Day 11 - September 23, 2014
Grand Junction - Goodland, KS
Today was to be a short day. Little 4 hour jaunt down I70 with an optional hour detour for a scenic route north of 70 also through the Rockies. I got up, not with any certain hustle in my step, and had breakfast before getting on the road.
Immediately, I start to realize that my enjoyment of 70 from my travels through Utah was only the beginning. As I leave Junction, 70 gets into the mountains and you careen around them as you follow the Colorado River. Shortly after, I find myself among a wine making town with vineyards, green, rolling hills, and mountains all around. I keep on my path and as I get higher into the mountains, I start to wonder; with 70 being so beautiful, and still with Vail and Breckenridge to come, should I take the detour, or just stay on 70? After realizing I have never been to either of the 2 previously mentioned towns, I optioned to skip my planned detour and stay on 70. After some more riding, I stop in Avon for lunch at the Northside Kitchen and they are still serving breakfast, so I get eggs benedict with bacon instead of Canadian bacon and wheat toast (made in house) instead of the usual Engligh Muffin. I am usually disappointed when I get eggs benedict as it never tastes as good as I have had it at a handful of places; I can add this place to the list. I do no normally take pictures of my food, but today I did. I really enjoyed the food, the bacon provided a great crunchy yin to the sauce/yolky runiness' (lets assume that is a word if it is not) yang. Ok enough of food, making me hungry talking about it.
As I'm leaving, some gentlemen stop and talk as they are riders as well (this whole trip I have really loved the general friendliness of bikers both on and off the road). They recommend some rides for the rest of my trip, and wish me a safe ride. I pull out and before long I am upon Vail and it is beautiful. The trees are all kinds of colors due to the time of year, the town sits at the foot of the ski slopes (which right now are lush grassy fields) which I imagine is why it is such a great ski resort, and there are golf courses and bike paths running next to the highway. Just amazing. I continue down the road and come upon Breckenridge. As you escape the pass, your view opens up into an expanse of nature and small town with a giant lake and more luxurious mountains all around.
As I make my way down into Denver, I start to realize my fears will soon be realized; the amazing highway that is I70 will soon open up into plains and plenty of flat boring farmlands. Bye, bye mountains. I get close to where my host lives and make an executive decision. In order to cut down on my now minimum 10 hour drive the next day (thanks time zone, you sneaky little bastard) I opted to go forth and put more road behind me today as I felt good from a good night's sleep and it wouldn't hurt to be closer to Kansas City for the next day. So I zip out of Denver, eventually stop and grab dinner at a truck stop diner (oh chicken fried steak, you always know how to make me happy :) ) and make my way East.
I stop to get gas in the smallest of towns (Arriba, CO) to have a gas station and as I come out from the store, an old fellow is looking at my bike (is Wayne Brady going to have to choke a B*tch?). Turns out, he also rides, and he wanted to chat so we shared stories of our recent trips and shot the shit for a bit before getting back on the ride. Shortly thereafter, I realized there is a benefit to being in the middle of nowhere and riding in the dark; no city lights to rob us city folk of one of THE most impressive sights we humans who never leave this earth's atmosphere will ever see - the Milky Way. For those who never get out of the city to camp, if you dont like connecting with nature, or being without your plush amenities, the one reason you should get away from the city is to look upon an unadulterated night sky full of the stars and the cloudiness among the stars that is the Milky Way (if I remember right, the cloudiness is actually due to the millions of stars there causing an inability to distinguish between individual light sources). I remember going to AZ years ago with my father and I believe Aunt? And we pulled over an hour outside of El Paso and he pointed out to me the milky way that I don't think I ever realized was visible. It was, and still is amazing to be able to lay you eyes upon it. I can understand how people like NdGT make a passionate career out of astrophysics. After pulling over on the highway to take it in, I continue down the road and eventually pull into Goodland where I found a place and went to get some rest.
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