Colorado_5_03

					Colorado 5/03

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	So, we had a long 6day weekend for Memorial Day. What to do? How about going to Hooters in Fort Collins, CO. It's only a 2500miles trip. Excellent Idea. If we left right now..... All pictures are in chronological order. Pictures are numbered corresponding to Map locations. If there is no number, its in the same spot as the previous picture. Click the thumbnails to enlarge.

	Day 1: Minneapolis to Omaha 360miles. We left after work on Thursday and decided to drive a while to cut down on the Friday trip. Ran into some rain between Minneapolis and Des Moines. Besides my cruise control and brake lights malfunctioning, and Paul's CB not working the trip was uneventful and pleasant. Paul rode his little VFR. Apparently he heard how much fun Carrie had on the ZX-6 last year he decided the needed the same punishment riding out west.


	#1 Good 'ol Lakeville Mcstop. Official meeting place for all our trips. On the road about 6:30pm	#2 who is that?	#3 My first attempts at taking pictures of the group on the road. Pathetic	#4 Its getting late, about 11:30 pm.....	#4 ...judging by Carrie's posture	#5 Made it to the Settle Inn in Omaha about 12:30am

	Day 2: Omaha to Livermore CO, via Laramie, WY 620miles The next leg took us across scenic Nebraska. Considering I-90 across South Dakota and I-70 across Kansas, I-80 is very scenic. We left after a quick breakfast at about 8:30am.



	#2 Some weird 'gateway to the west' bridge leading to nowhere. What were they thinking?	#2 My first attempts at shots of Carrie on the road.	#2 What was I thinking?	#2	#3 P smoking like a chimney to satisfy his caramel apple craving. trying to fix Paul's CB.	#3 Kearney, NE gas stop. This place will seem familiar.

	#4 Hey, western Nebraska looks like eastern Wyoming	#4 That place sucks!	#4 Are we there yet?	#5 Chappell NE. This place was kinda freaky.	#5	#6 Wow, look at that Butte

	#6 Self portrait. Handsome devil.	#7 On the Wyoming, Nebraska border in Pine Bluffs	#8 On the Colorado, Wyoming border. Colorado got the better end of the deal me thinks.	#8 Welcome to colorful Colorado	#8 yumm, fluffy white clouds	#9 We made it! Where's the beer? 5:30 pm just 40miles short of a saddle sore and we had plenty of sleep.

	Jason arrives to see us drinking all his beer.	Decoy the dog quickly lets us know how he feels about VFR's.	Sunset from Jason's deck	This is what its all about.	I wonder what those Russian kids are doing about now (no offense comrade, inside joke)	Another wonderful dinner at Jason's Hooter's restaurant in Fort Collins. Buffalo shrimp and girls in tight shirts rock

	Day 3: Livermore to Breckenridge 213miles We didn't really have much of a plan as to where to go on this trip. We set a probably ending point as Aspen. To get into the mountains ASAP, we decided to head to Estes Park, then down hwy 7 to the freeway. Mother nature had a little say as to how our day would go as you will see


	#1 Nice morning for a bike ride	Decoy is looking for more bikes to relieve himself on	"no Decoy, not the silver one"	#2 Driving up to Estes Park via Big Thompson Canyon.	#2	#3 Traffic was pretty heavy so we couldn't ride at a pace that would keep us entertained.

	#3 Still it was way more fun than any MN road.	#3 Put the flip lid down stupid!	#4 Rain in Estes Park. Paul slides on his high tech rain gloves while P says "you're not going to use them on me are you?" Heading south through Longs Peak pass sounds like a good idea	#5 Not! The hail got to thick and the cars cutting tracks through the ice were pulling over so we decided to stop.	#5 A pine forest doesn't provide much cover from this stuff. The Aerostitch did though.	#5 Nasty little buggers hurt! Ouch!

	#8 So we made it to Breckenridge a little later than planned	We were just stopping for dinner	But in that building behind us is the awesome Park Place condo we stayed in before....hmmm	P's thinking hard about what to have for dinner at the Breckenridge BBQ. That's his normal hard thinking look	And so is Jason	Beware of the big pig.

	Sad to say, the bbq was totally average here	But still I needed to get a shot of it. Everything tastes good to a hungry biker.	Now we're all getting sleepy after a big meal, should we head to Aspen?	NA! I'm king of the world in my Breckenridge condo Hot Tub!	Rain cant hurt me here!	yumm, fluffy pink clouds.

	Carrie was going a little crazy with the nail polish. Look at my fricken toes!	The little devil herself	Paul didn't escape unscathed either. He got a pinky finger painted.	P is too quick with his feet and hides his now colorful little toe	My feet are purtier than yours

	Day 4: Breckenridge to Livermore 238 miles. This is the day most of us were looking forward too. We get to drive back through Poudre canyon which has 70miles of twisties. We continuously dodged more weather all day but only got rained on once. No hail luckily.


