Once again, I woke later than I had planned, but a second hot shower inside of 8 hours and a free continental breakfast later, I loaded up the motorcycle and hit the road. The long, straight, flat road all the way across Missouri and Kansas. You, the reader of this blog (I'm assuming there's at least one of you and I'm not sure how extensive your own motorcycling experience is), may or may not know that the fun part of riding a motorcycle is in the turning. So why on earth there is a motorcycle museum in Kansas I will never know. Or a Harley Davidson store for that matter. Here's a picture of Kansas. If not for the windmills, It could be anywhere in Kansas. It's all I saw for about 700 miles.
The sky proved far more interesting than the flat, flat landscape with the long, long straight road.
The thing that struck me most about Kansas is that the people there still had southern accents. I've never considered Kansas part of the south, but right up until I hit Colorado, the people I encountered had a distinctly southern drawl. Perhaps the people in eastern Colorado also have a southern drawl? I don't know because I found the terrain too similar to Kansas to be inspired to stop anywhere before Denver. Note to travelers: when the Colorado tourism board says, "Let's Talk Colorado," they mean west of Denver. The mountainous, rocky, interesting part(s).
Seriously folks, from St. Louis, MO to Limon, CO it is one long straight road. That's 763 miles of straight, boring motorcycle riding. And I only saw 2 cops the entire time -- both on the other side of the freeway. I'm not going to admit in writing publicly just how fast I crossed most of Kansas... let's just say I'm pleased with the new bike and what she can do for hours on end. And here's a tip of my hat to Kansas' finest. Thanks for taking the weekend off.
I-70 turns northwest at Limon to Denver. From Dever I headed north to Loveland, where I hoped I could just show up at my Uncle Jerry's to crash for a couple hours. On I-25 traffic came to a complete standstill and, seeing cars jumping over the grass-covered median to the frontage road that ran parallel to the freeway, I followed suit. I wound my way north, trying to keep the freeway in sight so I could see what in hades was the matter. There was a wreck that was bad enough to warrant air-lifting the injured. I pulled into Loveland and called but got no answer at my aunt & uncle's. When I finally got them on their cell phone they were surprised to find out I was in Loveland. They were stuck back in traffic on I-25 but told me I was of course welcome to stay, to head to their house and let myself in, they'd be there as soon as was possible. I think they got there about a full 2-hours later than me. They hadn't jumped off the freeway as I had. We chatted for an hour or so after which I showered and crashed in one of my cousins' old bedrooms.
I woke right when I'd planned (4am) and tried to exit as quietly as possible. Thanks Jerry and Jeanette for your gracious hospitality. I enjoyed my brief visit and very much appreciate not having to sleep in a hotel bed.
1 comment:
you need to blow up that picture of the sky and hang it in your house.... really.
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