said; Swing around and turn back north on U.S. 24 To Buena Vista...

City Market in Buena Vista supplied my second nights Cafe steamer and another fine brew... That I enjoyed at the Diamond Point Campground near Twin Lakes... Just below the eastern approach to Independence Pass...

You can't see it in these... but there was a pretty constant breeze across that like... that kept the skeeters blown away... and made for a pleasant camp... just soaking up Far Country.

It was fairly cool... and that rectangular $29 walmart Coleman Bag I recently got because I can't stand the confines of a high dollar North Face mummy bag any more did an awesome job of keeping me toasty along with plenty of room to wiggle around. ;)

Shortly after the sun set... I crawled into my bag and zoned out for the night... though I left the door open so I could see the moonlight on the lake when I'd wake during the night. :)

In the morning I headed west again on Hwy 82, to climb Independence Pass... but that's another post.

Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian