A very full day. Got out of Mike’s place by about 830. Which is good considering the late night before. Fueled up in Encampment at the only gas station in town. One pump gas. One pump diesel.. Not a cloud in the sky. Headed over our last two laner pass. The snowy mountain range. Beautiful. This one had lots of little mountain lakes. The boys again scooted ahead but they did stop at one real nice spot for some of their own. I think they are realizing the mountain pass extravaganza is ending.

On the eastern slope we headed to Laramie, about an hour away. Typical desolate. Sunny. Starting to get hot. Fueled in Laramie and hopped on I-80 to go over the pass to Cheyenne. 8600 pass on the interstate. I am not a big fan of interstates on motorcycles. Lots of go fast semi’s. Very windy out there with a 75mph limit. Got off and took back roads the rest of the way into Cheyenne. We turned a corner on the south side, pulled over and said our good byes to Mike. He was a wonderful guide. I cannot thank him enough.
The boys and I plowed south on a two laner into Colorado. Road construction. Road had been scraped for paving. Terrible for riding on the bikes. Down to one lane in several spots. We had to wait almost a half hour in one spot. Sweltering on the road in our gear. Bikes were shut down but no where to escape the heat. 20-30 miles of it. Fueled up in a little town called Auldt (sp?). Decided to have lunch there as with all the construction we were getting well into the afternoon. Ate at Gray’s Diner. It was OK. Next time, I would try something else. We were getting the stares from the townsfolk. I do not think they get many bikers loaded with gear coming through their quaint little windswept fire box.
We decided to head east to Nebraska. A couple of hundred miles. Getting hot. Probably over a hundred. Nothing out there. We passed through the Shoshone National Grasslands. Pretty flat. Roads pretty wide open. Stopped in Sterling, CO for fuel. Even hotter. Jonathan’s chain on his bike needed adjustment. We pulled in behind the gas station under a tree and pulled out the tools. With some instruction on how to do it, he had it done in under 30 minutes. We then had to find a metric 8mm fine thread nut to replace one of the lock nuts. Believe it or not we found one. Another 45 minutes or so.

We headed east once again. Starting to lose the day. Still no idea of where we would stay. The towns along these two laners are not bastions of commerce. Anyway we decided to head to McCook, NE. It was in bold type on the map. They had to have something. More of the same ride. Very hot. Expansive distances. I don’t mind telling you its a good thing I brought a bottle of Ibuprofen. Its been my friend. The aches that develop on these rides is humbling.
At some point we passed into Nebraska. McCook was still well over a hundred miles away. Stopped for fuel in Imperial, NE. Googled for a motel there. There was one but no one answered the phone. Googling in McCook for one. Talked to several and finally found one in my price range – $50. Gave her my credit card info. 61 miles away. We suited up and headed east. By this time it was around 7p. The ole body was tired. Temp was still very hot. Rolled into McCook. Big railroad town. The motel is very nice. Big rooms. Fast wifi (first we’ve had in days, same with cell service). It was dark when we got here. Checked in, after listening to the nice lady’s entire work career for 15 minutes. Threw our stuff in our rooms, and headed into town to get a quick dinner. The boys, between the time they unloaded their bikes and we headed out had found a Brewery / Restaurant to go to. In was in short – excellent.
Well over 400 miles today in spite of road construction, bike repairs and the heat. Back into the central time zone. Absolutely pooped. The boys have been incredible. Taking everything in stride. Helping to figure out routes. Watching out for each other on the road. Willing to make changes on the fly. Suppose to be 102 tomorrow. Going to drop down into Kansas and try to make the Missouri state line.

I am still going over the events, sights, sounds and experiences in my mind. I would not have done anything different today.
Life is good.