Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Final days of our trip

We decided to not do a lot on Sunday. There was laundry to do, and I wanted to clean the Gold Wing up a bit. When I went to bed on Saturday evening, my feet were a bit swollen, but I figured when I got up in the morning, they would be OK. However, the swelling had actually gotten a bit worse, so I tried to pretty much stay off my feet as much as I could. It didn’t seem to help much as when I went to bed Sunday night, the swelling actually seemed worse. However, when I got up on Monday morning, my feet were back to normal.

We decided to go to Estes Park on Monday. Mikayla still had some souvenir shopping to do and I told her she could shop all day in Estes Park if she wanted. Besides, Hwy 34 from Loveland to Estes Park along the Big Thompson River is one of my favorite rides and every time I’m at Greeley I find time to take that ride. It’s 20 miles of curves along the river and an absolutely beautiful ride. Leaving Estes Park, Hwy 7 back to Lyons is also a great ride.

Once we found a place to park in Estes Park, we browsed through some of the shops, then decided to eat lunch. After that, it was back to shopping. Once all the stores were ravaged, we rode to the edge of town to where the go-kart track is and spent an hour or so riding go-karts. Final score - we each beat the other at least once. After giving Mikayla some driving tips, she learned and with some practice she could be a pretty good racer!!

Tuesday we took in Pike’s Peak; however, it was in a “cage.” I was happy we did it that way as it ended up being over 300 miles round trip. We took in the Garden of the Gods along the way as well as Manitou Springs. In 1972, I’d spent a weekend pass at Manitou Springs and as I remembered it, I don’t think it’s changed much in the years since then. The last time I’d been on Pike’s Peak was in 1974, and the road to the top hasn’t changed a lot. Parts of the road to the top are still gravel. We also ran into a little rain, so we didn’t get wet this way. After a lot of pictures, we made it all the way to the top and back down. As we were headed back into Manitou Springs, it was already 4:30 and a stop at Cave of the Winds was out of the question.

As we got closer to Greeley, conversation turned to how soon we would be leaving for home in the morning. I made the point that Mikayla would have to be sure to set her alarm so she would be ready to go when she wanted to. Back at the house, we finished packing, loading the trailer and cleaning the bike up a bit.

After a light breakfast, we were on the road about 8:30. The trip back to Nebraska was warm, but not nearly as warm as going to Greeley. We were sure to drink plenty of water on each stop. Our first fuel stop was just off I-76 at Sterling. From there, our next stop was for fuel & lunch at North Platte. As we continued east, I told Mikayla that we may be a couple of miles short of having 3,000 miles and maybe we should take a little longer way home. Her comment? “Just get me home!”

We were back at Beatrice about 7 PM, having covered 2,994 miles. Asked if she would go again, Mikayla told me “If we don’t go out of Nebraska!”

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