Billings trip - Day 1 - the ride to Greeley, Colorado

We were on the road at 7:27 AM - earlier than I initially planned but later than I wanted. Started out in 81 degree weather. As we rode west on Hwy 4, there was a cloud in the northwest and I was thinking if it came our way it may cool things off a bit. We must have been on the edge of it because by the time we got 75 miles, it cooled down to 73. At that point, the road was damp and there was water on the shoulders. However, a bit farther and the temperature started coming back up.

West of Campbell, Nebraska, Hwy 4 had a detour. It was a gravel road that went north 3 miles to another blacktop, which went 2 miles west to Hwy 10. Anyway, the detour must have been a mud road that the county just dumped gravel on. I had hardly gone 100 yards when I could feel how soft the road was. Shifter down into low and tried to go at a crawl, but that did not even help as the Wing tipped over. Fortunately, we weren’t hurt, but Mikayla was pretty shook up. It was her first time out of town on the Gold Wing and this had to happen!!

It was 96 when we stopped at McCook for lunch and when we left, the temp went to 106 for the next 200 miles.

We tried to keep drinking water and taking longer, more frequent stops. At Wray, Colorado it was still 102, and we took about a half hour break. With the next towns only being about 30 miles apart, we were in good shape. We stopped for more water before getting on I-76 at Brush. From there, it was just 12 miles to where we were going to take a break at Ft Morgan.

It was a good thing we didn’t HAVE to have fuel, as when we got off at Exit 80 for Ft Morgan, the Conoco right by the interstate was OUT OF GAS!! I went another block and a half to the Shell …. OUT OF GAS!!

                             
Back on I-76, then off onto Hwy 34 to Greeley. About half way to Greeley- “Grandpa, we have to stop, I got stung by a bee!” Got a good place to stop and took a look - sure enough, she had a bee sting on her right forearm. I got the tweezers out of the First Aid kit and got the stinger out. Check for antiseptic - could not find it in the kit. I used a cloth to wrap up some ice, then put it under the shirt sleeve and buttoned it up. Makeshift - yes, but effective.

The rest of the drive into Greeley was uneventful, We got in about 6:30 PM. Miles - 488.