	#1 A view from our hot tub at the ski hills in the morning	Too bad I hate gravity, Id ski here.	sure glad I'm not staying at those crappy places	#1 Paul wanted some shots of the bike by some snow	so did P	More Paul?

	The tough look!	and Carrie too?	Heck, lets get all the bikes in a shot	again	and riders (the parking lot is not as proficient at taking pictures as I am at this point)	#2 I'm starting to get that Grizzely Adams feeling.

	#2 Ben...where are you?	#2 Jack?	#2 Number 7?	#2 not Will Outlaw, or P	yum, fluffy blueish white clouds	#3 Water is still low in the higher reservoirs.

	#4 hmmm, which way should we go. Looks like bad weather east and west	#5 We choose wisely	#6 unusually wise	#6 Very fun twisty road through Willow Creek Pass	#7 Look ma, 1 hand	#7 If I spit just right, I might hit them.

	#8 On the way into Walden its a big plain. Plainly boring.	#8 I'm getting much better at these on the bike shots	#8 I guess they call this a refuge. I Don't know what would take refuge here.	#8 Maybe I could reach his kill switch.	#8 We just about made it to the Poudre Canyon entrance and on the side of the road we find some wingers with a slashed tire. Being Minnesota nice, we stopped and helped. A little chewing gum and spit goes a long way. "Hock up another logy P!"	#8 Carrie thinks our canyon trip will be a little slower this year. There's a Texaco gas station is at the bottom of the canyon and Mark plans to go that way.

	#10 So we put Sue on the back of P's wing and let Mark lead the way on his 20psi rear tire.	#10 Its a long way down at 40mph...	#10 A long way...	#11 We drove them all the way down then turn around and returned back up the road to our favorite bar	#11 Put this place on your must stop list.	#11 Dont take a cage!

	#11 Is Paul looking for those gloves again or the nail polish remover?	#11	#11 VFR Therapy	#11 River is much higher and faster than last year.	#11 Ya, See that mountain up there. One of these days I'm going to climb that mountain..	#11 P is trying to order up a band off the event calendar for dinner. "Is Shoot Lucy on there?"
			Video
	#11 Bro and Sis!	#11 Dang! Paul is fast at hiding that painted pinky finger.	#11 My movie titled "A River Runs Through It"	Oh no! You killed P! (this didnt really happen this trip, we forgot to take the picture so this will have to do.)


	Day 5: Livermore to Kansas City. 715miles Since we'd never been through Kansas before and we heard something about them having good BBQ, we decided to take the long way home. Unfortunately our stops were too long and every place closed up early for Memorial Day to make it to Wabash BBQ in Excelsior Springs, MO for dinner. But at least we saw Kansas!



	#1 Mother nature wanted us to Stay	#2 This is the great Texaco station at the end of Poudre Canyon.	#2 Never mind the Conoco sign.	#3 The roads are eerily straight	#3 too straight	#4 Yes! A Texaco!

	#4 Notice Windy Bender is still with us at this point. (Look for the skinny chick with Boobs holding onto the RT antenna)	#5 Leaving colorful Colorado	#5 Welcome to Kansas, home of I-70 and all the damn wheat fields in the world	#6 more wheat	#6 ok, I'm sick of wheat	#7 Wow, texture!

	#7 Kinda sad being excited by this	#7 If I could only drive backwards	#7 Ok, I'm sick of Kansas. Dorothy click your heals.	#8 Defunct Conco. Something seems to be missing in this picture but I cant put a finger on it. Can you?

	Day 6: Kansas City to home 438miles: Everyone just wanted this leg to get over with. We left at 8:30am, stretched our fuel and made only (1) 30minute stop. We were home by 2:30pm. It was a the best day we had weather wise and really good to be on the bikes.


	#1 Nice day for a ride	#1 In Kearney again? I'm having Deja-vu	#1 Tragedy! The beloved, well traveled and famous Windy Bender amputated herself at the wrist! Apparently, she never wanted to leave Colorado again. We hope she makes it back to her home in Steamboat Springs	#2 Kansas has nothing on northern Missouri and southern Iowa.	#2 Almost nothing	#2 are we there yet?

	#3 A "Welcome to Iowa" sign never looked so good to a Minnesotan	#3 "Im driving down highway 40 in my big ol pickup truck"	#4 That confirms it. John Wayne was no cowboy. Iowa? Come on..	#5 I should be a pro photographer now!	#5 Hey! Both hands on the bars!	#6 Our single stop

	#7 Welcome to the land of 10,000 lakes	#7 2500miles of springtime bugs	#7 Imported from 5 other states!	#7 Our duck friends are glad we're home. They were getting hungry
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